As the National Hockey League gets ready to lock out its players, many Fairfield hockey fans are siding with the owners despite the threatened loss of the 2004- 2005 season.

“The players have a right to be paid,” said Tony Gagaleta ’07. “But they always ask for too much and they aren’t going to get paid like basketball players or baseball players because there isn’t as much of a fan base in America.”

“I tend to side with the owners more though I do not hold them blameless. This could kill the sport in the United States,” said avid fan Alex Hernandez ’07.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced Sept. 15 that, upon the expiration of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement at midnight, the league would lock out the players. This decision causes the closing of all team training camps and all but cancels the preseason. Most hockey experts believe this lock out will extend well into the regular season as well.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement, or CBA, is the contract between the league, the owners, and the player’s union (NHLPA). It distinguishes certain economic guidelines including players’ salaries, ticket prices, free agency, and virtually all financial issues regarding the sport of professional hockey.

Both sides are at very different ends of the spectrum, which makes compromise very difficult. The league claims that twenty of the thirty teams are losing money and almost 75 percent of league revenues go directly to player salaries. The NHLPA denies these claims and says the league is keeping them from true financial statistics from them.

The main issue however seems to be that of revenue-sharing and a salary cap. Similar to the strikes and lock outs of the National Football League and Major League Baseball, the league wants restrictions on player salaries and more equal fiscal opportunities for all teams.

During the 1994 – 95 season, the NHL locked its players out and the season began almost six months late. Its already relatively small fan base took a staggering hit.

If the current lock out lasts until January or even cancels the season, it is possible the league may never recover from its depleted fan base.

One alternative to the NHL for the diehard fan is the AHL or American Hockey League, the minor league affiliate. Many NHL teams have signed extended television deals for their AHL affiliates to help bring some hockey coverage to their fans. In fact, Fairfield is local to the New York Islanders’ affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, who play at the Arena at Harbor Yard.

Both Gagaleta and Hernandez agree that they will be following the AHL more closely since that may be the only hockey accessible to them.

“I’m definitely interested in seeing the AHL play since with regular hockey I’ve never had the opportunity before,” Gagleta said.

Hernandez added, “This could be the end of the greatest generation of hockey players ever.”

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