NHL Fans React To Lockout After Players And Owners Fail To Reach Deal
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The National Hockey League has locked out its players, after the two sides failed to reach a deal before midnight Sunday.
This is the second work stoppage for the NHL in less than a decade.
Owners and the players union are fighting over money and were so far apart in negotiations that they did not meet face-to-face on Saturday.
1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck reports
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At issue is how to divide up more than $3 billion in revenue. The owners are seeking to reduce the percentage that goes to players, while the union wants a guarantee of at least the same cut of the revenue paid out last season.
Fans outside the NHL store in Midtown said they're disappointed the lockout has taken effect.
"The unions get greedy, the owners get greedy, they can't come to an agreement and so you sit there and go, 'well why can't we come to an agreement?' The fans are suffering. The owners and the players aren't suffering, they get the money," one fan told 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck.
Another fan said he is concerned this work stoppage may tarnish the sport and turn fans off to the game.
"I'm worried about what they did five or six years ago when they had the lockout. I wonder what's going to happen again, if it's going to be the same effect where there's not going to be hockey for a while and fans are not going to come out," he told Schuck.
If no deal is reached soon, some or all of the upcoming hockey season may be lost, including key dates like the outdoor New Year's Day Winter Classic planned for Michigan Stadium.
"All of us that aren't professional athletes look at it and say 'Are you kidding me?' You can make $6 million, $5 million a year, the better players. And the owners, they're making money," another fan told Schuck.
This is the most recent professional sports work stoppage in just the past year and a half, when the NFL and NBA had similar negotiations fall apart.
The NFL lockout lasted for much of the 2011 offseason and last year's NBA season was shortened by 16 games and did not begin until Christmas Day.
Are you hopeful the two sides will reach a deal so there's still a season this year? Has this lockout turned you off to the NHL? Sound off below...
