The NHL cannot afford to have another lockout or the sport's immense growth in the United States over the past few seasons would be destroyed.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed on Thursday that the owners will lock out the players if a new CBA isn't reached by the time the current one expires on September 15.
Bettman: "We reiterated to the union that the owners will not play another year under the current agreement." PA told same for past year.
— Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) August 9, 2012
Since the players and the owners have moved at such a slow pace throughout this entire process, there is little reason to believe a lockout won't happen.
Fans in the United States came back to the sport after lockouts affected the 1994-95 and 2004-05 seasons, but a third one might be too much for the fans to take. The owners cannot rely on fans, especially the casual fans that aren't die-hard hockey people, to come back if more games are missed.
Let's look at why another lockout would put the NHL on life support in the United States
Casual Fans
Casual fans are extremely critica ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Nicholas Goss
Why Another Lockout Will Put NHL on Life Support in United States
August 10th, 2012 by Nicholas Goss Leave a reply »
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