Quote:
Originally Posted by spuzzum
I always found how our North American sport leagues evolved fascinating.
In pretty much any other profession, you look for employment and employers advertise. You come to agreement on salary, position, and responsibilities. Generally, if either party is displeased, either can terminate the agreement with notice.
Sport franchises "own players", their rights, and essentially dictate terms. Once you become a free agent, you can sign a contract and dictate terms such as duration and salary.
I still find it strange that an 18 year old hockey player is owned for the first 7 years of his professional life.
The only equivalent I can think of is joining the military, having them pay for school, and in exchange offer years of service.
In the case of Drouin, very stupid move given the nuances of the business today. Hopefully the Flames can pick him up dirt dirt cheap.
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Yup. There's very few comparables.
It's a form of entertainment, however, driven by talent. Much like the music industry, except there isn't 1 million promising hockey players like there are singers, there's only a few hundred legit hockey players. So in terms of human resources, it's similar to a hospital. The best hospitals carry the few specialists available in the country. Hence there's so much money pumped into retention in the NHL, including it's CBA negotiations. The only reason the players don't walk all over the owners is because there isn't another NHL-comparable hockey league in North America.