Life in the bubble

[Crown Royal]

Maybe it is to prepare for the inevitable trade to Calgary

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

I've heard that Ryan Getzlaf has purchased a house in Regina. I think that's where he's from. I was told that in case the NHL plays the season in the Edmonton bubble that he wants his family living in Canada to avoid border issues.

Where did you hear that?

[sureLoss]

Friedman on HNIC reporting that the bubbles in Edmonton and Toronto cost the NHL between $75 million to $90 million total.

The NBA bubble cost $170 million.

[CalgaryFan1988]

^^ Friedman also said that there will be no more bubbles going forward.

[SportsJunky]

Yeah, I heard that tonight as well. We might be waiting longer than we thought for the start of next season.

[SportsJunky]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Where did you hear that?

From a customer of mine that has a house in the same community. Friedman's info tonight kind of sinks that story though.

[Crown Royal]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

Yeah, I heard that tonight as well. We might be waiting longer than we thought for the start of next season.

I don't think it means that at all. I don't think anyone expected bubbles for next season, it's always been more likely to be without bubbles but have significantly reduced travel.

Most likely we are going to see 3 US divisions of 8 teams and a Canadian division of 7 teams, with a schedule where teams only play their own division. Then to reduce travel further, teams will probably play 2-3 games in a city at a time.

We've seen in baseball that a a reduced travel schedule can work as after their terrible start, things really got much better for them after that.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Crown Royal

I don't think it means that at all. I don't think anyone expected bubbles for next season, it's always been more likely to be without bubbles but have significantly reduced travel.

Most likely we are going to see 3 US divisions of 8 teams and a Canadian division of 7 teams, with a schedule where teams only play their own division. Then to reduce travel further, teams will probably play 2-3 games in a city at a time.

We've seen in baseball that a a reduced travel schedule can work as after their terrible start, things really got much better for them after that.

I for one would be ecstatic to have a season where we only played Canadian teams.

As a one-off, it sounds ####ing awesome. Like having our very own league.

[Crown Royal]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

I for one would be ecstatic to have a season where we only played Canadian teams.

As a one-off, it sounds ####ing awesome. Like having our very own league.

I'm a huge proponent of divisional games and divisions with fewer teams. The biggest problem with the NHL growing from 21 to (soon to be) 32 teams in my lifetime is it has killed divisional rivalries. One of the reasons the BoA was so great in the 80s is about 10% of our games were against the Oilers, now we get half of that. Can you imagine how things might have popped off this past season if the BoA had 4 more games?

[jonesy]

If the players portion of revenue is always at 50% of Hockey related revenue (HRR) and the league doesn't make much money in its next version of a season, do all salaries get scaled back? Or do the owners have to lose a certain amount before players scaled back?
I know there is escrow, but that doesn't seem have anticipated the magnitude of the decrease of HRR. So if HRR is down 60%, will they be able to scale player salaries down beyond what the escrow amount was (I think 15%?)

[Crown Royal]

Originally Posted by jonesy

If the players portion of revenue is always at 50% of Hockey related revenue (HRR) and the league doesn't make much money in its next version of a season, do all salaries get scaled back? Or do the owners have to lose a certain amount before players scaled back?
I know there is escrow, but that doesn't seem have anticipated the magnitude of the decrease of HRR. So if HRR is down 60%, will they be able to scale player salaries down beyond what the escrow amount was (I think 15%?)

They have provisions in the extended CBA for this, the 50-50 split is not over multiple seasons with escrow being capped at a certain percentage each of the next few years. I forget all the specifics but they have planned for a really bad season for revenue.

[getbak]

Escrow next season is set at 20%. For 2021-22, it will be between 14 and 18% depending on what the 2020-21 revenue is. 2022-23 will be 10% and the following 3 seasons will be 6%.


The revenue split is still 50/50, so any overpayments to the players that aren't recouped through escrow will create a escrow balance owed to the owners. The escrow balance will be paid down over time as revenues increase but the cap does not.


The salary cap will not increase until league-wide revenue for a season exceeds $3.3 billion. When league-wide revenue reaches $4.8 billion, the cap will rise to $82.5 (any amount between $3.3B and $4.8B will see the cap prorated between $81.5M and $82.5M).

When revenue surpasses $4.8 billion, the cap will increase by $1 million per year until the escrow balance is paid off.

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by getbak

Escrow next season is set at 20%. For 2021-22, it will be between 14 and 18% depending on what the 2020-21 revenue is. 2022-23 will be 10% and the following 3 seasons will be 6%.


The revenue split is still 50/50, so any overpayments to the players that aren't recouped through escrow will create a escrow balance owed to the owners. The escrow balance will be paid down over time as revenues increase but the cap does not.


The salary cap will not increase until league-wide revenue for a season exceeds $3.3 billion. When league-wide revenue reaches $4.8 billion, the cap will rise to $82.5 (any amount between $3.3B and $4.8B will see the cap prorated between $81.5M and $82.5M).

When revenue surpasses $4.8 billion, the cap will increase by $1 million per year until the escrow balance is paid off.

Does this mean players in the future might be paying for that imbalance and current players that retire or exit the league before the imbalance is taken care of will benefit?

[getbak]

Originally Posted by jonesy

Does this mean players in the future might be paying for that imbalance and current players that retire or exit the league before the imbalance is taken care of will benefit?

If I understand everything correctly, yes, that's what it means.

Although, with a fixed maximum escrow amount and the overages being paid by keeping the cap increase lower, it should benefit all players going forward.

[Enoch Root]

Yeah, the idea here is that they are trying to spread out, and smoothen the hit. Which this will do.

Any player retiring this year or next won't be affected as much. But that is the way it goes. They won't get paid any more either.

[Enoch Root]

It is going to be a while before the cap starts to rise in a normal fashion again. They will lose at least a full year's, and probably closer to 2 full years worth of gate receipts, and that is probably going to get spread over maybe 4 years, give or take.

The other factor is that more teams will probably not spend to the cap. The original idea was that teams would spend, on average, to the mid-point. But for the past few years, most teams spent to the cap, which caused over-spending and thus escrow roll-backs. Going forward, the average payroll is likely to be lower, relative to the cap. And that is going to make for some interesting cap management, and create opportunities for teams who manage it well and who can continue to afford to spend to the cap.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Crown Royal

Can you imagine how things might have popped off this past season if the BoA had 4 more games?

Yes, but I can also remember watching the Flames play the early 2000s Wild 5 times a year.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Yes, but I can also remember watching the Flames play the early 2000s Wild 5 times a year.

Eight times a year.

For at least a couple years out of the lockout, we played every team in the division eight goddamn times.

[Crown Royal]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Yes, but I can also remember watching the Flames play the early 2000s Wild 5 times a year.

A great BoA is worth way more than just as many boring games against another team. If it means the return of actual rivalries, I'll take those boring series too.

[Jordan!]

Anyone else think this whole bubble scenario will give these players PTSD in a sense? As if Edmonton didn't have a hard enough time signing Free agents.. If Edmonton makes these guys feel bizarro bubble memories, why would they want to play there normally??