from Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star,

... there are other pressure points that will prompt saner heads on both sides to figure out how to fairly slice up $3.3 billion — a number that may get smaller the longer this goes on — and end the lockout.

FOR THE PLAYERS

Social media and alcohol: In other words, tell us how you really feel, Krys Barch. Barch, a plugger of an NHLer — one of those with a short career span and a small window to earn the big bucks — let loose an alcohol-fuelled Twitter diatribe that highlighted his frustration at being locked out. For every Joffrey Lupul, a well-paid player whose job is secure and who backed the union in on online article on askmen.com, there are the Barches of the hockey world, guys who could easily lose their jobs coming out of the lockout. It’s not that Barch didn’t back the players’ association. It’s that he’s getting antsy. If other players start feeling antsy, their frustrations will likely show up on social media, where there is no public-relations filter between their thoughts and their fans.

Missing paycheques: The players are supposed to get paid 14 times a year, twice a month during the season. That amounts to about 7 per cent of their pay per payment. The first cheques were to arrive Oct. 15. They will be missed, but not too much. The players will receive about 8.5 per cent of last year’s salary in early October — the return of money that had been put in escrow in case the league didn’t hit revenue targets. That escrow money will help ease the pain, but it won’t last for long. When the second payment is missed on Oct. 31, players will start to feel the pain.

FOR THE OWNERS

NBC: The network wields a mighty stick and isn’t happy. According to thesportingnews.com, ratings for NBC Sports (the network that used to be Versus and Outdoor Life and the NHL’s chief outlet on U.S. TV) are at an all-time low. The good news for the owners is that NBC is paying the league $200 million this year whether there’s hockey or not. That $6.67 million per team will help the owners ride out some of their revenue losses. But it really is a bad long-term business decision. If there’s no hockey, the league will owe NBC a year of hockey — for free — at the end of the contract....

more