from Scott Burnside of ESPN,

By engaging in a bizarre game of institutional chicken that has brought the current set of talks to a shuddering halt, just how much money is being thrown away every single day, to say nothing of the mounting ambivalence to a sport that has always struggled to be relevant in many of its markets.

According to figures obtained by ESPN.com, the answer is a lot, millions in fact. Millions upon millions of dollars.

Had the season begun on Jan. 12 -- a possibility if a deal was struck within a week or so of the owners’ offer of Dec. 27 -- its estimated total hockey-related revenues from that first night of action would have come in at around $32 million.

The average daily tally for hockey-related revenues, revenues that are split between the players and the owners, is estimated to have been just north of $18 million for the first week of that imaginary season starting Jan 12. In total, about $130 million in revenues would have been shared by the two sides through the first week of a season that would have, could have, should have been getting ready to launch in about a week’s time.

Instead, next week brings us a Jan. 11 deadline for getting a deal done to start a 48-game slate on Jan. 19, as negotiations continue to be marked not by urgency but by plodding gamesmanship.

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