Hockey Lockout Essay

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Hockey Lockouts: Slap Shot or Cheap Shot
Lockouts have been an effective tool for sports team owners in their bargaining agreements since 1994. A lockout in sports means that owners have suspended players from playing, without pay, until the owners and players can come to terms on a bargaining agreement. Previously, before lockouts players would strike during the playing season which put pressure on owners because their revenue was at risk, while the players had already received their paychecks. Players react differently to the changes in their salaries resulting from a lockout.
Specifically, in hockey, the most notable lockouts in recent history were the 2004-2005 and the 2012-2013 seasons. In the 2004-2005 season, the owners and the players …show more content…

The goal of the players union was to make sure that the players were paid and treated fairly. For the same reasons that the owners were at a disadvantage being in a monopsonistic market, the players union were at an advantage. They knew that the players had to stay if the league wanted their fans to be happy. In recent times players have gotten the better end of the deal so the players union was mainly attempting to mitigate the loss of player’s salaries (The hockey lockout of 2012-2013, …show more content…

This drop in salary affects every player differently. If the player is playing for the fame or just to play hockey for a living then the player will have a much flatter indifference curve. This means that the player will be more indifferent to wage changes than the average hockey player. If the hockey player’s main reason for playing is the money then they will have a much steeper indifference curve. This means that the player will react more to the wage changes than the average hockey player (Laing, 2011).
When a player has their salary reduced they tend to shirk or have less production during the season. Production typically refers to the number of goals and assists a player has while playing games during a season. Players tend to shirk when their salaries are reduced because they aren’t given incentive to try harder if they are being paid less. This is more so the case when the player is just in it for the money or has a steeper indifference curve (The hockey lockout of 2012-2013,

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