Donald Fehr may be one of the most controversial individuals in North America. He is at the core of the 2012 NHL lockout. As the Executive Director of the NHLPA, Fehr is one of a few key people responsible for there being no NHL season to date. While there was a glimmer of hope a few weeks ago when the owners and NHLPA swapped proposals, Fehr squashed these dreams with his counter-proposals.
The question remains, who is Donald Fehr? What is his motivation during this 2012 lockout?
Fehr is an individual who has some unbelievable statistics associated with his name. He is the only Executive Director to be involved in two work stoppages in two major North American sports. Before his retirement in 2009 as Executive Director of the MLBPA, Fehr headed five consecutive work stoppages in baseball. Six of the eight contract negotiations he has been associated with have resulted in work stoppages.
Surely Fehr has the best interest of the NHL players in mind. However, the players should realize Fehr does not have the best interest of their league in mind. Fehr may get the players what they want, but if they continue to take a stubborn stance on issues and let Fehr manipulate their thoughts, the game of hockey may be ruined years down the road.
The NHLPA had a spectacular deal before their CBA ended back in September. The time for a change has come. If there is going to be a 2012-2013 NHL season, the players are not going to win this negotiating battle, nor should they.
Think of this way….If two sides have equal importance in how a business operates why would one side (the owners) want to let the other side (NHLPA) take 57% of the profit. Both sides are equally needed for the NHL product, as a whole, to be successful. This is why the hockey related revenue should be split 50/50 with no hidden fees. In Proposal III, Fehr claimed there would be a 50/50 split, but this was untrue. There were those hidden fees.
As he has proven through MLB, Fehr is willing to take whatever measures possible for the players’ union despite what his decisions may do to the state of the NHL. Fehr has been toying with the owners and the emotions of NHL fans by making verbal proposals and refusing to schedule meaningful meetings to resolve this dispute. Fehr is not taking these issues seriously until he gets exactly what he wants.
In 1994-95, Fehr was at the head of nearly an eight month strike by the MLBPA which resulted in the cancelling of the World Series for the first time in ninety years. This agreement was finally resolved by a third party.
Fehr was also at the core of the “Steroids Era” in MLB. He knew exactly what was going on behind closed doors. Fehr would not admit to their existence or even use the word “steroids,” as stated in a Tom Verducci article on SI.com. This 2009 article goes on to say that Fehr knew about steroids in MLB but failed to address the issue until he had no choice.
“Of course he knew what was going on. As I reported with Joe Torre in “The Yankee Years,” Rick Helling, a union executive board member, told Fehr as far back as 1998, and in each subsequent year, he had a huge steroid problem on his hands. By 2000, baseball sources were estimating in print that anywhere from 30 to 40 percent of the players, and most of the best players, were using steroids.”
Donald Fehr does not care what happens to the state of the league in the future as long as he gets every last penny for the players. Look at MLB, is this how you want the NHL to appear in a few years? Despite his knowledge, Fehr failed to bring up steroids in baseball because these freakish home run hitters were creating outrageously rich contracts for one another based on inflated (steroid-induced) statistics.
An article written by Sean Gentille of the Sporting News exposes what some believe to be Fehr’s true motivation in this lockout. He wants to get rid of the NHL salary cap.
“The NHLPA’s executive director, in a meeting with the Toronto Star’s editorial board, says the longer the work stoppage lasts, the more apt the union is to push for the revocation of the salary cap. “If this goes on for an extended period of time, I don’t know what (the players) are going to do. But I think it’s safe to say, they would be exploring all options,” said Fehr.”
With this being said, the NHLPA and Fehr do not look to be in any hurry to come to a resolution. If the NHLPA, as claimed by Fehr, wants this drama to end quickly, then why hasn’t Fehr “crunched the numbers” or written up formal proposals?
Donald Fehr better not ruin the NHL or turn the league into anything like MLB. He was the ring leader of the MLBPA which will be forever linked to the “Steroids Era” in baseball. An era which paints MLB with a black eye from which the league will never recover. From steady procrastination, Fehr looks like he is playing everyone for a fool until the time is right to make a deal which would yank the salary cap.
If Fehr attempts to remove the salary cap from hockey, the NHL is never going to see small market teams competing in a league that is full of parity. The large market teams will go on ridiculous spending sprees and ruin the rest of the league. The small market teams would be doomed and we would be watching MLB on ice.
First off, Fehr is paid by the players and nobody else…so his trying to get 100% for the players is EXPECTED…no…DEMANDED. He is also the most experienced negotiator in pro sports IN NORTH AMERICA. I think I’ll defer to what he says and does over some English major ex hockey player. Fehr knew the owners wouldn’t put out a serious offer until some of the season was being cancelled. Thus he stalled while keeping the PR battle in favor of the players. Fehr knew most of the battle would be getting players all on the same page and standing up to the Owners unlike last time when they got destroyed in negotiations. Fehr also knows he has to accept 50/50 due to public perception…however the revenue calculations are critical.
Sorry man…a ton of research you missed in your Google search and a completely biased story that reflects poorly on you.
First off thanks for reading. However, You act like you’ve spoken to Donald Fehr. I know the MLB players union is strong. I know he is for the players in the NHL. I state that I know he is looking out for their best interest. However, this isn’t baseball. I don’t want some washed up hockey player making $20 million a year like Arod for the Yanks and then you have to pay $2k for one seat to sit in the front row like you do at Yankees games. I’m focusing on Fehr himself not all of ins and outs of negotiations. Everyone has run through the negotiations. Of course the players will like him b/c he’s going to be better than last time. I just want to see a salary cap stay in hockey. I’m not taking sides either. I just think it should be an equal split. I’d say 57% isn’t that bad from last time. Also, you don’t know that Fehr KNOWS he has to accept 50/50. The players don’t want that.
MLBA is the most stable league. You have no idea what you are talking about keep your day job
I agree but there’s also no parity when talking playoff appearances and its not the NHL. Thanks for reading my article though.
You have no idea what you erect asking about. D your research on Fehr
It may come as a shock – but it is Fehr’s job to get every red cent he can for the players. It is also Bettman’s job to keep every red cent for the owners. Sadly, the fans don’t have a dog in this fight.
Realistically, when I first went to NHL games, the so-called journeymen players had summer jobs to keep food on the table. Maurice Rocket Richard didn’t, but guys like Leo LaBine did. Owners treated their employees like serfs. From that atmosphere the NHLPA was born. The vast majority of fans today assume that player greed is the root cause of all professional sports ‘ problems, but the owners bear a great deal of responsibility.
The same can be said of any labor/management relationship. Do you honestly think those overpaid workers at WalMart would make minimum wage if there wasn’t one, or that school boards would pay teachers instead of making them board with parents of students like it was a hundred years ago.
Players were being screwed, they unionized and their union boss – Mr. Fehr – is doing his job. Your entertainment and mine are not important. The players can always make a living in Europe if the NHL folds or perhaps the WHA will rise again – like a Phoenix. If it does, you can bet JJ and Bettman will have a slice of the pie and it will start again.
What do I want? A new CBA with a shelf life if 12 years. I’ll e dead by the time it expires and then I won’t give a *9^%.
I agree with much of what you say. Except that Walmart employees are unionized. Or that the players union today shares anything in common with traditional labor unions.
I agree with much of what you say. Except that Walmart employees are unionized. Or that the players union today shares anything in common with traditional labor unions.
Even the big name players took summer “jobs” as special reps for the brewerys. Bobby Hull went missing one summer for about ten days with some cronies as he absconded with the company logoed motor home
And yes I remember running into Leo one day up in Huntsville as he was making his calls as a brewery rep.
Wow is that Biased. Can someone please write an equally biased pro player portrait of Fehr…
Thank you for reading my article. I just feel that need to quit playing games and settle.
Thank you for reading my article. I just feel that need to quit playing games and settle.
I get that this article focuses on Fehr and not Bettman but you really can’t have one without the other. Fehr is like the yin to Bettman’s Yang, and the players know that they need someone equally stubborn in order to have any chance at salvaging any of the benefits and pay they currently have. Bettman hasn’t really conceded anything nor is he doing anything to improve the state of the NHL and ensure we don’t have another stoppage in 7 years.
When you say Fehr doesn’t have the league’s best interest in mind, there’s probably some truth to that. I do think that if he gets his way the 7% that the PA concedes would actually be used for revenue sharing, in which case the league wouldn’t be able to cry “poverty” 7 years from now and act like these poor owners are losing so much money, even though it’s their own damn fault (or at least the fault of the greedy owners).
Also when you mentioned the three proposals, you only mentioned the third one which was in fact shady, but at the same time there were two other proposals with gradual rollbacks year by year and there’s no reason to think that couldn’t have worked. Especially if, like I said, revenue was shared in a more intelligent manner. With the league growing like it is the NHL as a whole is definitely not losing money, it’s just not being equally distributed and that’s obviously the owners reponsibility to figure out a solution to that problem. Bettman could suggest a sensible solution to this but instead he elects to simply gouge the players which would fail to even solve the problem in the first place. Because of this the players felt the need to get someone like Fehr who wouldn’t simply back down to these nonsensical requests.
So you can say Fehr doesn’t have the league’s best interests in mind and doesn’t care about the game but so far he’s proven to have a greater concern for it than Bettman and there seems to be some interest in actually working out a deal to ensure that the league operates in a financially viable manner as well as the players receiving the money that both parties agreed to.
Kris, I appreciate the feedback and for you reading my article. Thank you. Someone actually just sent me a message with an anonymous quote from a player saying “you dont hire Fehr to settle 50/50.” If they don’t settle 50/50, I don’t think they ever will.I think that is the fairest. The players have had a fantastic deal. I don’t think Fehr is talking as much as he could be and being very cooperative. Thanks for your opinion and reading.