Rand Simon's Blog: Another lockout looming?.

Hockey fans everywhere had to be nervous about what the future holds for the game after Montreal Canadiens’ owner George Gillett was recently quoted as saying: “But it is still a very difficult business when you have your player payroll at 54 or 55 percent of your total revenue.” If Gillett’s comments are an accurate reflection of what other owners think, then it is hard to be optimistic that a work stoppage can be avoided when the current CBA expires on Sept. 15, 2011 (the players have the right to extend the agreement by one year or terminate it two years early). At the current pace of revenue growth, the players will be receiving almost exactly 57 percent of revenues in 2010-11 (the players were at 55.6 percent in 2006-07 and the percentage rises as league revenues do), which presumably would make it an even more difficult... [read full story]