Oct 09 2012
The NHL Lockout from a Buyer/Supplier Perspective
Being an avid hockey fan, the news of the NHL lockout this season has been, to say the least, devastating. I began to think of ways in which this scenario applies to something we’ve learned so far in Comm 101 – seeing as, after all, the entire lockout rests upon a financial disagreement. It then occurred to me that the dispute could be, in a rather unconventional manner, be broken down into concepts we learned in Class #9: Planning and Strategy. Essentially, the dispute is a collective bargaining disagreement between NHL owners, who are demanding a greater share of the league revenue, and the players, who aren’t willing to budge under the current division. Similar arguments have arisen in the past, resulting in three separate lockouts within the last 15 years, all of which have ended in the players receiving a lesser share. So why might this one be different? Enter buyer power. In the past, the “suppliers” (owners) have been in a position of great power due to few alternatives for NHL players, or in this case, “buyers”. With the emergence of the KHL (“new entrants”), however, we are seeing more and more star players, including the likes of Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin, make the switch across the Atlantic. Although most players are sure to return to their NHL team upon the culmination of the lockout, I’d take caution if I were an owner. While the KHL isn’t quite up to par with the NHL yet, it is certainly well on it’s way.