Quotes of the Week: Negotiations

This week’s quotes of the week are a loose confederation of negotiation-related quotations, which sounds far more boring than it really is. Four quotes come from a still-relevant editorial written by sportswriter Jack McCallum in 1994 for Sports Illustrated; if a keener, more eagle-eyed indictment of the owners has been written, I have yet to read it.  I’ve linked his piece in the sources.

“Where is it written that money-losing owners deserve the protection of a salary cap?”
Jack McCallum [5]

“In considering whether or not the Bruins have sustained their burden of showing irreparable harm unless they are granted the desired injunctive relief, it is well to keep in mind that although the plaintiff is popularly called and practically beloved as and under the name of ‘Bruins,’ actually the plaintiff is a business corporation formed for profit which is earning a substantial return on its capital.”
Federal Judge Andrew Caffrey [1]

“Bob Goodenow thinks we’re suckers who will do anything because we like the game. But we owners aren’t suckers.”
Bill Wirtz [7]

“Some owners may not deserve to be saved … [and] some cities don’t deserve teams.”
Jack McCallum [5]

“A little more than 50% of the league’s gross gate receipts go toward salaries, and that makes [the players] a partner in this business. I don’t know of any other business that pays 50% of revenues for labor costs.”
John Ziegler [4]

“Personally, I’d prefer [divisional realignment into] 6-6-6. Then the lowest anybody could finish would be sixth. Of course, if we had 18 divisions of one club each, then Cleveland could advertise: ‘Come see your first-place club, in Division 18.’”
Alan Eagleson [4]

“Strangely missing from the owners’ clamoring for a salary cap is any suggestion that the value of franchises, like salaries, ought to be capped too.”
Jack McCallum [5]

“[Agent] Paul Kraus is a moron ' it’s too bad he lives in the city. He’s depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot.”
Mike Milbury [2]

“The only time I ever brought anyone in to help me [negotiate], it was [Ted] Lindsay. We were going to negotiate together, but Jack Adams negotiated with us with two words: ‘Get out.’”
Gordie Howe [6]

“To me, the players got hurt, the owners got hurt, the game got hurt. It’s pretty hard to sit here right now and say anything that happened over the last winter is good.”
Bob Clarke [8]

“Owners have to make up their minds: When they sell their teams, they’re committed capitalists; when they seek to rig salaries in what should be a free market, they’re the most enthusiastic collectivists since Marx and Lenin. They can’t try to have it both ways and expect anyone'the unions, the fans, the media'to take them seriously.”
Jack McCallum [5]

“Unless he gets a system that directly links salaries to revenue, Bettman is prepared to stamp his feet, take his pucks and go home.”
Michael Farber [3]

SOURCES:
1. Boston Professional Hockey Assn Inc vs Sanderson
2. Botte, Peter; Hahn, Alan. Fish Sticks: The Fall and Rise of the New York Islanders. Sports Publishing LLC. 2002.
3. Farber, Michael. “Ice and Easy.” Sports Illustrated, 13 Sept 2004.
4. Kirshenbaum, Jerry. “Hockey 1977-78.” Sports Illustrated, 17 Oct 1977.
5. McCallum, Jack. “Blame the Bosses.” Sports Illustrated, 10 Oct 1994.
6. Swift. EM. “On And On And On And…” Sports Illustrated, 17 Jan 1994 (reprint from Jan 1980).
7. Wulf, Steve. “Season on Ice.” Sports Illustrated, 13 Apr 1992.
8. “What They’re Saying.” CBC Sports.

This article was originally published at: The Hockey Writers.