Shouldn't the money be spent on more important things like education, helping the homeless, improving our environment, etc?  Why would we want to spend this much money on a losing team?  Why not make the owners and players pay for it? Why are we going to make people making min. wage or less pay for it in taxes?
204417
People often get these kinds of taxes mixed up.  It is a special allotment that MUST be approved by taxpayers as an ADDITIONAL tax on a special proposition.  If they don't approve it, then so be it, taxpayers can contribute it in other ways.\n\nSpeaking just to the stadium system, I think it's fine the way it is and I actually think it works to the team's benefit.  The roof is one of a kind and makes the stadium special.  Who wants a stadium that looks like everyone else's?
338164
actually ppl here don't want to take football as a profession.\ngovernment is not spending enough money on football and whatever budget is kept for it, goes to corruption.
169327
I think it is because American teams are owned by individuals. I don't think they are sponsored.
443845
I agree with him they are going from bad to worse...I would rather pack in for the time being and resume when they pull their socks up a bit...the price for a season ticket is huge...they aren't earning it..lets talk with our feet and walk away till they start giving us something to be proud of...
615851
The vast majority of the money earned is from selling the rights to broadcast games in the local TV market.  (The TV station then sells advertising during the games.)\n\nOwners also make a good deal of money on concessions at the game (why do you think sodas cost $6?) and from admissions and parking.\n\nHope this helps!
280478
No, I think that having a salary cap for each team is enough.  Besides, 250K is well below the minimum salary now, and the NHLPA will never go for a cap that low.  \n\nBut I disagree with the person who said that they play for love of the game now.  I am sure they all love the game, but just because they're not making as much money as NFL players doesn't mean they're playing *only* for love of hockey.  If they played for the love of the game only, we wouldn't have lost an entire season while the players refused to consider a salary cap.
307458
Sadly, we are already losing it, if we haven't lost it completely.  The present American political leadership is not willing to spend any serious money on education, preferring to squander it on prisons, wars, and the futile pursuit of the War On (some) Drugs.  Local governments without rich tax bases cannot make up the shortfalls, even if they don't have spending caps imposed by ignorant legislators.
662668
i don't think it is that they get paid too much it is that we don't get paid enough when you think about it peoplle are willing to pay that 20-100 bucks( sorry idk the euro amount) to watch a game and it takes alot to become a player they work thier own a-holes off too plus they are prone to injury they ar eout there giving up thier body and fighting for the game every day  if they get injured what do you think happens... they probally lose about 3 months - 3 years in pay and  maybe never able to play again... it is too much of a risk for them to play and not be paid well
347087
I have answered many times here about the NHL by summing it up in a phrase that goes "The NHL has the market cornered on Stupidity". \n\nAs much as anyone can argue against it, the unfortunate reality is that money is the principle by which all teams manage themselves. It no longer matters if it is a Canadian or American commissioner, whether the game has been played in Hamilton for nearly a century before a city like Phoenix got a team, or if Wayne Gretzky ran the league. The environment is still the same, teams have to make money and they have a better opportunity to do that in the United States not because any country is better than another, but because the disparity in the values of Canadian vs. American dollars.\n\nSince the league decided that in order to grow, they need more teams. That meant that cities that wouldn't normally be associated with a winter sport will get teams. That meant that the greater portion of fans that would attend the games wouldn't know a check from a Czech. That means the game had to be sold in a way as to attract the non-traditional fan dollar. And that is why the league has morphed into the abomination that we see today.\n\nI never imagined that I would see the day when I would say that I have had enough. I don't like today's game. I miss the rough stuff, and it seems that the goalie is taken from the game. I can't stand the daily penalty-fests either. The Flyers dismal start notwithstanding, no more NHL for this fan of 32 years.
145481
The NFL wants them to have one, so they will.  I hope they do soon because the NFL has been essentially holding cities hostage with the threat of moving their teams to LA if they don't give them new stadiums.  The cities then sacrifice tons of more important stuff (roads, schools, etc.)providing welfare to billionaire football team owners.  So, yeah, I care but maybe not for the same reasons you do.
656633
Unfortunately, you're right. Most people don't seem to realize that less than 1% of the population makes over $100,000 per year. The left keeps saying we need to tax them more, but it does the least.\n\n\nWhat the gov. needs to do is stop spending!
446398
You really should check just how much money is spent on entitlement programs in this country... it could open your eyes.\n\nReading the responses, I see that you aren't the only one that doesn't have a clue to how this government spends money.
149532
yes they are making too much money.  and the proof of this is that the average family can hardly afford to be a fan anymore because ticket prices are priced really high so they owners can pay the players.
573972
All athletes face temptation in their quest to get ahead.  They are protected by their organization which is why laws need to be changed and actually enforced.  Owners are reluctant to kick them off the team because then they're not getting their money's worth, but this has to change.
55024
I think everyone of them is way overpaid. this country would survive if sports stopped. but if all the hard working americans said to hell with it and stopped working nothing would get made no money would be made and the sports players wouldn't get paid at all.
520951
The high salaries for players give specially talented individuals an opportunity to generate an income large enough to help entire communities if they are so inclined. many players give a tremendous amount of money to underprivileged communities. \nConversely, some players are treated as a commodity themselves. This gives them a warped sense of materialism. Playing only for the dollar, and believing the money makes them special.
339049
It costs a lot because virtually no one plays on natural ice anymore, and it's expensive to make ice and maintain it.\n\nHockey gear is expensive because it has to protect most of the body from sticks, pucks, the ice, other players, the boards, random flying objects from the stands, and so on.  A lot of gear = a lot of $$.\n\nAs opposed, say, to those fools who play sports with big wooden bats flying around and wear only bitty little helmets and silly looking leggins.\n\n... as far as the money goes, you're right, it *is* expensive.  With everyone in the household but the cat playing, we're constantly having to fork out league fees, pay for gear, sharpenings, and then the gas to drive to as many as five different rinks a week!\n\nWe save by buying used gear, or exchanging hand me downs with other families (we hand down, too).  I've swapped gear with friends, and wait to buy gear until there are sales at already cheap places if I'm going to buy new.  We practically live at Play it Again Sports, and when we know the exact piece of gear we want -- particularly for my partner, who's a goalie and their gear's *really* expensive -- we look for it on ebay or craigslist.\n\nMy captains are used to me paying league fees over the course of the season... I can rarely afford to pay the whole thing up front, and they're used to it and don't mind floating me because they know I'll eventually pay it all off and they won't get stuck with it.\n\nWe could choose cheaper sports, and probably make our lives a whole lot easier.\n\nBut why?  Hockey's the best sport ever, and the time I'm on the ice, or spend watching my family play, is 100% worth it.\n\nIt's not easy, I know.  But worth every penny you pay.