The problem is that despite good economic news in most of the past decade, average salaries have not kept pace with the cost of living. But what hurts most is that governments are taking a bigger than ever chunk of every dollar earned. A scathing internal audit of the department found that the paperwork on grants and contributions it handled over the past two years was so sloppy that some files didn't even have a record of anyone applying for the money. On a slow day. And from a substantive standpoint, the aid package was barely a drop in the bucket for Canadian teams.
Chump change is a generous way to describe it.
In NHL terms, this will keep a few clubs in Tiger Balm and ankle wraps. OK, and a Patrick Poulin, maybe. This is, remember, the same Gary Bettman who listed revenue-sharing as one of his priorities when he was named Commissioner and has never again mentioned it since, the same Gary Bettman who didn't lift a finger to keep the Jets in Winnipeg or the Nordiques in Quebec. The same Gary Bettman whose diplomatic visit last year to that strange foreign country of Canada gave him the opportunity to display his ignorance and slap Canadians in the face by telling them they'd better get with the program and support their teams the American way, with tax breaks and corporate welfare. Bettman and the chimpanzees who own American NHL teams can't find the incentive to do what's right, to do what's good for the game, by instituting any meaningful revenue-sharing.