Top 10 list: Most harmful pro sports work stoppages

Posted by Ron Opher On September 15

The NFL lockout just ended; the NBA’s lockout began less than a month ago. This period of labor unrest in sports leads us to compile a Top 10 list of the most harmful professional sports work stoppages:

10 (tie). 1992 NHL – A 10-day strike orchestrated by new NHLPA chief Bob Goodenow extended a season that Flyers fans would just as soon forget – their third consecutive playoff miss. The strike did finally force out John Ziegler as NHL president; Ziegler was replaced by former Flyers executive Gil Stein until Gary Bettman was hired as commissioner

10 (tie). 1990 MLB – A season without much of a spring training and opening day delayed by a week were the major ramifications

9. 1972 MLB – The strike that started a series of player actions that improved the players’ compensation and benefits dramatically over a period of about 20 years, we think that fans today (especially in Red Sox Nation) would not stand for a season in which a team (in this case, the Detroit Tigers) won a division because they played (and won) one more game than the second-place team

8. 2011 NBA – Turned an 82-game season into a 66-game season. The Sixers took advantage of the shortened season to play at a high level in the playoffs, beating the Chicago Bulls and then taking the Boston Celtics to a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference semifinal.

7. 1994 NHL – Turned an 84-game season into a 48-game season and canceled the All-Star game. The Flyers’ return from that work stoppage went very well, as they acquired John LeClair and Eric Desjardins, and ended their 5-year absence from the playoffs by going to the conference finals

6. 1998 NBA – Turned an 82-game season into a 50-game season. Like the NHL in 1994, that really was not so bad for the fans in the end. Also, like the NHL, the All-Star game – which was supposed to be played in Philadelphia – was canceled. That meant that Philly fans had to wait 3 years to boo Kobe Bryant as All-Star game hosts

5. 1982 NFL – Turned a 16-game season into a 9-game season, with 16 of 28 teams making the playoffs

4. 1981 MLB – The split-season ‘solution’ was OK by the Phillies, relative to the Cardinals – who had the NL East’s best combined record but were shut out of the postseason since they did not win either half. Still, the Phillies coasted after winning the first half, and were not able to regain their form, losing to the Expos in the first ever NLDS

3. 1987 NFL – 16-game season became 15-game season, but the real sting was that 3 games were played by replacement players, and 89 veterans – including most of the stars on the Dallas Cowboys – crossed the picket line to play. Eagles go 0-3 as Buddy Ryan shows disdain for the “team” he was assigned to coach

2. 2004-05 NHL – Entire season lost. Flyers went from Game 7 of conference finals to bottom of the league within 2 seasons of their return, as GM Bob Clarke struggled with the concept of the salary cap

1. 1994 MLB – No World Series after giving us more than half a season was the ultimate low – especially for Expos fans, who probably still wonder what might have been