It's official – NHL cancels the Winter Festival and the Winter Classic

National Hockey League Players' Association (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This just got real…

Katie Strang and Craig Custance, ESPN.com --- The NHL also canceled all of the Winter Festival events scheduled for Dec. 16-31 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

The league was tasked with a unique challenge this year in building two rinks -- one at "The Big House" and one at Comerica Park -- and has a contract with the former that requires the NHL to pay for any expenses occurred by the university if the event was canceled later than Nov. 2. The NHL also owed $250,000 of the $3 million rental fee on Nov. 2.

This is not believed to be the biggest deal-breaker, however.

The league did not want to host such an event without the usual bells and whistles -- HBO's "24/7"show documenting the event would've been virtually impossible to pull off -- and it did not want the pageantry of the event tainted by the work stoppage.

"That's one of those things that you were really looking forward to this year," said Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall. "Everyone here, not only the players but the fans. Everyone would be bummed out."

Can you imagine being one of the college hockey teams that was going to play outdoors in the winter classic for the Great Lakes Invitational? Actually, it would be a major downer to be one of those teams (Western Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech) that was set to play in Comercia Park on December 28-29, 2012. Now since the NHLPA and the NHL Owners can’t settle their differences this will be all for not. Of course, they moved the tourney indoors but it won’t be the same.

So you say that there is a chance?

This is an interesting spin and I haven't seen yet - I mean from the NHL labor dispute point of view - I guess this could play out this way… I guess there really isn’t much going on right now during the dog days of summer. I mean the television networks that broadcast the hockey games are going to be one of the parties that has a lot to lose if there is a work stoppage.

I am also hoping that if there is a NHL lockout that NBC Sports Network comes up with a hockey alternative, like broadcasting more games from the AHL, ECHL or CHL hockey and well showing more college hockey games as well. I guess we are jumping the gun but I would hope that there will be something to fill the void that is left if there is a work stoppage.

Bruce Dowbiggin, Globe and Mail --- One broadcast change from the 2004-05 lockout is there is a considerable TV component at play for the NHL if a lockout goes too far. Eight years ago, NBC, which had made no payments to the league for its rights, understood it might have no content and did not pressure the NHL for an early CBA settlement.

This time, the league has much invested in its partnership with HBO on 24/7, a sports-documentary program that leads into the much-ballyhooed Detroit/Toronto Winter Classic on NBC. For that series to go as planned, filming must start in late November or early December. Losing the HBO connection would be a blow to the prestige the NHL has built of late with its new initiatives.

That’s reminiscent of what happened in the 1994-95 lockout when Fox TV had paid a significant rights fee to start carrying games in January of 1995. The obligation to pacify its U.S. TV partner pushed the NHL to settle earlier than it wanted and, in some ways, created the conditions for the disastrous lockout 10 years later.

These are things to consider - the NHL and HBO would lose a lot of money if there wasn't an NHL season this year. I have read where some speculate that he NHL wants to be going by November so they don’t miss out on their money maker. One silver lining is, if there is an NHL lockout, I guess one could always spend more time with our families. Yeah!