President Obama tells NHL to do right by your fans

The President of the United States doesn't seem to be much of a hockey fan, but when you're giving an interview with a local TV station in Minnesota during an NHL lockout, it's almost a guarantee that you're going to be asked about it. That's what happened on Thursday when President Barack Obama sat down with Frank Vascellaro of WCCO in Minnesota. When asked if he'd be willing to get involved with the lockout personally, POTUS urged both the players and owners to settle this on their own.

You know, look. I've got to say, because we've had an NBA lockout, we've had an NFL lockout during the course of my presidency, the president of the United States shouldn't have to get involved in a sports lockout. My message to owners and to players is, you guys make a lot of money and you make a lot of money on the backs of fans, so do right by your fans. You can figure out how to spread out a bunch of revenue that you're bringing in, but do right by the people who support you. And I shouldn't have to be involved in a dispute between really wealthy players and even wealthier owners. They should be able to settle this themselves. And remember who it is that's putting all that money in their pockets.

It's not exactly a groundbreaking comment of anything. Mr. Obama clearly has better things to spend his time on these days, what with the chance the nation's economy could veer off the so-called fiscal cliff and everything, and his comments here were simple enough that they didn't really require anything more than a basic knowledge of any general sports labor debate.
But, the president talked about the lockout, so it's news. And as simple as his advice may have been, it still rings clear. There's a deal to get done, NHL and NHLPA, and you should probably start working on that.