Capitals to purchase CapFriendly website (upd: deal finalized, site has been shut down)

[CanadienShark]

Capfriendly owes me nothing, sure.

Me and others also have the right to speak my mind about how a certain organization making my experience worse is bad for the sport and the league. We also can point out - again - that it is doubtful that acquiring capfriendly actually provides any competitive advantage.

The only real thing of value that Capfriendly provides is convenient access to the NHL registry - all else is public data and relatively rudimentary programming.

Seeing how all NHL teams have access to the NHL registry as a baseline... I don't really see how this is a huge advantage. I bet half of hfboards has functional programming skills or at the very least excel skills good enough to develop a functional version of Capfriendly. Certainly all NHL teams have access to labor talent that could really provide this level of tool.

Then note that the site is going dark on July 5th - the caps aren't even gaining a Free agency, draft, or trade deadline advantage over teams that theoretically don't already have these tools in place... Because like I said getting one of them developed is certainly possible within a few months.

Best case scenario the caps wanted to hire the owner of the site - but then they didn't need to shut the site down, they could have just made him transfer ownership and signed an airtight contract.

You way overestimate us.

 

[Zirakzigil]

Not surprised. Someone else will step up though

 

[Albatros]

Some of us also don't need some granular understanding of every contract, such as when random 2nd/3rd liner on the 19th place team's NTC list goes from 8 to 10 teams in 2 seasons, as if that's information that is super important to anyone but like .05% of hockey fans.

I'm sure the anime community would take it well if that was done to their cartoons.

 

[Danko]

Here's another option that you can take a look at and see if you find it user friendly

https://x.com/i/web/status/1799916027817476582

This is awesome. The fact that he open sourced it to. Create a Fancy UI over this and add a few features, put up ad space, charge for some pro tools, update the data to current and then pay an insider/agent to feed you.

 

[iCanada]

Truth be told, there’s not much that beats talking about hockey.

New hobby just dropped - shitting on and generally rooting against the capitals and that curmudgeon leonsis.

So far it seems really fun.

 

[chaser17]

This is bullshit, why can't we have nice things? God forbid we can look at the cap and contract structure of teams/players.

I now look forward to watching the Caps miss the playoffs for 10-15 years post Ovechkin.

 

[leafsfan5]

f*** the Washington Capitals, I hope they suffer for this

 

[Chris5225]

The NHL uses this website to verify cap compliance. Huge competition advantage for the Capitals once this goes through.

 

[HTFN]

Yeah - this is a thought that crossed through my mind as well.

I'm sure the CF guys are making pretty good money as it is without the sale. They average like 6 million independent IP address connections per month in traffic.

They were likely no where near rich - but all things considered also likely were well past financially independent and had been for years.

That said - I still do tend to blame the bigger guy.

What I'm not getting is why we're upset about the team pulling the trigger. I get the bummer of losing a public resource, it was the same for capgeek, but like.... it was the same for capgeek. It's going to be fine. Wikipedia is an institution but we're not entitled to it. Caps fans are losing it too, anybody in deep enough to be posting on message boards isn't stoked about losing a resource.

But like, do we think this was a true shock for 31 other NHL teams? If an NHL franchise comes to you and says "hey we like this and we want to buy it" don't you at least shop around first and see if someone can beat that offer?
Seems to me like nobody else wanted it (unlikely) or somebody was going to be the high bidder before long regardless. Best case for the fans it's a bunch of low ball offers that aren't enough to beat what the owners could currently make, but it also seems to me like if we're that far along it's still only a matter of time.

The NHL can't get its shit together centrally and keeps relying on these public, independent entities to the point where they keep becoming an integral part of the process. It's not bad business to bring those in house and we've seen plenty of analytics blogs/websites shuttered after their creator was hired by a franchise. If NHL teams didn't have scouting departments and just kept relying on a group of really credible guys they know who post their reports online, it wouldn't be crazy to want to hire those guys on....

So do I know exactly what made this good business on paper? Not really, but it's not my money and I don't think it's a spite purchase. Although if it is, doing it right before draft trades and free agency is really funny.

 

[HTFN]

lol c'mon man, I always enjoyed watching the caps but even caps fans should be able to admit this makes the organization look bad.

Capfriendly was a useful tool not only to league executives like GMs but it gave fans something to do and helped with understanding the salary cap structure of their team in more ways than one.

A replacement site will likely take a few months to get up and running in that time we wont have the resource and will need to rely on less quality websites.

How'd you say those two things back to back and not realize exactly why it isn't the shady, pointless move you think it is? They took a useful public tool that made life easy for competitors and privatized it. I'm not a fan of capitalism overall but it's easier to justify in competitive sports settings like this, if your argument is that the Caps are bad people because other GMs wanted to use the tool it's a bit like complaining about a team signing a UFA because other teams wanted him for less.

You as a fan with no influence going without a cap resource and GM simulator for a few months is not the serious blow you're making it out to be.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

I left the Caps fandom and never looked back. This justifies it.

I can 100% guarantee you that a bunch of teams were using CapFriendly prior to this, including multiple teams that were reported to have access to the CapFriendly API who just had their contracts ended and the two previous teams (Blackhawks, Sharks) that had both hired CapFriendly's founder as a consultant and/or Director of Salary Cap Administration.

The presumption that a lot of fans have as NHL front offices being well-oiled machines with the cutting edge of hockey analysis and tracking is pretty darn off-base. You'd be lucky to find stuff more advanced that Microsoft Excel in most of these front offices. Video replay coaches are using broadcast footage. Scouts and GMs are pouring over the same publicly available resources that fans are in many cases.

Businesses rarely go cutting edge because instability leads to downtime and screwed up operations. Buisnessmen are creatures of habit as well and many pinch pennies; they didn't become rich spending loosely.

 

[HTFN]

[citation needed]

Are we suggesting that one NHL franchise approached the owners of the site to buy it outright and shut it down and they were just like "yeah that's all we need to hear, none of your peers could possibly put together a better package"? Didn't stop to ponder what they wanted or why it was worth whatever it's worth, just saw the numbers and went "boy howdy"?

Because if a group of people running a website dedicated to contracts and contract negotiation didn't know how to negotiate on a contract by now... I mean... woof. We saying 31 other teams never caught a whiff? If the GMs of those teams were like "oh shit" and the owners just didn't listen when the money came around... we putting that on Washington to make it easy?

Lot of daily users getting emotional

I left the Caps fandom and never looked back. This justifies it.


Businesses rarely go cutting edge because instability leads to downtime and screwed up operations. Buisnessmen are creatures of habit as well and many pinch pennies; they didn't become rich spending loosely.

Okay.... so explain that thought process and also why Leonsis is "wasting money pointlessly because there will be another cap website and he only really pissed off the fans" (not your words, just a general vibe).

Seems like that's spending loosely, and he's a businessman, so can we conclude that this was done with intent? If we're accepting that these other franchises aren't going "cutting edge" themselves because they can use this free tool why are you mad about a team deciding not to make it free anymore?

 

[Albatros]

Wikipedia is an institution but we're not entitled to it.

Debatable. They operate as a tax-exempt charitable foundation with a mission "to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally." They are entitled to disestablish themselves, which would be rather unusual, but not operate against their stated purpose.

 

[HTFN]

Debatable. They operate as a tax-exempt charitable foundation with a mission "to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally." They are entitled to disestablish themselves, which would be rather unusual, but not operate against their stated purpose.

I thought about not including that because it's literally an international encyclopedia and I'd call education a human right but it was a really exaggerated way to really explain how stressed this idea of a permanently free public resource would be. Something tells me Wikipedia and Capfriendly operate under different contexts and ethical ramifications as well, so like... nobody pursuing most educations is too broken up over this news.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

Anytime there is something people thoroughly enjoy using for free, you can bank on one or more assholes to buy it and restrict access behind a paywall.

Only winners in this are the golden Knights, who are suddenly not the most disliked team in hockey.

f*** the capitals.

Doubtful this is much of a competitive advantage - most NHL teams likely have their own internal systems or would be able to get them made within 3-4 months. They aren't particularly complex.

Would have been f***ing hilarious if Vegas bought it lmao

 

[iCanada]

Anytime there is something people thoroughly enjoy using for free, you can bank on one or more assholes to buy it and restrict access behind a paywall.



Would have been f***ing hilarious if Vegas bought it lmao

Vegas bought a second rate one awhile back.

General Fanager I think? IIRC he's been their cap guy and been pretty successful at it.

 

[OurlordAndSaviorKuch]

f*** the caps

 

[Pestilence]

If the NHL had any damn sense they would set up their own version of it.

They probably consider a NHL fan who likes to use Capfriendly an enemy.

 

[Based Anime Fan]

I'm sure the anime community would take it well if that was done to their cartoons.

1) Not sure what you're implying here.
2) Not sure how bringing anime into this discussion is adding or proving a point.
3) in follow up to 2), people have insulted/belittled/teased anime fans for like 40 years, I don't think you're going to get the exact rise you're expecting... most of us just kinda go with it at this point.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Okay.... so explain that thought process and also why Leonsis is "wasting money pointlessly because there will be another cap website and he only really pissed off the fans" (not your words, just a general vibe).

Seems like that's spending loosely, and he's a businessman, so can we conclude that this was done with intent? If we're accepting that these other franchises aren't going "cutting edge" themselves because they can use this free tool why are you mad about a team deciding not to make it free anymore?

Not every businessperson has the same idiosyncracies that "got them there". Trump is willing to honor contracts. Others don't hoard like that. Or the former now deceased Blackhawks owner being a tightwad about revenues by attendance that he wouldn't allow games broadcast on TV.

The use of Capfriendly is basically outsourcing. The team itself has to pay nothing to compile the cap data, and follow transactions, and develop the calculator. So in that vein, it does make business sense to an extent financially.

I actually burned my fan card in the summer after they choked to Montreal. It wasn't immediate. I'll admit I was just stirring pot a bit.

 

[HTFN]

Not every businessperson has the same idiosyncracies that "got them there". Trump is willing to honor contracts. Others don't hoard like that. Or the former now deceased Blackhawks owner being a tightwad about revenues by attendance that he wouldn't allow games broadcast on TV.

The use of Capfriendly is basically outsourcing. The team itself has to pay nothing to compile the cap data, and follow transactions, and develop the calculator. So in that vein, it does make business sense to an extent financially.

I actually burned my fan card in the summer after they choked to Montreal. It wasn't immediate. I'll admit I was just stirring pot a bit.

So really your third response is the only relevant one. The first one is replying to something I said based on your premise and all the other stuff is really you trying to find ways to be mad because it does make some sense based on what we know.

 

[PlushMinus]

Truth be told, there’s not much that beats talking about hockey.

I love talking about hockey. But you have to wade through a lot of shit talk, bad takes, and nastiness in order to actually have a hockey conversation around this place.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

I’ve had a lot of problems with Ted the last couple years. I will come here and grieve about him being a greedy old bastard.

He is one of the worst owners in all of the NBA if not the very worst

Now in the last year, he tried to move both teams out of Washington DC and into Virginia, where it would make a commute, a nightmare for people not living in that area

He started his own channel monumental sports network, which cost $20 a month, which is more than any other premium network subscription like Netflix or HBO just to watch the local games and it’s mostly a broken app with one of the worst rated customer services you’ll ever read about

When I first read about capfriendly being bought by the capitals, I thought it was some sort of gimmick to the cap name. But if he’s just buying it to shut down free public information, he comes off even more as a greedy bastard.

The recent rumors he wants to buy the Washington baseball team the nationals just so he can charge more for his Sportsnet monumental in the summer just shows what he’s all about and that’s greed

The caps are my favorite team. We just got through Dan Snyder and the football team. We can get through greedy Ted, but this isn’t a good look for him.

 

[PlushMinus]

^^ yeah this is where I'm at as well. I think it's possible to continue to like a sports team even if you think the owner is a dick. There are plenty of owners of pro sports teams who are thoroughly unlikeable human beings.

The challenge is to continue to support your team without putting money in the owner's pocket

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Article from 2015

https://x.com/i/web/status/1799925635588182430

NHL solution to all the LTIR chatter. every year it feels like hockey is taking a step back. soon Women's Basketball is going to be more popular before we know it

also had time to think on this. and still f*** the Caps. hope their owner goes bankrupt and loses the team