As the Windsor Star reported today: "MONTREAL — The NHL lockout has forced Molson Coors into the penalty box by reducing beer sales across Canada for its marquee brands.

The Montreal and Denver-based brewer said the financial impact of the nearly two-month labour dispute is difficult to tabulate, but the company’s most important cold-weather driver of sales has disappeared.

“Whether it’s people not actually physically going to the venues and consuming there, consuming in venues around the outlet before that, or indeed having NHL sort of parties at home, all of those occasions have disappeared off the map and you just can’t replicate them,” CEO Peter Swinburn said Wednesday in an interview."

In decades past, teams measured their supporters by filled seats and looked to to concession sales to boost the bottom line. But in an age of mobile sports consumers there are a lot of invisible but very real interested parties who miss the games. And they're not just hometowners. Fantasy leagues are a big deal in all pro sports and critical sports league info sites such as Betfair Canada are among those places fans are are keenly watching to see if the league or any teams are buckling under the pressure. Fantasy leagues live on day-to-day information, and so do fantasy leaguers waiting for the latest lock-out-ending update.

The National Post reports that is much work to be done before skates are sharpened in earnest:

"The work stoppage reached its 54th day, and this week is considered critical for the hockey season to be saved. The lockout is threatening to force the second cancellation of an NHL season in seven years.

Even if an agreement is reached soon, it isn’t clear if any of this season’s games that have been called off through Nov. 30 can be rescheduled. The NHL, however, has said a full 82-game season won’t be played."

The pressure from Molson Coors, sponsors with contractual connections, and other corporate parties is accompanied by building concern from cities and non-team arena owners seeing local job losses and a broken bottom line.

As the National Post reported: "Both sides have made proposals that included a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenues.

The NHL has moved toward the players’ side in the contentious issue of the “make-whole” provision and whose share of the economic pie that money will come from. But work remains to get an agreement done.

Other core economic issues — mainly the split of hockey-related revenue — along with contract lengths, arbitration and free agency also will need to be agreed upon before a deal can be reached."

This kind of showdown is often presented as solely in the hands of those who write and cash the play-related cheques, but, in truth, the pressure on owners and players can make a real difference and both sides are very much aware of the brand and career damage at risk.

So if your fantasy league is just waiting for the good word on a resolution, don't think you can't push the process along by making your voice heard on social media. They're watching and listening. You can bet on it.