make your voice heard about bettman

[martyrme19 73]

ESPN is doing a survey about sports fans in general, but one question asks you how you feel about the job Gary Bettman is doing.

Its our chance to make a voice in an impactful media.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation...n?event_id=3753

[tiff_luvs_homer 5]

thanks for posting, I voiced my opinion.

Bettman sucks!

[VladyIBELIEVE16 257]

Done..

[Konnan511 1,736]

This is the biggest case of monkey see monkey do. Most people they say Bettman, but they don't know why! People ***** about the cap, that wasn't his doing, that was the owners. After the lock-out ESPN lowballed the hell out of the NHL so the NHL signed with VS, now that hockey is becoming semi-popular ESPN wants back in on the action.

The NHL has never been more profitable than it is now. The last SC Final was the highest rated SC Final in over five years and even some games rated higher than the NBA finals.

And just for the record, I am not a huge Bettman fan at all, but it's easier to look at the negatives that have happened instead of the positives and everyone has to remember that the NHL is a business first a foremost.

Edited December 23, 2008 by Konnan511

[Anomalously 0]

The last SC Final was the highest rated SC Final in over five years and even some games rated higher than the NBA finals.

Purely based on matchup. Look at the other recent matchups -- a few Canadian teams (Ottawa, Edmonton) and a couple of small markets or non-traditional markets (Tampa, Carolina). The casual American fan isn't dying to turn on that game.

It has nothing to do with Bettman -- besides the fact that he and Colin Campbell finally got around to fixing the matches through poor officiating so that they'd have a more marketable result.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

I picked disapprove, reason I didn't pick strongly disapprove because he gets a lot of blame throw his way. As a higher up, it's not uncommon to take more blame than normal or get more credit when you might not have done as much.

Bettman is far from my favorite, and I wander if he actually does listen to a majority of fans want. For instance, the scheduling, which I am assuming most fans heavily wanted a change to, at the very minimum, face every team at least once. It happened, but I remember reading or hearing somewhere that he was hesitant about. Basically like we all thought the fans were satisifed with the current schedule layout, but decided in the end to change it, something like that.

However, as much as us as fans might be getting the raw deal in what I am about to say, his first job is to make sure the owners are happy and that the frachises in the NHL are making money and profitable. If the owners are happy, Bettman isn't going anywhere. Does making sure your fans are happy appear in this business model for Bettman and the NHL owners? Of course, but it isn't at the top of the pyramid model. Making money is.

I'll re-emphasize that Bettman is far from my favorite and I think he's downright creepy and a kook at times, but the owners interests will take precedence over the fans with him the majority of the time. Sure it is fun/easy sometimes to blame the boss or make fun of the popular guy or big wig in control, but things happen in the league sometimes both good and bad that are beyond his control.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Voted

[uk_redwing 495]

I voted strongly dissaprove.

Hes turning the game into a gimmick, with phantom calls, no calls, even-up calls, thinking the casual american fan wants to see goals goals goals, without any care for the current fans of the game.

Outdoor Life Network.

Sean Avery.

Being a pedophile...need I go on?

[Guest Shoreline]

I'm pretty sure the entire world (including the NHL and Bettman himself) knows the general consensus of what fans think of Bettman. That's no secret. What I concern myself with is how little they (NHL, teams, and venues) do about it. They know the single largest problems, which is ticket prices and merchandise prices, which are disproportionately high given lower wages and economic trouble. They know other problems, which are exposure, will only be covered by getting on better networks or by striking deals with cable and satellite companies to bring other stations (TSN/CBC/SNET) to a greater audience in the U.S.

Edited December 23, 2008 by Shoreline

[Chunkylover 26]

Bettman wasn't responsible for the rules changes, that was the competition committee which included Brendan Shanahan. Really, Bettman is like George Bush, just a target for a whole lot of misplaced hate.

[HOCKEY MATTERS 167]

voted

[RedArmy 4]

Bettman wasn't responsible for the rules changes, that was the competition committee which included Brendan Shanahan. Really, Bettman is like George Bush, just a target for a whole lot of misplaced hate.

lol well hockey is barely on tv, so I don't think players are responsible for that. There are barely any games on versus and rest are just local games on obscure channels usually lol like fox2 or something Fox 2 + 1/2. msg + .. well at least in NYC area:) and then sometimes there are games on nhlnetwork, which I am paying extra for on cable... in any case tv coverage is horrific... if you are in your hometown and you are mostly watching your team, you are fine, but to get broad coverage for the sport is almost impossible. I would say NBA, MLB and NFL do much better than that...

[Konnan511 1,736]

lol well hockey is barely on tv, so I don't think players are responsible for that. There are barely any games on versus and rest are just local games on obscure channels usually lol like fox2 or something Fox 2 + 1/2. msg + .. well at least in NYC area:) and then sometimes there are games on nhlnetwork, which I am paying extra for on cable... in any case tv coverage is horrific... if you are in your hometown and you are mostly watching your team, you are fine, but to get broad coverage for the sport is almost impossible. I would say NBA, MLB and NFL do much better than that...

Well they are half responsible for it, the other half goes to the owners. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, since the owners and the players couldn't agree on a CBA there was the lockout which made ESPN not want to offer a TV contract to the NHL to put games on it's station and one of the stations that offered up a deal was OLN/VS.

Bettman is NOT the reason for the lack of TV coverage, that blame goes on the lockout.

[RedArmy 4]

Well they are half responsible for it, the other half goes to the owners. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, since the owners and the players couldn't agree on a CBA there was the lockout which made ESPN not want to offer a TV contract to the NHL to put games on it's station and one of the stations that offered up a deal was OLN/VS.

Bettman is NOT the reason for the lack of TV coverage, that blame goes on the lockout.

in the end of the day NHL is a business and Bettman was hired to get it going... all the things you mentioned come with a territory... If this was a company you were running you would get fired because shareholders need results, but surprisingly he keeps his job year after year

[red_wing 1]

I hate Bettman, but he's making smart economic choices, which is a good thing.

Edited December 23, 2008 by red_wing

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

I'm pretty sure the entire world (including the NHL and Bettman himself) knows the general consensus of what fans think of Bettman. That's no secret. What I concern myself with is how little they (NHL, teams, and venues) do about it. They know the single largest problems, which is ticket prices and merchandise prices, which are disproportionately high given lower wages and economic trouble. They know other problems, which are exposure, will only be covered by getting on better networks or by striking deals with cable and satellite companies to bring other stations (TSN/CBC/SNET) to a greater audience in the U.S.

I'm pretty sure Bettman has some awareness of this, but whenever I hear or read things about Bettman in regards of this, he seems in denial every time that fans aren't happy with him.

I guess that can be attributed some to what the last poster said about Bettman/NHL/economics etc.

Bettman has to please the owners first and make sure the franchises are making $$$, not please us fans first. Not fair to us sometimes, but he's in the business of making money before making fans satisifed.

[Grim 5]

1. four Cups during Bettman's tenure... with essentially a finesse team

2. players taking discounts to play on an already allstar-laden franchise

3. just about all games televised on local basic cable.

yup, we spoiled Wings fans have plenty to complain about.

[06TJSport 0]

To everyone saying Bettman isn't to blame, the basis of every problem the NHL has is a skill deficit. This is caused by over expansion. Since the heyday of the '80s and early '90s when hockey was growing and subjectively more popular than the NBA, There are 8 more teams, which at 23 players per team, that is an extra 184 players in the NHL. Now imagine how much better each team would be if the worst 184 players in the league, where not playing. This would eliminate the need for styles such as the trap because each team should have the talent to go toe to toe with the other team instead of having to make up a talent disparity.