Am I the only one that respects Gary Bettman?

[Konnan511 1,736]

I read the first sentence you wrote and stopped reading.

Bettman is the reason the NHL is not on ESPN right now.

The owners and players that couldn't agree on a new CBA are the reason there is no NHL on ESPN. ESPN said they didn't want to license NHL games on their network because the work stoppage scared them away. Nice try though.

[Chunkylover 26]

No, 29 owners respect him as well.

I don't hate him.

Most people that do blame him for things he hasn't really been responsible for.

It's not Bettman's job to make fans happy, he is supposed to make the owners happy. He doesn't work for us, he doesn't work for the players, he doesn't work for TV, he works for the owners and is answerable to them.

It is the owners' responsibility to make the fans and players happy. Which is why salaries for players are so high, and why owners are always trying to find ways to cut costs to the fans without compromising the ability to generate revenue. No money in means no money out.

Clearly, based on the 18-year tenure, Bettman is doing a good job as determined by the only people who really should matter to him. If you aren't happy with VS or southern teams, blame the owners who moved them or the networks that despised the game.

[dragonballgtz 273]

The only only thing worse than the rabid Bettman haters is someone who goes out of their way to praise him. I'll stick with the former, thank you.

Here's some reasons I hate him and blame him for since 75% of you are sucking his balls right now.

-A labor strike that reduced the season to 48 games, and the other a lockout that lost an entire season.

-I'm a hockey fan and I can't watch many games without shelling out money for those channels.

-$600 million with ESPN in 1998 to $72.5 with Versus in 2008

-Bulls*** scheduling in the 2009 playoffs.

-Terrible, terrible reffing every year. Hey! remember the 2008, 2009, 2010 playoffs?!?

-Putting teams in cities where I don't believe hockey will ever be successful(well, maybe because of teams like the Red Wings and revenue sharing)

-The dilution of talent because of over expansion.

-Hockey isn't yet popular in the U.S. so lets start playing in Europe!

-Handling of the Phoenix situation.

-Did I mention terrible AND s***ty reffing?

-Say what you want about his wonderful economic growth that you make it out to be but the NFL, MLB, NBA and even NASCAR spank the NHL every year.

-And the most recent for me wasthe NHL's reaction to this fiasco. A prime example of, "Shut the hell up, we're in charge."

Are all of these his fault? Probably not.Let me hold onto those delusions. BUT there is a reason he get's booed so many places he goes. He gets booed at the NHL DRAFT for christ sake. You talk about him eliminating the clutch and grab play like it was such a genius move too, no just a goddamn OBVIOUS one.

/end of rant

I blame the owners first and way more then Bettman, but Buttman needs to grow a pair as well.

Ex: The owners wanted a cap system so Buttman did what they wanted and stood strong the second go around. Then owners wanted to find ways to abuse the CBA they just signed, have their cake and eat it too scenario IMO.

Buttman needed to stand up to those long term contracts before it got to the point it did. I'm surprised a team of highly paid lawyers couldn't see that loop hole. But he just acts way too late when the obvious happens then proceeds to act like a tough guy.

Edited September 22, 2010 by dragonballgtz

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

The owners and players that couldn't agree on a new CBA are the reason there is no NHL on ESPN. ESPN said they didn't want to license NHL games on their network because the work stoppage scared them away. Nice try though.

You obviously haven't read the quote in my signature.

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

-$600 million with ESPN in 1998 to $72.5 with Versus in 2008

Look up how much ESPN offered before the NHL made the switch then come back to me.

Edited September 22, 2010 by Doc Holliday

[daniel1 32]

"Am I the only one that respects Gary Bettman?" No; Sidney Crosby respects him too... but then again Sidney uses Bettman's penis as a pacifier. I'm not sure if that applies to you too or not, but in either case, you and Sidney are probably the only ones on this board or in Red Wing Nation worldwide that respect Bettman.

[Konnan511 1,736]

This is not a rant against you or anyone in particular, I just wanted to dispell some rumors and make some points. Again, it has nothing to do with you

I apologize for any spelling errors, my keyboard is about to die and my fingers move faster than my brain and battery lol.

The only only thing worse than the rabid Bettman haters is someone who goes out of their way to praise him. I'll stick with the former, thank you.

Are all of these his fault?Probably not.Let me hold onto those delusions. BUT there is a reason he get's booed so many places he goes. He gets booed at the NHL DRAFT for christ sake. You talk about him eliminating the clutch and grab play like it was such a genius move too, no just a goddamn OBVIOUS one.

/end of rant

"[/b]

Nope lol.

"-A labor strike that reduced the season to 48 games, and the other a lockout that lost an entire season."

Players and owners. Players wanted more money, owners wanted to pay less.

"-I'm a hockey fan and I can't watch many games without shelling out money for those channels."

Since the Owners and NHLPA couldn't agree on a new CBA, they had a strike. ESPN said they didn't want to renew their contract because of the uncertainty of the league. Versus offered the most money. Blame ESPN and greedy players and money pinching owners for hockey not being on ESPN. Plus, NHL is the number one sport on VS, NHL is like 6 or 7 on ESPN. Here's a good article explaining things: Link

"-$600 million with ESPN in 1998 to $72.5 with Versus in 2008"ESPN offered 60 million, VS offered 72 million and ESPN admitted it was a huge mistake for them that they had that 600 million contract and said they wouldn't offer that hi again.

"-Bulls*** scheduling in the 2009 playoffs."

s*** happens. Bettman and the owners of the building agree on the scheduling along with the owners of the NHL team.

"-Terrible, terrible reffing every year. Hey! remember the 2008, 2009, 2010 playoffs?!?"

You go from CHL to ECHL to AHL to NHL, or recently from Europe to the NHL. Bettman only has power over the NHL not all the other leagues where referees pick up their tendencies. Plus, Bettman shows the NHLOA videos during the offseason to show all the refs what a penalty looks like, it's not his fault that these refs don't show consistency. IF you want uber ticky tack penalties, look at the NBA, that league is a joke. I agree there needs to be consistency.

"-Putting teams in cities where I don't believe hockey will ever be successful(well, maybe because of teams like the Red Wings and revenue sharing)"

Again, this is a fallacy and your own opinion. I agree it does suck to have our profits cut down to help support other teams, but if the NHL ever wants to grow it needs to expand all over the US, plus you must remember that there are distance limits as to where you can put a team and you can't just put a team anywhere you want or else it'll go against the CBA and squish the owners toes.

"-The dilution of talent because of over expansion."

That's not really Bettman, that's more like owners who don't want to pay for talent. Look how long the Wings have been on top since they are willing to pay money. Look how quickly Chicago and Pittsburgh have rebounded after being down for a few years and getting those top picks and having their owners spend near the max to make their team competitive. If the owners are willing to spend, this league has shown any team can be competitive.

"-Hockey isn't yet popular in the U.S. so lets start playing in Europe!"

Every league does this to globalize their brand.

"-Putting teams in cities where I don't believe hockey will ever be successful(well, maybe because of teams like the Red Wings and revenue sharing)"

Again, this is a fallacy and your own opinion. I agree it does suck to have our profits cut down to help support other teams, but if the NHL ever wants to grow it needs to expand all over the US, plus you must remember that there are distance limits as to where you can put a team and you can't just put a team anywhere you want or else it'll go against the CBA and squish the owners toes.

"-The dilution of talent because of over expansion."

That's not really Bettman, that's more like owners who don't want to pay for talent. Look how long the Wings have been on top since they are willing to pay money. Look how quickly Chicago and Pittsburgh have rebounded after being down for a few years and getting those top picks and having their owners spend near the max to make their team competitive. If the owners are willing to spend, this league has shown any team can be competitive.

"-Hockey isn't yet popular in the U.S. so lets start playing in Europe!"

Every league does this to globalize their brand.

"-Putting teams in cities where I don't believe hockey will ever be successful(well, maybe because of teams like the Red Wings and revenue sharing)"

Again, this is a fallacy and your own opinion. I agree it does suck to have our profits cut down to help support other teams, but if the NHL ever wants to grow it needs to expand all over the US, plus you must remember that there are distance limits as to where you can put a team and you can't just put a team anywhere you want or else it'll go against the CBA and squish the owners toes.

"-The dilution of talent because of over expansion."

That's not really Bettman, that's more like owners who don't want to pay for talent. Look how long the Wings have been on top since they are willing to pay money. Look how quickly Chicago and Pittsburgh have rebounded after being down for a few years and getting those top picks and having their owners spend near the max to make their team competitive. If the owners are willing to spend, this league has shown any team can be competitive.

"-Hockey isn't yet popular in the U.S. so lets start playing in Europe!"

Every league does this to globalize their brand.

"-Handling of the Phoenix situation."

Agreed lol

"-Did I mention terrible AND s***ty reffing?"

Fact. Beers. Beats. Battlestar Galactica.

"-Say what you want about his wonderful economic growth that you make it out to be but the NFL, MLB, NBA and even NASCAR spank the NHL every year."

No one will ever beat out the NFL or MLB. They are Americas sports. We beat out the NBA the past two seasons. Nascar, per event, has the highest attendance of all the major sports and is rapidly growing. Plus TV revenue for the NFL is 20 billion, so you'll never get close to that haha. it's all about TV deals, and until same major TV deals come our way, we'll sit around 4th or 5th and that has nothing to do with whatever commissioner we have.

"-And the most recent for me wasthe NHL's reaction to this fiasco. A prime example of, "Shut the hell up, we're in charge.""

He critized an official at a public forum, of course he's going to get fined. Even the article says "it was the wrong tactic" (referring to Burrows using the media to complain about Auger). Also your article ALSO says "Supporting the NHL's financial penalty to Burrows is not supporting Stephane Auger or dismissing Burrows' accusations.". ANDDDD "Colin Campbell is meeting with Auger and his crew, per Sportsnet, but any punishment is expected to stay on the down-low.", so Colin Cambell was the one in charge of disciplining like he is with all disciplins (or was).

LGW!!!

Edited September 22, 2010 by Konnan511

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

Holy balls quote function.

[dropkickshanahans 463]

OFFICIAL SPORTS COMMISSIONER POWER RANKING

1. Roger Goodell

2. David Stern

3. Gary Bettman

9000001. Bud Selig

[eva unit zero 271]

You say hes done a great job in the post lockout era fixing the clutching and grabbing from the 90s and 00s. But, uhh, he was the commissioner in the 90s and 00s as well.

The clutch and grab era was happening regardless of Bettman. Bettman legitimately fixed a widespread problem with the league that occurred, give him credit.

I think 18 years is absurdly long for someone to be in office, seems more like a dictatorship. I'm hearing praise for him in this thread for things he didn't even do, but simply occurred during the time of his reign.

Is 18 years absurdly long? Maybe he's doing absurdly well. And he has been responsible for widespread improvement across the league.

IMO, his priorities with this league are completely backwards, with quality of gameplay and officiating being much lower on his itinerary than expansion and pleasing the owners, GMs and trustees who will agree to keep him in office as long as they keep getting paid, despite the fact that several franchises are obviously losing money. Not to mention some of the egregious decisions he approved during the NHLs expansion days.

Bettman is responsible for the two-referee system, which has resulted in a significant increase in quality of officiating due to a second pair of eyes on the ice from another angle on the opposite side of the play. Bettman is responsible for the league increasing revenues at a rate beyond what anyone even considered possible. Yes, a couple of teams were sold and had to move, but that was largely due to a triple combination of market size, fan support, and in two cases exchange rate. Bettman is responsible for this: the NHL used to pay 75% of revenue to players, now it's less than 55%. Yet there are more players than ever now, and a record average salary.

As far as play quality? Bettman is responsible for killing clutch and grab. Bettman's rule changes have resulted in teams using more roster spots on skilled players, rather than unskilled goons.

I'm no conspiracy theorist. He doesn't fix games, he isn't corrupt, or working for the pens. He's just self-serving. Sure, there have been things he didn't screw up, but I do not believe that he is the only person in the world who can run this league, and there is a LOT of room for improvement.

Self-serving? How? Explain that one to me.

[TX Wing 26]

From an employer/employee labour standpoint, he has shown almost total disrespect for those who work for the League.

If for no other reason, this alone should make you stand alone in your respect for Betteman. Forget the fact that he may have a worse disrespect for true hockey fans or at least acts like it.

[Nightfall 871]

Konnan511, I do have to agree with most of your comments. I will say that the expansion years were a mistake in a lot of markets. Bringing hockey back to Minnesota was a great thing. Bringing hockey to Phoenix and Nashville, markets that are struggling, was a stretch. As a result, the talent diluted. I think 24 teams would be better than 30 teams.

-A labor strike that reduced the season to 48 games, and the other a lockout that lost an entire season.

You this pissed off when the other major sports had lockouts? Lockouts happen, and you can blame the owners and players as a whole.

-I'm a hockey fan and I can't watch many games without shelling out money for those channels.

Same with the MLB, NBA, and NFL. Hell, the NFL and directv make oodles of money for the Sunday Ticket.

-$600 million with ESPN in 1998 to $72.5 with Versus in 2008

ESPN offered $60m in this last round of negotiations. I am glad they went with Versus for the extra cash.

Those are the most egregious points. I won't waste my time on the others.

[hooon 1,089]

OFFICIAL SPORTS COMMISSIONER POWER RANKING

1. Roger Goodell

2. David Stern

3. Gary Bettman

9000001. Bud Selig

I'm pretty sure the Miller Lite "Commish" makes it on that list over Bettman.

[Guest Stolberg]

If for no other reason, this alone should make you stand alone in your respect for Betteman. Forget the fact that he may have a worse disrespect for true hockey fans or at least acts like it.

what's the definition of true hockey fan

[Konnan511 1,736]

Holy balls quote function.

Holy balls, I tried. Too many quote tags.

[Konnan511 1,736]

Konnan511, I do have to agree with most of your comments. I will say that the expansion years were a mistake in a lot of markets. Bringing hockey back to Minnesota was a great thing. Bringing hockey to Phoenix and Nashville, markets that are struggling, was a stretch. As a result, the talent diluted. I think 24 teams would be better than 30 teams.

-A labor strike that reduced the season to 48 games, and the other a lockout that lost an entire season.

You this pissed off when the other major sports had lockouts? Lockouts happen, and you can blame the owners and players as a whole.

-I'm a hockey fan and I can't watch many games without shelling out money for those channels.

Same with the MLB, NBA, and NFL. Hell, the NFL and directv make oodles of money for the Sunday Ticket.

-$600 million with ESPN in 1998 to $72.5 with Versus in 2008

ESPN offered $60m in this last round of negotiations. I am glad they went with Versus for the extra cash.

Those are the most egregious points. I won't waste my time on the others.

I'd love for there to be fewer teams, but point is, if the NHL wants to grow, it needs to do so in America as much as it does in Canada. I wish ESPN had NHL on it, but I'm happy with Versus because they treat it as the number one sport. If the rumors are true, ESPN and Versus are going to actually compete with each other for the rights to air NHL games, and that should help immensely, either monetarily, or exposure-ly.

You can always do what we (my family) did and haggle with the cable company and work out deals. We got Versus without paying anything extra, I think all we had to do was upgrade our phone or something for an extra 12 bucks a year. Cable companies make deals all the time with the consumer and are easy to haggle with. PLus you always have bars to watch the game or online streams. I can watch games on my iPhone through streams anywhere in the world.

what's the definition of true hockey fan

We're screwed, Google doesn't even know!!!!

[dragonballgtz 273]

Bettman is responsible for the two-referee system, which has resulted in a significant increase in quality of officiating due to a second pair of eyes on the ice from another angle on the opposite side of the play.

Debatable at best IMO.

[eva unit zero 271]

The only only thing worse than the rabid Bettman haters is someone who goes out of their way to praise him. I'll stick with the former, thank you.

Here's some reasons I hate him and blame him for since 75% of you are sucking his balls right now.

-A labor strike that reduced the season to 48 games, and the other a lockout that lost an entire season.

-I'm a hockey fan and I can't watch many games without shelling out money for those channels.

-$600 million with ESPN in 1998 to $72.5 with Versus in 2008

-Bulls*** scheduling in the 2009 playoffs.

-Terrible, terrible reffing every year. Hey! remember the 2008, 2009, 2010 playoffs?!?

-Putting teams in cities where I don't believe hockey will ever be successful(well, maybe because of teams like the Red Wings and revenue sharing)

-The dilution of talent because of over expansion.

-Hockey isn't yet popular in the U.S. so lets start playing in Europe!

-Handling of the Phoenix situation.

-Did I mention terrible AND s***ty reffing?

-The NHL was already having labor problems before Bettman was hired. Bettman was hired to SOLVE THEM, and for the most part HE DID. Yes, it wasn't ideal, but the end justifies the means in many situations, including this one. The NHL has a CBA which protects teams doing poorly financially, and might have prevented the Jets, Nordiques, and Whalers from moving had it been in place back then.

-So in other words, you have to get cable to watch games? ESPN, Versus. Wow, shocking difference.

-The ESPN deal was $600m over 5 years, or $120m per year. It was followed by a one-year deal for the 2004-05 season which was $60m, with a $70m option for 2005-06. The Versus contract was $130m for two years, with a network-option third year. In other words, Versus offered more money than ESPN for fewer games and lower broadcast priority; ESPN would have demanded far more games, regular season and playoff, than Versus had. They would have demanded top priority for scheduling over NBC, also.

-The 2009 playoff scheduling, as far as the finals which is what I know you are referring to, is because of the television contract with NBC.

-Better reffing than 1992 and prior.

-Bettman doesn't just say "Hey, let's have a team in Atlanta/Nashville/Phoenix/Raleigh!" The team owner decides where they want the team to play, and the NHL Board of Governors either approves or denies that.

-The NHL's talent level is higher than it has ever been. In 1990 there were 20 teams' worth of Canadian players. Now there are 16. Also NHL teams typically have more skill players now rather than having a bunch of goons populate the bottom lines. This is a significant INCREASE in average talent, and based on the percentage of Canadian players in the NHL the league has actually UNDER-expanded. Of course, getting much larger would be ridiculous, so it will probably not happen.

-Playing in Europe to increase the global fan base for the NHL for a sport which is played globally? Terrible idea.

-As far as the Phoenix situation, what exactly could Bettman do? Balsillie tried to circumvent league policy, and acquire the Coyotes from Moyes through bankruptcy while Moyes receives what basically amounts to a kickback. Bettman did nothing but stood firm on league policy, because folding would set a dangerous precedent of "well you did this for this guy" and Balsillie's inability to follow the standard league procedure prevented him from purchasing the team.

-As stated before, the NHL's officiating has been of higher quality since the two-referee system has been implemented than it was before, and Bettman and co. have done work to improve the quality of new officials.

[Nic 59]

I can't say I agree at all about the reffing. It gets worse every single year. I don't doubt that it is a difficult job, but come on. How many games have to be decided by awful decisions and shaky rules? The games are not reffed the same from game to game, team to team. Its embarrassing how inconsistent it is. Do you remember the disallowed Brad May goal last year?

My biggest problem with the reffing is the NHL's absolute inability to admit any fault whatsoever. No matter what the mistake, error, blown call, etc. is, the league always comes out and punishes those who speak against it. There is a refusal to augment or adjust the system, and no, that is not because the reffing is perfect. There is an anti-honesty policy amongst teams and players where they aren't allowed to even whisper about bad calls. This is pretty telling that there is something wrong, if you have to literally punish players for being honest.

They have set up the rule book to make themselves completely infallable, every rule has an escape clause that calls the referee's "intention" into play, making every single rule subjective instead of black and white.

There are many other reasons why Bettman should not be praised by anyone (other than the owners), and others have already mentioned them here. Bettman and his trust care more about "potential fans", than the actual fans they already have.

But to say that the officiating is great is simply baffling to me.

Beat me to it and said it way better than I was going to. Thank you. Thank You. THANK YOU.

The COMPLETELY BLIND support of whatever the refs say is disgusting. And to the guy that said he's a ref and it's a hard job even in the minors, I have no doubt! I would honestly say that the minor leagues would make your job even harder! Yes mistakes can be made, and are made, but when you're in the minors do you have 47 angles, instant replay and a War Room to help you make the right decisions on your calls? There is no excuse for bulls*** calls being backed 100% blindly in a league like the NHL. Especially in the frequency we have been seeing.

And I have a terrible connection so I made this reply as I saw this post, before reading the rest of the thread. So, if I basically repeated someone else, I apologize.

[Nev 1,085]

Have you ever been to Sochi?" Bettman says with contempt. "Maybe you should go

Wanker.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

The main people he has to report to are the 30 business owners. Not the fans. I don't like Mr. Bean all that much and I think he dodges questions left/right when I read about them on here and the like, but if the owners are happy with him, he's doing his job.

[DEVILSWATERBOY 10]

Bettman Blows

[Carman 387]

One thing I'd like to add about the referees is, the NHL isn't alone in the boat with inconsistent reffing. Let's not forget the Galarraga perfect game, and the Calvin Johnson catch for local Detroit fans. Reffing isn't an easy thing and there are going to be mistakes.

I would like to see improvement on the simplicity of the rules though.

Edited September 23, 2010 by Carman

[eva unit zero 271]

One thing I'd like to add about the referees is, the NHL isn't alone in the boat with inconsistent reffing. Let's not forget the Galarraga perfect game, and the Calvin Johnson catch for local Detroit fans. Reffing isn't an easy thing and there are going to be mistakes.

I would like to see improvement on the simplicity of the rules though.

The Johnson catch was probably ruled correctly; the problem is that the Bears' TD pass earlier in the game should have been called incomplete based on the same rule, and wasn't. Consistency is the biggest issue; what exactly qualifies as a hook/trip/cross-check/etc. according to the rules? It's laid out in the rule, but it's not always called the same.

[Electrophile 3,554]

yes, you are

....and this thread is done in one. Good job! Last one out, turn off the lights.

I'm pretty sure the Miller Lite "Commish" makes it on that list over Bettman.

Neither Pud Lite or Bettman are very self-aware, but at least Selig will admit his officials (umpires) f*ck up occasionally. Gary seems to think refs and linesmen are omnipotent beings and how dare we question them.