Gary Bettman
Gary Bettman
Gary Bruce Bettmanis the commissioner of the National Hockey League, a post he has held since February 1, 1993. Previously, Bettman was a senior vice-president and general counsel to the National Basketball Association. Bettman is a graduate of Cornell University and New York University School of Law...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSports Executive
Date of Birth2 June 1952
CityQueens, NY
CountryUnited States of America
hockey player games
When you take off that sweater, your jersey, after today's game, you will be the last player in the NHL to ever wear 99. You have always been and you will always be 'The Great One,' and there will never be another.
regret hockey people
We profoundly regret the suffering this has caused our fans, our business partners and the thousands of people who depend on our industry for their livelihoods. If you want to know how I feel, I'll summarize it in one word - terrible.
giving-up kids dont-give-up
My message to the kids and our fans is hockey's a great game. There's a lot of hockey being played at all levels. Get involved, do it. We will be back and we will be back better than ever and hopefully as soon as possible. Don't give up on the game. It's too good.
decides depends guy playoffs putting whistle work
How long you work in the playoffs is discretionary. It depends how well you are working. And if a guy decides he's putting the whistle away, then he's done.
cap exactly
The cap is working exactly how it was intended.
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In places where there still are some empty seats, there are fewer empty seats than there were in the past. I didn't expect we'd come back from the work stoppage to 100 per cent of capacity overnight, but the fact that we're up 5 per cent is spectacular. I knew that when we got everything put to bed and fixed the right way, the result would be compelling enough that our fans would respond.
cable continued improvement judge year
If you want to judge this (TV deal) on one year experience, I don?t think you?re being fair. Over time, we think we are going to see continued improvement on the cable coverage.
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In an increasingly dynamic sports and entertainment marketplace, new technology and entertainment vehicles have impacted the way sports leagues function and how we deliver the NHL experience to our business partners and fans,
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The entry draft is one of the most important events on our calendar, as it marks the culmination of one season and casts all eyes toward the bright future that awaits.
cynics destroyed fans following nobody obviously predicting taking year
The cynics were predicting that by taking a year off, which obviously is something nobody wanted to do, we would have destroyed our following and our fans would never come back,
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All of our proposals have been intended to create a framework where we're paying the players what we can afford to pay. ... We simply want to run the National Hockey League in a way where we're paying the players their fair share - namely, what we can afford.
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In many quarters, there was a constant suggestion over the last year that the situation we found ourselves in would result in tremendous damage and that's not the case,