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There seems to be nearly a consensus among real hockey fans that Bettman is a self serving idiot and that he is damaging the NHL so how do we get rid of him?

2007-10-01 09:11:46 · 11 answers · asked by megalomaniac 7 in Sports Hockey

There are so many stupid decisions but lets start with the unbalanced schedule. We play the same team 8 times a year and then don't play some teams at all? Thats ridiculous (especially for us Canadian fans who want to maintain at least some traditional contact with the other teams)

He is also continually blocking any attempts to get another NHL team in Canada. He doesn't respect the fact that Canadians are his meal ticket (we provide the majority of the players and per capita the majority of the money)

Besides its not all about money and thats what he doesn't understand. He's taken our beloved sport and turned it into a ruthless business (yeah sure there has always been a business side to it and I accept that but its far more than just a business to the majority of what I consider REAL fans)

2007-10-01 09:25:31 · update #1

Mr 'Like I'm Telling You' you have obviously done your homework and are quite knowledgeable (hats off) and while I agree that its not all Bettman's fault (I agree that greedy agents and owners are a big part of the problem) but I couldn't disagree with you more that its 'all about the money'. You could take away ALL professional hockey and hockey would not go away - its the passion for the game that keeps it alive NOT the money. Thats what Bettman doesn't understand either that love of the game is more important to real hockey fans than the financial aspect of it.

2007-10-01 14:17:50 · update #2

11 answers

I say we all form a riot, or mob and march up to his house take him out kicking and screaming and throw him in jail for being a douche bag !

Stupid little weasel !

2007-10-01 09:23:54 · answer #1 · answered by Habs Fan30 3 · 1 2

I don't like Bettman either, but I don't think it's his fault.

1. Look at Wirtz, he drove his franchise into the ground, not Bettman.

2. Look at player salaries. Sure, I'm all for people getting the pay that they deserve....but seriously, other than Boston who else thought Martin Lapointe was worth $5MM a year?

I'm a lawyer, between 1990 and 2005 my salary went from just over $400,000 to just over $600,000, an increase of 50%. In America, the average increase in that time was 17% (so I feel grateful). Yet....the average NHL salary went from $334K in 1994 to $2.1MM in 2004. 600% increase. That was the agents, GMs and owners my friend, not Bettman.

It could be worse....I grew up in Philadelphia and my dad was a friend of Ed Snider;'s, but if he were commissioner...I don't know where we would be. Or John Spanos? remember him? He tried to buy the Islanders with no money a decade ago? Imagine him as commissioner!

I think that the league needs new owners, the Sniders, Jacobs, Wirtz', Ballards, McNalls, need to go. So do the teams that can't stabilize themselves financially like Nashville, or Phoenix (that team has had 4 owners in the last 10 years).

I love the game, and I love my Flyers and Islanders, but I donlt trust the owners and managements of the teams.

2007-10-01 17:24:24 · answer #2 · answered by Trevor R NYC 3 · 1 0

Gary Bettman has:

locked the players out twice in his tenure, once right after the 94 finals...when we were rivaling the NBA for popularity...he used to work there...what a coincidence!

cost us an entire season, the first time in professional sports history

expanded needlessly, to ill advised markets

lost our ESPN deal, moved us to OLN...they did ok with the coverage, so now we are with an even more obscure network...somebody explain that logic to me.

Is fining the Rangers $100,000 per day, starting 10/1 for refusing to relinquish full control of the team's website to the league...folks, they can't market their way out of a paper bag...and the Rangers folks are doing a bang up job.
The Rangers are suing the league in federal court for this.

failure to promote this game aggressively, right here and now, when the other three majors are sweating scandals.

Now is the time to promote our game...and where is dear Gary? he is going to run the NHL into the ground! and the greedy corporate owners are going to let him.

I don't know what we can do, but the minute I do know, I am guarateed to participate.

2007-10-01 16:30:09 · answer #3 · answered by Icewomanblockstheshot 6 · 4 0

First of all, what has Bettman done to damage the NHL?

How have you measured this 'damage'?


1. The teams have been playing each other 8x a year in their own division since 1981, 12 years before Bettman. From 1945 to 1967 they played each other 12x and 14x a year.

2. When has he blocked an attempt to put another team in Canada. Mario Lemieux broke off the deal with Balsillie for Pittsburgh (Mario claims he put the 25 clauses in the contract) and Leipold pulled the plug on Balsillie because he didn't want to see his 'baby' moved.

Winnipeg? Shenkarow and company put the team up for sale years before Bettman took over and there were no buyers until the group from Phoenix came along, even then after completing the sale, Shenkarow kept the team in Winnipeg for another year and lost more money.

Quebec? That's just Marcel Aubut being greedy. he wanted the government of Quebec to finance his losses and build him a new arena. The government said no, so he left.

These last two cases had nothing to do with Bettman, these were two owners who wanted to stop their losses and did the only option that they really had.

3. It is ALL about money. Without the money, there is no sport............as people in Winnipeg, Carolina, and Quebec City have discovered, and as people in Nashville will soon discover. This has always been a ruthless business, and always will be a ruthless business.


I'm not a Bettman fan, I know the guy, and don;t like him. BUt people need to get their facts straight and realize that the sport is being killed by agents and owners and not by commissioners.

As stated earlier, the owners adopted this division rivalry scheduling system 27 years ago, not the commissioner.

Player agents drive the average salary from $78,000 in 1980 to $2+ million in 2005, not the commissioner.

Owners who sell their teams determine where the team goes, not the commissioner.

The names of the divisions and conferences were chosen bu a committee of owners, players, scouts, and managers..........not by the commissioner.

Everybody says....'It happened on his watch'...........but nobody offers what they would have done better.

Sign a deal with ESPN people say..............they offered the NHL less than $1MM per team, the owners overwhelmingly voted against it. What was Bettman to do? What would you do? When your boss(es) tell you to do something, do you go ahead and go against it?

The Pittsburgh and Nashville sales. Because these were sales, there was nothing to positively or negatively impact the owners. The cases were different however, Mario had a binding deal...................but wanted to ensure the Penguins stayed in Pittsburgh, a fact he's made public. Leipold, didn't have a binding agreement, and was still listening to offers. In the long run, Pittsburgh is better for the owners than Hamilton because there is more money in the city. Hamilton however would have benefited the NHL in that a local TV deal would have exceeded the value of Nashville's local deal.

Having said that, I think Bettman has made some poor choices. I'm not real crazy about Daly. Too much legal, not enough passion. Colin Campbell, wasn't that geat a player, no better as a VP.

However, with attendance and revenues at all-time highs, and Canadian ratings near all-time highs, and American ratings staying stagnant for 30 years, it's hard to say there is damage.

2007-10-01 16:18:11 · answer #4 · answered by Like I'm Telling You Who I A 7 · 6 6

The OLN/Vs. deal has been damaging in the U.S. and how Bettman interfered with the Nashiville sale to Jim Balsillie was just shameful.

The only way to rid of Bettman would be a boycott of the NHL which only hurts ourselves

He is just too much in bed with owners and seems to have a small allegiance of apologists who always shift blame. I've never gotten how people will try and spin that the OLN deal was the best deal. What he has done to Canada is just terrible but that is Gary Bettman is all about the non-fans/haters over the fans/players.

2007-10-01 16:49:54 · answer #5 · answered by Glen Greene 4 · 1 2

If we want to get rid of Bettman, the only way to do it is to start pressuring the owners of our favourite teams. Direct action. The owners aren't going to mess with the status quo until it becomes obvious that their fans are pissed off about it enough to stop buying their products.

The league has slid way downhill under Bettman's reign. I don't know if you can really say it's completely his fault, but it's definitely time for a change.

2007-10-01 16:46:22 · answer #6 · answered by Expat Mike 7 · 2 0

catch him in some scandalous activity and pressure him to move on, I hate the fact that he has taken the sport of hockey and made it more of a business than anything else, the fans should make a class action suit, sue the crap out of him, and put the money back into the league !

2007-10-01 16:56:03 · answer #7 · answered by Teal Blue 2 · 0 2

Get rid of the current owners. They hired him to make them money. He expanded into stupid places and they agreed to do it because its free money to them.

2007-10-01 16:27:21 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

Just "forget" to look over your shoulder when you shift the Zamboni into Reverse.

Also jk.

2007-10-01 19:14:07 · answer #9 · answered by San B 5 · 1 0

Slip some poison into his drink...

I hope he steps down soon...for the love of God step down Bettman, if you truly care about hockey you will step down.

2007-10-01 16:22:30 · answer #10 · answered by McMoose--RIPYAHS 6 · 2 2

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