Gary Bettman
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Gary Bruce Bettman (born on June 2, 1952 in Queens, New York) is a former NBA executive who took office as the commissioner of the National Hockey League on February 1, 1993. He was brought in to try to give the NHL some of the same success the NBA (where Bettman served as the assistant general counsel under his mentor David Stern beginning in 1981) has had in the United States.
Bettman studied labor relations at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and graduated in 1974. After receiving a law degree from New York University in 1977, Bettman joined a large New York City law firm.
Bettman's policies in the NHL have included the aggressive (albeit non-traditional) expansion of the league in the southern and western United States. This expansion led to NHL teams being created in Columbus, Atlanta, Florida (Miami), and teams moving from Hartford and Winnipeg to Raleigh and Phoenix respectively. Soon after Bettman took office, the NHL's divisions were renamed to reflect geography (a la the NBA) rather than the league's history (i.e. the Wales & Campbell Conferences). In addition, the league adopted a two-referee system; goal lines, blue lines and defensive-zone circles were moved, and playoff formats were changed.
In 1998, Bettman allowed NHL players to compete in the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. This marked the first time that NHL players were allowed to compete in the Olympics. To serve as a tie-in to the Olympics, the All-Star Game altered the format to become a match-up of players from North America against players from everywhere else in the world (effectively Europe). This format was abandoned in 2003 when the All-Star Game returned to the traditional conference vs. conference format.
In 2004 negotiations commenced for a new collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Players Association. As of August 2004, Bettman has consistently demanded what he calls cost certainty for clubs. However, NHLPA head Bob Goodenow, along with most of the NHLPA membership, calls Bettman's "cost certainty" a euphemism for a salary cap; the union has long opposed a salary cap. The current CBA expired on September 15, 2004 (one day after the World Cup of Hockey final in Toronto). A current lockout has cost the NHL the entire 2004-2005 season.
In January 2005, Bettman was named one of Business Week's five worst executives. Included in the list of reasons were the NHL lockout, the league's poor television contract, and constantly declining revenues. He has often been criticized for not knowing much about the game itself, that he focuses only on making money rather than improving the game as motivation for his policies, for trying to 'Americanize' the sport, and under-appreciating the cultural importance of the game in Canada.
During Bettman's tenure, four franchises have declared bankruptcy (the Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Los Angeles Kings), two Canadian teams relocated to U.S. cities (Winnipeg to Phoenix and Quebec to Colorado), the Hartford Whalers moved to North Carolina and became the Carolina Hurricanes, the 1994-95 season was reduced to 48 games due to a labor dispute, and in 2004, he signed a two-year television deal with NBC that may not guarantee the league revenue.
Gary continues to be a prominent member and activist in the Queens Jewish Community.
External links
- Gary Bettman Sucks (http://www.garybettmansucks.com/)
- RemoveBettman.com (http://www.removebettman.com/news.php)
- The tipping point (http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpdDcyMnNwBF9TAzk1ODYxODgzBHNlYwN0bQ--?slug=dw-nhlexpansion011905&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)