Al Morganti's thoughts on this being all about Bettman's fault

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ObeySteve

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On the local TV show Daily News Live here in Philadelphia, Al Morganti spoke about his thoughts on the lockout.

His main focus was on the idea that Gary Bettman is the main reason for the NHL's poor financial situation, and he is only pushing for a hard cap to cover his own åss. He listed several examples of Bettman's dark history of poor decisions made over the past decade, everything from the piss poor TV deals to the direct correlation between Bettman's tenure and the diminishing quality of the product on the ice. Morganti says that if Bettman does not get a hard cap (which he believes there is no chance of a hard cap), then Bettman's job will be in crisis.

Personally, I couldn't agree more.

Hell....with all Morganti said, he still forgot many of the factors of Bettman's decisions contributing greatly to the frightening economic situation of the NHL. Over-expansion as well as little attempt to promote the product (and specifically the players, which clearly is what gets leagues exposure....see European soccer, the NBA, MLB, and NFL) are just two examples of the countless amount of decisions (and lack thereof) on Bettman's part that have crippled the NHL.
 
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Licentia

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ObeySteve said:
On the local TV show Daily News Live here in Philadelphia, Al Morganti spoke about his thoughts on the lockout.

His main focus was on the idea that Gary Bettman is the main reason for the NHL's poor financial situation, and he is only pushing for a hard cap to cover his own åss. He listed several examples of Bettman's dark history of poor decisions made over the past decade, everything from the piss poor TV deals to the direct correlation between Bettman's tenure and the diminishing quality of the product on the ice. Morganti says that if Bettman does not get a hard cap (which he believes there is no chance of a hard cap), then Bettman's job will be in crisis.

Personally, I couldn't agree more.

I heard on TheScore today, that people were giving Bettman A+'s for how he did on tv contracts, and in some other areas like expansion.
 

ObeySteve

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Um....I'd like to hear an argument on how Bettman deserves an A+ for the TV contracts and his policy of rapid expansion.

If expansion has been a success, then why are there less Americans watching hockey now (with 24 American franchises) than there were 10 years ago with 6 or 7 less American franchises?

The purpose of expansion in professional sports is to bring in more fans. Expansion during Bettman's tenure has, if anything, had the reverse affect for the NHL.
 
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hockeytown9321

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I think in Canada there's a different grading scale. It goes CDBAE. :)

I've said all along they when the owners fold (and rest assured, Mr Bettman, they will) Bettman will be the fall guy.
 

Licentia

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ObeySteve said:
Um....I'd like to hear an argument on how Bettman deserves an A+ for the TV contracts and his policy of rapid expansion.

If expansion has been a success, then why are there less Americans watching hockey now (with 24 American franchises) than there were 10 years ago with 6 or 7 less American franchises?

The purpose of expansion in professional sports is to bring in more fans. Expansion during Bettman's tenure has, if anything, had the reverse affect for the NHL.

I ain't arguing. I would like Gretzky to take over as Commissioner. He knows the game.
 

Other Dave

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ObeySteve said:
If expansion has been a success, then why are there less Americans watching hockey now (with 24 American franchises) than there were 10 years ago with 6 or 7 less American franchises?

I'm very interested in seeing your figures on this.

Don't forget to include both attendance and regional cable viewers on top of any US national broadcast figures.
 

Bruwinz37

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Yes, Bettman has done a terrible job, but that is neither here no there now. Changes need to be made in order for this league to survive and be somewhat healthy. Arguing fault gets us nowhere.
 

DownFromNJ

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If expansion has been a success, then why are there less Americans watching hockey now (with 24 American franchises) than there were 10 years ago with 6 or 7 less American franchises?

Because back then LA, NY, and Chicago were good.

Expansion is a good thing.
 

Robert Paulson*

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I'd give anything to get Bettman fired.. I'd give up a lot.

I'm just tired of all the whining and moaning about this. If there's no hockey at all this year, oh well. If half the teams in the NHL fold, oh well.
sad-smiley-054.gif


I won't be shedding any tears, just frowning upon whoever is to blame for completely ****ing up something that could have been (and once was) great.
 
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ceber

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I remember reading somewhere that Bettman got the league it's first ever big national TV contract. Apparently it should have been bigger?

Remember his mandate when hired, and who hired him. I think the people who hired him are probably pretty happy with what he's done. What people think Bettman's responsible for and what he's actually responsible for are different things, and what people think doing a good job is and what his bosses think doing a good job is are also probably different things.
 

Motown Beatdown

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ceber said:
I remember reading somewhere that Bettman got the league it's first ever big national TV contract. Apparently it should have been bigger?

Remember his mandate when hired, and who hired him. I think the people who hired him are probably pretty happy with what he's done. What people think Bettman's responsible for and what he's actually responsible for are different things, and what people think doing a good job is and what his bosses think doing a good job is are also probably different things.



Really i found your statemate odd, if the people who hired him are losing money to no end like they say. How could they be happy with his job?
 

ceber

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JWI19 said:
Really i found your statemate odd, if the people who hired him are losing money to no end like they say. How could they be happy with his job?

Because the reason they are losing money is _they_ caved in during the last negotiation, against Bettman's recommendation (if I recall correctly). That also could be why they are so united this time; they realize he was right.
 

ej_pens

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ObeySteve said:
Um....I'd like to hear an argument on how Bettman deserves an A+ for the TV contracts and his policy of rapid expansion.

4 expansion teams approved by Bettman is "rapid expansion"?
 

Vlad The Impaler

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Ceber got it right. People would like to blame every problem the NHL has on Bettman when he is often not to blame.

He is also correct, unless my memory is completely ****ed up that the reason the owners are in such deep **** is because they (dumbly) went against Bettman's recommendations last time. One of the most spectacularly stupid decision ever.

As for the expansion, that's one thing I did not like but it remains to be seen how much Bettman is to blame for that. The owners couldn't wait to get those dollars. You can bet your ass they were looking forward to these expansions even moreso than Bettman. They were terribly misguided because much too fast.

In Canada, Bettman is absolutely hated because his arrivaal coincides with the loss of two Canadian franchises. When in fact, he has very little to do with it. The problem was twofold:

The owners refused to listen to Gary and face the players like men in CBA issues and this is why they lost Quebec *immediately* when they signed that deal.

The second reason why Canadian teams have struggled is because of dollars and market issues. Canadians can't blaame the ****ing dollar on Bettman. We have nothing but ourselves to blame for this because of a traditional lack of backbone as a country. Our "solution" to the globaal market is to drive our dollar down to attract others instead of growing a ****ing spine and becoming an attractive country through excellence. Gary couldn't attract large companies to economic stinkholes like Quebec and Winnipeg himself either.

It just became a trend to blame this guy and the sheeps followed suit. Yes, he's got faults, but he's hired by the owners with an owners' mandate. And you can be damn sure that when the owners do not want to follow his recommendations, they don't. Ironically, this is precisely why they are in this mess.

The owners are in the driver seat, not Bettman. You think because you see Bettmaan's ugly mug on TV that the words are his and his only. That's his job, to take the heat. He's in large part aa spokesman for a large group. When the NHL expaands he's not the one getting a fat check.

Quite frankly, I don't think he knows much about hockey but then again the owners wanted something that qualified in other areas first and foremost and that's why they chose him.

His TV deal is not that bad, BTW. It would be fun if hockey was more popular but that is a difficult (and very slow) thing to achieve in the US. For the on-ice products, Gary can't do much. I don't think he has much weight on those matters. If he has, that's solely because the owners are *complete fools*. I'd never let some executive wuss with no hockey history dictate this sport. It's entirely up to the owners to give Bettman all the support he needs and guide him.

In fact, the lame chaanges that have been proposed recently were worked up by Colin Campbell and NHLGMs like Milbury and a few others. Not much to do with Bettman.

Gary's tenure also haappened at a moment where the sport is redefining itself because very smart guys like Jacques Lemaire found amazing strategic systems, goalies got bigger, are technically light years ahead of what they were 20 years ago and handle the puck like crazy. Some fans don't like that.

Then they marvel when they look at old tapes where some chumps 20 years ago take weakass shots past NHL goalies who couldn't play their angle any better than the average CHL goalie today, after going around defensemen who couldn't turn for **** while the defending forwards are all scratching their balls in the O zone, out of breath because they smoke a pack a day and got drunk at the titty bar the previous night.

Not everything that has changed in the NHL is because of Bettman. In fact, very few things are.
 

H/H

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During the last decade, Bettman have signed deals that meant LESS NHL games on national TV in the US. Tell me how that can garner an A+
 

Rabid Ranger

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H/H said:
During the last decade, Bettman have signed deals that meant LESS NHL games on national TV in the US. Tell me how that can garner an A+

He's kept the NHL on national television, that's an accomplishment in itself.
 

Legolas

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The reason Bettman takes blame is because:

1) He's the most visible face of the NHL so his actual responsibility is almost a moot point because anytime the league screws up, he's the one people blame;

2) He's not Canadian and came from the NBA - two facts which should not matter at all, but some people see him as a non-hockey guy for those two reasons alone, which I personally think are irrelevant;

3) He promised to turn the NHL into the next NBA when he was hired, if not explicitly, that's why he was hired. He was David Stern's right hand man, he had a history of dealing with NBC on television contracts and the NBA at the time was a marketing and merchandising juggernaut. The NHL wanted that same growth. Bettman delivered it to a certain extent, but because the NHL remained the fourth pro league and was even surpassed by NASCAR and other sports, he gets the blame for that;

4) He presided over the moving of Quebec, Winnipeg and Minnesota during his tenure. Was he also the guy in place when Hartford moved? I can't remember. There was a community group in Winnipeg ready to buy the Jets and Bettman vetoed that proposal and allowed the team to be moved to Phoenix. Moreover, he hasn't even thought about returning to those cities at all, where in the rare instances when a franchise has moved in the NBA and NFL, both leagues immediately made sure there were replacement franchises there right away.

I think Bettman has actually done a good job off the ice. The Fox and ABC television deals were quite lucrative and at the time they were signed, no one could understand why or how the NHL was even able to get deals like that (particularly the ABC deal). The most recent NBC deal is a joke though, and if anything that's the epitome of Bettman's tenure. The on-ice product dropped off so drastically during his watch that it almost didn't matter what he did off the ice revenue wise. His product deteriorated and all he did was continue to sell it instead of taking steps to fix it. If the NHL was a better product, I think Bettman has the credentials to maximize revenues off of it. The problem is he has been so concerned with growing revenues, he's let the game die and now he doesn't have a viable product to sell anymore.
 

J-D

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Vlad The Impaler said:
Then they marvel when they look at old tapes where some chumps 20 years ago take weakass shots past NHL goalies who couldn't play their angle any better than the average CHL goalie today, after going around defensemen who couldn't turn for **** while the defending forwards are all scratching their balls in the O zone, out of breath because they smoke a pack a day and got drunk at the titty bar the previous night.

Not everything that has changed in the NHL is because of Bettman. In fact, very few things are.

LOL. That's funny and sad, but true.
 
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