Gary Bettman on WFAN/YES today at 5pm

[RangerBoy]

For listeners in the NY/NJ/CT/PA/RI/MA WFAN listening area and viewers who get YES,Bettman will be on with Mike Francesa

Click to read more...

 

[Scoogs]

Do they have a website that broadcasts it?

 

[bcrt2000]

no, but they post clips on www.wfan.com .. like the infamous one with Goodenow from last week

 

[GreenBud]

Too bad Mad Dog isn't in there as well today. I hope Fatcessa goes on the attack. Not likely though since these guys are pro-owner aren't they?

 

[GKJ]

Too bad Mad Dog isn't in there as well today. I hope Fatcessa goes on the attack. Not likely though since these guys are pro-owner aren't they?

Well, he said he wants to "get to the bottom of this."


If he thinks Bettman will say anything other than what Bettman wants people to hear, he's kidding himself.

 

[Dr Love]

Too bad Mad Dog isn't in there as well today.

Yeah, it means Francessa might actually take his eyes off the newspaper when he talks to people, and won't get up at every commerical break and come back late.

M&MD is rather entertaining if you never actually see it on YES.

 

[Leafer4Life]

Well, he said he wants to "get to the bottom of this."


If he thinks Bettman will say anything other than what Bettman wants people to hear, he's kidding himself.

I agree..........

 

[Dr Love]

Typing as fast as I can...

Bettman just said that even if he wanted to he probably couldn't get the season uncancelled. Said he was out ot dinner with Mario (?) and Wayne (?) on Friday has no idea where the rumors got started. Said the players asked for Mario and Wayne, and requested neither Bettman or Goodenow be there (which he was fine with), the players made no offer, discussed arbitration, qualifing offers... all things which have been discussed lots and lots of times, but no offer of a cap.

-IF there was a deal this weekend, he could not say either way if there would have been a season.

-"I'm anxious to meet with them everyday until we can get a deal."

-"I think this was a set up" (the Friday rumors), nobody called him or his people to confirm the rumors. Says he instructed his people to notify the AP and such that $5M March 3rd deal immenint rumor was 100% false.

EDIT:

More.... they'll have the audio up on their site later...

-Said the NHLPA called the meetings, called Wayne/Mario, and said that the NHL had an offer.

-"The fact of the matter is, 42.5 is a stretch, we probably would lose money the first year or two"

Bettman, to me, doesn't sound like he's sweating any of this, and sounds pretty candid. Francessa is lobbing him softballs, but that's expected.

-Could you have gotten a deal at $45M? "No."

Says the NHL and it's fans got set up this weekend by rumors and the media. He's pissed about it, but knows there's nothing he can really do about it. Wants a deal as soon as possible, says it's very tough to go above $42.5M.

At dinner on Friday, he, Wayne, and Mario were hopefully they could make a deal on Saturday. Viewed the PA calling those two in as a "good credibility point" for them. Says Wayne got set up too by the media rumors that he would only come in if it was a done deal. "The premise (to meet) was that this is the way they wanted to proceed.... it's not about faith, it's not about standing on ceremony, it's about saying okay we're open and we want to make a deal."

Revenue sharing 100-190 million (I'm pretty certain I heard that wrong), half from playoff revenue... if our profits are over a certain level, we'll split them 50/50... said that "that deal was the fairest offer (included a bunch of other things I can't type fast enough to write) and they didn't even look at it for 20 minutes."

-Doesn't worry about the credibility hit from this weekend, since there's no season there's not much lower they can go.

-What is the next step for you and the owners? "Meeting March 1st to focus on the next steps" RE: the draft and Crosby potential lawsuit: they're under no legal basis to hold the draft on a certain day, so that suit doesn't hold much water.

And that's about it, sorry I couldn't type faster but there's the meat. Francessa said they'll give the union equal time if they want it.

 

[Scoogs]

Typing as fast as I can...

Bettman just said that even if he wanted to he probably couldn't get the season uncancelled. Said he was out ot dinner with Mario (?) and Wayne (?) on Friday has no idea where the rumors got started. Said the players asked for Mario and Wayne, and requested neither Bettman or Goodenow be there (which he was fine with), the players made no offer, discussed arbitration, qualifing offers... all things which have been discussed lots and lots of times, but no offer of a cap.

-IF there was a deal this weekend, he could not say either way if there would have been a season.

-"I'm anxious to meet with them everyday until we can get a deal."

-"I think this was a set up" (the Friday rumors), nobody called him or his people to confirm the rumors. Says he instructed his people to notify the AP and such that $5M March 3rd deal immenint rumor was 100% false.

Thanks Dr.. NOW KEEP GOIN!

 

[mr gib]

no, but they post clips on www.wfan.com .. like the infamous one with Goodenow from last week

did you see that poll in the corner - 41 percent of fans will miss the nhl this year -

 

[MLH]

Basically he said what Eklund posted two days ago. This weekend was a PR stunt pulled by the PA and, if these boards are any indication, it worked well.

They were able to decieve people into no longer being Anti/Pro Owner/Player, but Anti/Pro Big Market/Small Maket.

 

[Briannj1970]

He had great sounding answers but I had some problems with some of what he said. First off, his contention of ownership being set up and allowing himself to come off as "naive" in the face of being set up (as he put it a few times). They acknowledge The Hockey News as being the guys who broke this (I can't wait to hear their story). During the course of a late dinner with Gretz and Lemieux, as ESPN has run with the story full steam ahead, Bettman has a statement put out through AP that there's nothing that's been done here. I did see that late on Friday myself, but it sure seemed like a token maneuver in light of everything else that was going on. Bettman should've done something through his broadcast partner, the network that was taking the ball and running with it, to dispel what was going on and he never did. On ESPNnews, most of the day, there was a "Deal Imminent" graphic on the bottom corner that was allowed to stay up until everything went haywire and nothing was done about it.

That little AP blurb on Friday, to me, was a token move to fall back on once everything was to fall through to be able to say, "The union had no intention of bargaining", to make them out to be the villain and the league to be the innocent victims.

And another thing....Gary Bettman presides over a billion dollar industry. He allows himself to be set up by a players union??????? Or does it unknowingly??????? He can't be that naive.

There were other bones of contention but those were the ones that really stand out. I'll have to hear it again but those really stuck out in my mind.

 

[Dr Love]

Basically he said what Eklund posted two days ago. This weekend was a PR stunt pulled by the PA and, if these boards are any indication, it worked well.

It's also along the lines of what Scott Burnside wrote...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?id=1994836

 

[Leafer4Life]

Thanks, Dr Love, for typing that up for us!

 

[GKJ]

And another thing....Gary Bettman presides over a billion dollar industry. He allows himself to be set up by a players union??????? Or does it unknowingly??????? He can't be that naive.

Exactly. He isn't into the pomp and circumstance of the procedure, yet he partook in it.


What Bettman had to say really only holds water if the PA doesn't respond to it.


This is all just a he said/she said load of ****


Bettman also said that he thinks that either the stories that players union being splintered is all just a scam, or that if there are splinters in the union they're being suppressed and no one is speaking up.

 

[GreenBud]

Great interview. I'm now more firmly entrenched on the owners side then ever before and anxiously await my run-in with Linden at my gym.

Hopefully, Goodenow will take Francesa's offer and come back on with his retorts. That would be great!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dr Love]

Thanks, Dr Love, for typing that up for us!

No problem. Remember, it's just one side of the story though. That said... Bettman came off as very open, very candid, kind of like during the press conference but a little more composed (understandably). Given the horribleness of Goodenow's press conference and WFAN interview, I have little doubt that Goodenow will change my view of what Bettman said, but I'll give him a listen if he comes on.

And another thing....Gary Bettman presides over a billion dollar industry. He allows himself to be set up by a players union??????? Or does it unknowingly??????? He can't be that naive.

Agreed, but he's going off of what he's being told. I can fault him but only to a point IF what he said about the PA's stated intentions were true... which we'll never know because there's no way Goodenow confirms that they said one thing and then did another at the table.

 

[Scoogs]

The interview is now up on the website. Listening right now.

 

[Icey]

Typing as fast as I can...

Bettman just said that even if he wanted to he probably couldn't get the season uncancelled. Said he was out ot dinner with Mario (?) and Wayne (?) on Friday has no idea where the rumors got started. Said the players asked for Mario and Wayne, and requested neither Bettman or Goodenow be there (which he was fine with), the players made no offer, discussed arbitration, qualifing offers... all things which have been discussed lots and lots of times, but no offer of a cap.

At dinner on Friday, he, Wayne, and Mario were hopefully they could make a deal on Saturday. Viewed the PA calling those two in as a "good credibility point" for them. Says Wayne got set up too by the media rumors that he would only come in if it was a done deal. "The premise (to meet) was that this is the way they wanted to proceed.... it's not about faith, it's not about standing on ceremony, it's about saying okay we're open and we want to make a deal."

Well somebody is lying here. Wayne said in his interview on TSN that his plane did not even land Friday night until 10:00 PM, yet Bettman says they had dinner together???

No matter whose side you are on, neither one is telling the entire story. The media shares most of the blame in this last situation, and they should be ashamed of themselves. The Hockey News especially owes every NHL fan, GM, Player, Owner etc. an apology. Guess they have never heard about verifying their sources.

Even if the PA did "leak" those rumors, which I don't totally buy, how is it any different than Bettman sending the letters he sent to Goodenow earlier in the week. Until they take this fight out of the media, this won't be resolved. Stop airing their dirty laundry and get the deal done.

 

[NYIsles1*]

To be fair both sides on Friday denied all these rumors of a 45m deal and issued statements. Bettman can say he was set up by the PA but it seems both sides were set up by the Hockey News and those sources which just were completely wrong.

I guess folks did not care to hear the denials or they were not strong enough but they were made, we have the threads from Friday to prove as much.

How many times has E.J Hradek's info been completely wrong these last few weeks?

My count is at three.

In the end Bettman confirmed what he hedged at during his press conference which was he do a few hundred thousand more. No chance at 45m, he was not given that authority.

If the PA specifically wanted Gretzky and Lemieux they got what they wanted, but apparently they did not get what they wanted to hear from them.

 

[NYIsles1*]

No matter whose side you are on, neither one is telling the entire story. The media shares most of the blame in this last situation, and they should be ashamed of themselves. The Hockey News especially owes every NHL fan, GM, Player, Owner etc. an apology. Guess they have never heard about verifying their sources.

Look how weak the hockey media is in the US? Most of the people doing interviews are as bad as these sources and many barely know their own market much less outside markets.

Look at Francesa who could not name ten players on the local teams in his own market but talks about the Ranger revenue streams like a hockey finance expert based on his clearly limited research. He has no clue the Rangers claim to lose more money than any team according to Bettman's own audit. Meanwhile they cannot fill their own building with the highest payrolls in NHL history and have awful ratings.

That's a fine point I would have loved to see Francesa hit Bettman with but he does not know because he's not well-preparred.

 

[mr gib]

For listeners in the NY/NJ/CT/PA/RI/MA WFAN listening area and viewers who get YES,Bettman will be on with Mike Francesa

i'm listening to this off the site - wow - this is crazy!

 

[Hire Sather]

Preview of Goodenow's interview with MIKE Francessa.

"NO, CHRIS, if you would listen to me..."

"If you will let me respond, CHRIS.."

"CHRIS, I'm not gunna raise my voice.."

"If you heard earlier, I told you it was false, CHRIS"

They will both be there tomarrow, though.. so it should be fun. If he even goes on which I'm doubting.

 

[Lou is God]

To be fair both sides on Friday denied all these rumors of a 45m deal and issued statements. Bettman can say he was set up by the PA but it seems both sides were set up by the Hockey News and those sources which just were completely wrong.

That's the thing, were this story of a deal was done in principal and they would uncancel the season come from? THN's said it was a player that told them that, now if Panger, Hradelk and Melrose among others who were quoted saying that this was a done deal come out and confirm that their sources were also players, than I'm smelling a big ole rat here. To me it's looking more and more like that this was nothing but a ploy by the players to put pressure onto the owners in hope that once the public is convinced that there is a settlement the owners hoping to avoid a embarrassing scene would settle.

I read both Wayne and Mario were also disgusted to find out how unprepared the NHLPA was at the meeting and that they never had a counter offer to begin with, so it's looking more and more like the union started this meeting without ever planning to negotiate in good faith and at the same time using the fans emotions as bait.

I think it's safe to say I've never been more disgusted in my life as a hockey fan as I am right now.

 

[GKJ]

Well somebody is lying here. Wayne said in his interview on TSN that his plane did not even land Friday night until 10:00 PM, yet Bettman says they had dinner together???

Bettman said it was a "late dinner."