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Gary Bettman is carrying out his mandate as directed by his employers, the NHL Board of Governors. He isn't doing anything they haven't asked of him. He is doing a fine job.
Its a giant ****** or a turd sandwich.Evil Chris said:If Bettman is so bad, why are the majority of people here backing him?
Astaroth said:I cannot believe that the majority of people are voting to keep this clown around, it just shows how deluded some people are. I don't care if you're supremely pro-owner and want the players to make 10$ an hour but you cannot tell me this guy has not failed the nhl. He has overexpanded the league, didn't reinvest the one-time cash boom of new teams and new arenas, negotiated a tv deal is a complete joke and basically killed the NHL as a major 4 sport. In 1994 we were poised to take over the USA, now we have lower ratings than bowling and poker and that's before the lockout. If there is no season, hell even if there is a season at this point, people are going to see just how insignificant hockey will have become to the American public. 2 billion industry? Please we'll be lucky to be at a 1.5, 1 billion industry if this lockout is resolved soon. The CBA has nothing to do with this. I am still actually relatively pro-owner in terms of what needs to be done in a fiancial aspect.
I thnk he was being sarastic (or at least facetious)Epsilon said:Wow some people have really swallowed the kool-aid.
The NHL was hot why? Because the states won the World Cup and the NYR won the cup (see the cover of SI). A sport will always be popular if New York is a champion.Accord said:Back in the early 90's, one issue of Sports Illustrated had on the cover "The NHL is hot, the NBA is not" or something along those lines, that will never happen again so long as Bettman is at the helm, he destroyed the league.
Let's also gave major credit to New Jersey and Vancouver for also putting on a great show because a Ranger Stanley Cup sweep by itself would have been as memorable or lasting for the NHL as Detroit ending it's run without a cup a few years later.The Iconoclast said:The Rangers had just won the Stanley Cup. Its always great news when New York wins something, especially when you are trying to sell a TV contract.
outKast said:Gary is fighting the good fight for all us fans.
Shane said:Someone please remind me, why would the owners fire someone for doing what they want? The hardline on the cap? That's the owners. Bettman is just their representative.
Don't shoot the messenger...
FLYLine4LIFE said:Gary is the Messenger? I dont think so. Gary is calling all the shots. Sure he gains support from some GMS but he is certainly not taking orders from the owners and just acting as messenger.
FLYLine4LIFE said:Gary is the Messenger? I dont think so. Gary is calling all the shots. Sure he gains support from some GMS but he is certainly not taking orders from the owners and just acting as messenger.
NYIsles1 said:Regarding Bettman his only mistake was trying to save the NHL season in 1995 and agreeing to play hockey with a system that failed while Goodenow was ready to accept a cap.
chriss_co said:You don't fire someone because of mistakes they made in the past. You fire them for the mistakes they make presently. Everyone makes mistakes. If you want to fire someone because of them, do it after he made the mistakes. Don't wait 10 years before you fire him and base it on his actions 10 years ago.
IMO, Bettman made his mistakes. But now he is trying to correct them. If he loses on the CBA, then he should be fired. But for the way he is conducting the CBA negotiations right now, I see no reason for firing him. I commend him for a job well done.
Astaroth said:What? ... He didn't make his mistakes ten years ago and then suddenly I want to fire him ten years later. The incompetent man has been making his mistakes all over his tenure, starting from ten years ago. I want to fire his sorry butt because he's been a terrible manager of the game.
Yah! He's trying to correct his mistakes, commendable not mabye ultimately futile. Even if the owners win this CBA, they might have won the battle but lost the war. As I stated, the NHL might never recover as a major sport and if that happens Bettman is to blame. Not only him of course but he's definetly part of the equation.
I just feel that the commish shouldn't someone who doesn't jack about the game.
chriss_co said:What has he done wrong lately? The thing everyone harps on Bettman for is expansion to markets that don't necessarily have an interest in the sport. In hind sight, this was a horrible decision BUT the millions of dollars that came in definitely fueled the league (it even allowed small market teams to stay alive longer since they were given expansion money for several years). Plus, believe it or not, they did expose southern americans to the game of hockey (even if they didn't particularly like it).
Exactly right. Some people see him as some evil dictator when he's just the public face of the owners. It's really kind of funny.Mayor of MacAppolis said:Gary Bettman is carrying out his mandate as directed by his employers, the NHL Board of Governors. He isn't doing anything they haven't asked of him. He is doing a fine job.
I never said he went ahead with expansion for small market teams. I'm not even a supporter of expansion. All I am saying is that at the time there were positives for going ahead with expansion. But yes, expansion money did allow small market teams to live longer. Without that extra $10 million each year, you would already see several small market teams gone... i think the best example is Edmonton. During the expansion years, they were already running their "save the oiler's" campaign. Now, imagine them without that extra $10 million... they'd be already goneAstaroth said:What you cited, the expansion is one fo my main gripes with him. The expansion money didn't let small market teams live longer. You're deluded if you think he's doing this for small market teams. All that money that came from expansion were just plainy burnt away on salaries.
But yet you criticize the league's marketing?Yes exposing them to the game is clearly worth the situation we are in right now...
So you are suggesting that Bettman shouldn't have locked the season out. Instead he should have let 6-7 or more fringe teams just fold? or even better - move to cities in the states that dont give 2 cents about hockey but because of the owners, can support a hockey franchise?What has he done wrong lately? How about this stupid lockout! Man if the season is lost, hockey might never recover from this.
That is debatable. The league did attempt to start negotiations about the CBA two years ago and the PA said no. I think at the time the league was willing to accept a tough luxory tax. But since then, with all the bankruptcies and swirling salaries with no end in sight, the league has been forced to change its view on how to save the game. I dont think the NHL can survive (30 healthy teams in their current locations) if we use a progressive CBA system.However you don't try to imposed a hard cap on a completly free market system. You do it in several progressive CBAs. If you don't this is what we have, potentially a lost season and many more.
I dont know about the marketing in other sports but I dont see any negatives in the NHL's marketing ploy. Much of it is how much the media covers and thats not something the NHL can directly control. I guess its also different in every city. So since i dont live in the states, its hard for me to comment on marketing.The man doesn't know nothing about the game, nothing! Have you ever seen NHL marketing? Terrible, just f**king terrible. Whatever, I obviously feel that he's grossly incompetent and he should leave. But obviously it can be done now because of the cba cold war but in an ideal world he would ahve been fired long ago.
outKast said:Gary is fighting the good fight for all us fans. He should stand strong with our support. With his CBA blue print, we'll have lower ticket prices, team equality, a better product on ice, and end talks of teams being moved to other cities. Edmonton is counting on Gary Betman to fix this system