Bettman (His Legacy if this is settled)

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c-carp

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I think all in all he has been a horrible commisoner

He doesnt really know or even care about the game, he has done a lot of bad things ie overexpansion on his watch Will this all be forgotten if this thing gets settled. I hope he doesnt go down as some kind of savior just because the NHL Owners decided to get their house in order on his watch.

What do you all think

Bettman Yea or Nay on his overall job as commish.
 

Go Flames Go*

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Yes hes horrible he took a league outta the bushes and made it a mulit billion dollar empire, he is horrible because of him the players are overpaid greedy bums who want more. Hes done a terrible job.
 

i am dave

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I voted fair or other. I think his marketing of the game has been not only poor, but in the wrong direction. He tried to turn the game into NBA on ice, and it's not anything remotely like that. However, I support his position in the labor crisis. I'd grade him in the 50% range.
 

c-carp

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Go Flames Go said:
Yes hes horrible he took a league outta the bushes and made it a mulit billion dollar empire, he is horrible because of him the players are overpaid greedy bums who want more. Hes done a terrible job.
Took hockey out of the Bushes, Give me a break He was handed a league ready toi break into the area of a major sport in the US when he took over and during his reign made it where really no one but die hards really give a ****. So I say yes he has done a horrible job.
 

c-carp

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PitkanenPower said:
I voted fair or other. I think his marketing of the game has been not only poor, but in the wrong direction. He tried to turn the game into NBA on ice, and it's not anything remotely like that. However, I support his position in the labor crisis. I'd grade him in the 50% range.
I agree with your post but I tend to leave the labor thing out of this just because he was the person in charge when the Owners decided they needed to change things. He could have no other view on the Labor crisis he works for the Owners.
 

kerrly

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I'm not for one side or the other.......I'm pro longevity of the sport and that happens to fall on the side of the owners. I hate Bettman though. I hope he is gone as soon as this lockout is over. We need a fresh thinker on board, someone who has an extensive knowledge of the game and some creative thinking within reason.
 

i am dave

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c-carp said:
I agree with your post but I tend to leave the labor thing out of this just because he was the person in charge when the Owners decided they needed to change things. He could have no other view on the Labor crisis he works for the Owners.

That's true. I suppose I should say that I agree with his hard-line stance. I mean, he very much could have given in to save the season. Maybe it's more of an anti-PA stance on my part than a pro-League.
 

c-carp

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PitkanenPower said:
That's true. I suppose I should say that I agree with his hard-line stance. I mean, he very much could have given in to save the season. Maybe it's more of an anti-PA stance on my part than a pro-League.
I can see where you are coming from for sure.
 

Wetcoaster

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Unfortunately the NHL owners as a group are small men with small minds and little vision and they found their perfect tiny commissioner in Gary Bettman. Bettman is a detail guy - that is his reputation as a lawyer and when he was the number 3 guy in the NBA - look at the NBA cap it is the work of an accounting gnome. Bettman has no vision and no feel for the big picture. He cannot lead.

Pete Rozelle was incredibly lucky because the powerful owners of his day, George Halas, the Maras, Bert Bell (also the Commissioner prior to Rozelle) and the Rooneys had vision and they cared more about the NFL then they did for their own interests. Bettman has Wirtz, Jacobs and Karmanos - shudder.

Back when the NHL hired Gary Bettman away from the NBA, Orlando Magic GM Pat Williams wondered how Bettman would fare as the head of the hockey league.

"I gave Gary a hockey puck once, and he spent the rest of the day trying to open it," Williams is quoted as saying.

The game has become dull on many nights because of stifling defence and uncalled obstruction along with the latest group of Michelin men tending goal. In Bettman's world all is right because he believes it to be so. Welcome to Bettmanland where it is always sunny. Here is Bettman maintaining the game is great.

"There's no magic about 8-1 games. The fact that 73 per cent of the time games are played within one or two goals or tied tells you that there's a level of excitement and commitment. And I'm not sure who on the politically correct police ever said that the number of goals you score translate into how exciting the game is. I don't buy into that."

"I think the game is a terrific game. It's a game that gets more than its fair share of criticism, most of it unfair. I don't think there's something fundamentally wrong. I think if you have an axe to grind on the game and you want to selectively quote people you can draw any conclusion you want. If your goal is to be controversial, difficult and critical, you can reach any conclusion you want. But, the fact remains that 20 million people come to see this game. People watch it on television in record numbers..."


Stirring stuff Gary - way to lead and inspire.

Alan Maki writing in the Globe and Mail summed it up best IMHO:
"In other words, hockey is fine. Things are good. You see clouds and the perfect analogy, Bettman sees only what he wants to see. It’s always a wonderful life in Bettman’s world. Present population: one."

Gary Bettman is the problem with hockey. He has needed to form a partnership between the individual owners, and between the owners and the players. He's failed at both, because he's not believable and IMHO he is not respected. It's time for a new commissioner - maybe this time a real commissioner.

Perhaps hockey should look at something revolutionary. How about a Commissioner of the NHL payed equally by both the owners and the players, who's job it is to protect the best interests of the game, and to bring all parties together. Instead we have bureaucrat looking out for the interests of his employers and not the game. Hockey deserves better, the fans deserve better.
 

Maximus

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I also voted "horrible" no matter how this labor conflict turns out or whether or not he and the owners make up a bit for their mistakes 10 years ago. IMO, he and the rest of the owners blew an absolutaly fabulous opportunity back in '94 and didn't take advantage of the awesome playoff runs of the Rangers and the Canucks and the excitment that was generated not only in the hockey community but in the entire sports world that year.

That magical '94 season was just about as good as it was going to get as far as exciting hockey is concerned as hockey was being talked about not only in the major hockey hubs here in the northeast and in Canada obviously but in other areas of the country as well. I mean, it was the perfect opportunity to sell the sport and for Bettman and his greedy band of owners, to have miscalculated and failure to use that Ranger Cup winning performance as an impetus to grow our beloved sport and instead attempting to play hardball with the players over the CBA which he eventually caved anyways, was a business mistake of epic proportions.

That alone gives dissallows Bettman of ever getting more than a "horrible" grade even if the new CBA they sign ends up saving the game from the financial ruin he and his cronies helped cause in the first place.

I think he has tried to make improvments to the game but unfortuanatly his hockey acuman just isn't as good as his lawyering skills and ability to BS...He's just done a bad bad job despite the opportunities he has had and the stars he has had to have help him market the game(ie...Gretzky,Mario,StevieY...etc)

-Max
 

c-carp

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Wetcoaster said:
Unfortunately the NHL owners as a group are small men with small minds and little vision and they found their perfect tiny commissioner in Gary Bettman. Bettman is a detail guy - that is his reputation as a lawyer and when he was the number 3 guy in the NBA - look at the NBA cap it is the work of an accounting gnome. Bettman has no vision and no feel for the big picture. He cannot lead.

Pete Rozelle was incredibly lucky because the powerful owners of his day, George Halas, the Maras, Bert Bell (also the Commissioner prior to Rozelle) and the Rooneys had vision and they cared more about the NFL then they did for their own interests. Bettman has Wirtz, Jacobs and Karmanos - shudder.

Back when the NHL hired Gary Bettman away from the NBA, Orlando Magic GM Pat Williams wondered how Bettman would fare as the head of the hockey league.

"I gave Gary a hockey puck once, and he spent the rest of the day trying to open it," Williams is quoted as saying.

The game has become dull on many nights because of stifling defence and uncalled obstruction along with the latest group of Michelin men tending goal. In Bettman's world all is right because he believes it to be so. Welcome to Bettmanland where it is always sunny. Here is Bettman maintaining the game is great.

"There's no magic about 8-1 games. The fact that 73 per cent of the time games are played within one or two goals or tied tells you that there's a level of excitement and commitment. And I'm not sure who on the politically correct police ever said that the number of goals you score translate into how exciting the game is. I don't buy into that."

"I think the game is a terrific game. It's a game that gets more than its fair share of criticism, most of it unfair. I don't think there's something fundamentally wrong. I think if you have an axe to grind on the game and you want to selectively quote people you can draw any conclusion you want. If your goal is to be controversial, difficult and critical, you can reach any conclusion you want. But, the fact remains that 20 million people come to see this game. People watch it on television in record numbers..."


Stirring stuff Gary - way to lead and inspire.

Alan Maki writing in the Globe and Mail summed it up best IMHO:
"In other words, hockey is fine. Things are good. You see clouds and the perfect analogy, Bettman sees only what he wants to see. It’s always a wonderful life in Bettman’s world. Present population: one."

Gary Bettman is the problem with hockey. He has needed to form a partnership between the individual owners, and between the owners and the players. He's failed at both, because he's not believable and IMHO he is not respected. It's time for a new commissioner - maybe this time a real commissioner.

Perhaps hockey should look at something revolutionary. How about a Commissioner of the NHL payed equally by both the owners and the players, who's job it is to protect the best interests of the game, and to bring all parties together. Instead we have bureaucrat looking out for the interests of his employers and not the game. Hockey deserves better, the fans deserve better.
Awesome post Bro, Well said.
 

Sinurgy

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I think if you have an axe to grind on the game and you want to selectively quote people you can draw any conclusion you want. If your goal is to be controversial, difficult and critical, you can reach any conclusion you want.

Wow...I don't think I could describe HFBoards Business of Hockey forum any better!!!
 

c-carp

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Maximus said:
I also voted "horrible" no matter how this labor conflict turns out or whether or not he and the owners make up a bit for their mistakes 10 years ago. IMO, he and the rest of the owners blew an absolutaly fabulous opportunity back in '94 and didn't take advantage of the awesome playoff runs of the Rangers and the Canucks and the excitment that was generated not only in the hockey community but in the entire sports world that year.

That magical '94 season was just about as good as it was going to get as far as exciting hockey is concerned as hockey was being talked about not only in the major hockey hubs here in the northeast and in Canada obviously but in other areas of the country as well. I mean, it was the perfect opportunity to sell the sport and for Bettman and his greedy band of owners, to have miscalculated and failure to use that Ranger Cup winning performance as an impetus to grow our beloved sport and instead attempting to play hardball with the players over the CBA which he eventually caved anyways, was a business mistake of epic proportions.

That alone gives dissallows Bettman of ever getting more than a "horrible" grade even if the new CBA they sign ends up saving the game from the financial ruin he and his cronies helped cause in the first place.

I think he has tried to make improvments to the game but unfortuanatly his hockey acuman just isn't as good as his lawyering skills and ability to BS...He's just done a bad bad job despite the opportunities he has had and the stars he has had to have help him market the game(ie...Gretzky,Mario,StevieY...etc)

-Max
Also a very well said post with some great points, before you mentioned it I forgot how good the finals were in 1994, in heinsight when they did that CBA would have been the perfect time to make this stand. Great post.

If you look on the positive side now there are still plenty of Stars to Market the game around if they get their house in order in regards to on Ice play as well and if young Mr Crosby lives up to his billing the timing for him to enter the league will be perfect. So they will have something to work with in regards to narketing if they get some quality marketing people.

A perfect example of how bad the NHL marketing has become is that commercial with Michelle Quan and Kristi Yamaguchi that they ran during the playoffs in my opinion they reached a new low with that one :shakehead
 
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