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(NHL)   Bettman named 2023 recipient of SBJ Lifetime Achievement Award. Let's show our appreciation in a way he will understand BOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOO   (nhl.com) divider line
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    More: Obvious, NHL Winter Classic, Stanley Cup, National Hockey League, first NHL media rights, Sport, Sports league, Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada, Comcast  
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313 clicks; posted to Sports » on 30 Jan 2023 at 8:15 PM (7 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



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View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest
 
Mantour [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 6:54:56 PM  
Booo-urns
 
montreal_medic [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 8:18:50 PM  
Sure, 30 years on the job is significant in its own way - and NHL overall has been doing well in that time

But, I still wonder, does he LIKE hockey? At all?
 
AuralArgument
2023-01-30 8:21:10 PM  
montreal_medic:

I really don't think so.

I also think he doesn't care what the fans think of him.

But let's face it.

He grew the league.

He did his job.
I don't like him.

But at the end of they say, he's done more to grow the game than any other commissioner
 
montreal_medic [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 8:24:06 PM  

AuralArgument: montreal_medic:

I really don't think so.

I also think he doesn't care what the fans think of him.

But let's face it.

He grew the league.

He did his job.
I don't like him.

But at the end of they say, he's done more to grow the game than any other commissioner


You're right. He promoted his product and effectively his company. It could have been anything at all. Didn't even have to be a sport
 
AuralArgument
2023-01-30 8:25:58 PM  
AuralArgument:

I repeated myself because I couldn't bear to write he's been the best....

Because of the original jets to Arizona bs that keeps getting worse.

Taking Quebec when Denver should have been an expansion team ( the fees lost on that one)

And putting a team back in Atlanta instead of going to Seattle, Quebec, Kansas city, Indianapolis, Houston, salt Lake city, Portland, OKC, San Diego ( with all the retired military there, there's enough transplants ) etc, basically any city that has a major sports team but Atlanta would have been a better choice.
 
Johnny the Tackling Alzheimers Patient
2023-01-30 8:27:05 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Chimpy McSquirrel [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 8:30:23 PM  
imgs.search.brave.comView Full Size
 
Dafatone
2023-01-30 8:43:39 PM  

AuralArgument: AuralArgument:

I repeated myself because I couldn't bear to write he's been the best....

Because of the original jets to Arizona bs that keeps getting worse.

Taking Quebec when Denver should have been an expansion team ( the fees lost on that one)

And putting a team back in Atlanta instead of going to Seattle, Quebec, Kansas city, Indianapolis, Houston, salt Lake city, Portland, OKC, San Diego ( with all the retired military there, there's enough transplants ) etc, basically any city that has a major sports team but Atlanta would have been a better choice.


People get all worked up about expansion/relocation geography. It doesn't matter.

People come when teams win. They don't when they suck. Arizona has had like one even vaguely decent season and I think they finished 4th in the conference. Nobody wants to see them.

Atlanta also sucked. They left.

Meanwhile, Nashville does fine. Carolina does fine. Tampa Bay sells tons of tickets in Florida. Vegas is doing well on attendance, I think.

Win games. Sell tickets.
 
bigbadideasinaction
2023-01-30 8:47:35 PM  
Wasn't there the conspiracy theory that David Stern helped get Bettman the gig to sabotage the NHL, whereupon the NHL lost market share?
 
fatalvenom
2023-01-30 8:59:26 PM  

Dafatone: AuralArgument: AuralArgument:

I repeated myself because I couldn't bear to write he's been the best....

Because of the original jets to Arizona bs that keeps getting worse.

Taking Quebec when Denver should have been an expansion team ( the fees lost on that one)

And putting a team back in Atlanta instead of going to Seattle, Quebec, Kansas city, Indianapolis, Houston, salt Lake city, Portland, OKC, San Diego ( with all the retired military there, there's enough transplants ) etc, basically any city that has a major sports team but Atlanta would have been a better choice.

People get all worked up about expansion/relocation geography. It doesn't matter.

People come when teams win. They don't when they suck. Arizona has had like one even vaguely decent season and I think they finished 4th in the conference. Nobody wants to see them.

Atlanta also sucked. They left.

Meanwhile, Nashville does fine. Carolina does fine. Tampa Bay sells tons of tickets in Florida. Vegas is doing well on attendance, I think.

Win games. Sell tickets.


This.

Everyone loves to rip on the Panthers. I go to a few of their games a year, and there are more Panthers fans there than people like to give them credit for.

Yes, it helps when they actually win.

Hell, even the Bruins lost most of their ticket-buying base from 05-09.

Traditional market or not, if you suck, fans won't waste the money.

/Offer not valid in Canada. Even if you suck, they will show up in droves. Because what else is there to do?!?
 
sno man [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 9:00:38 PM  

montreal_medic: Sure, 30 years on the job is significant in its own way - and NHL overall has been doing well in that time

But, I still wonder, does he LIKE hockey? At all?


NHL did poach him from the NBA.. (Sr. VP and General Council.) But 30 yrs.. That's some commitment. Imagine doing something you don't like for 30 years.. even with a very SOLID paycheque.
 
kdawg7736 [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 9:03:28 PM  
If he can win something like that, I can too.
 
fatalvenom
2023-01-30 9:04:12 PM  

bigbadideasinaction: Wasn't there the conspiracy theory that David Stern helped get Bettman the gig to sabotage the NHL, whereupon the NHL lost market share?


Yes. It was also a fallacy.

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
sno man [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 9:06:10 PM  

fatalvenom: /Offer not valid in Canada. Even if you suck, they will show up in droves. Because what else is there to do?!?


Curling in Winter, canoe in Summer, fishing and hunting... Golf for a week or two late Spring, early Fall... Lots to do.
 
The_Sponge [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 9:12:53 PM  

bigbadideasinaction: Wasn't there the conspiracy theory that David Stern helped get Bettman the gig to sabotage the NHL, whereupon the NHL lost market share?


Hopefully David Stern is getting buttfarked in hell.  What a a piece of shiat.

Also:

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
abmoraz
2023-01-30 9:54:42 PM  
What happens if Cancer gets diagnosed with Bettman?  Who do we boo then?  Who?
 
Practical_Draconian
2023-01-30 10:03:42 PM  
One thing not talked about is Bettman KEPT Canada from losing more teams through revenue sharing and the salary caps when the Canadian dollar didn't jibe well with the American economy. You can also credit the salary cap here as well.

When I covered the NHL around the turn of the millennium seasons the talk in the media room and pregame meal cafeteria when Calgary or Edmonton rolled in was with various officials and other media was "do you expect the team in Oklahoma City or Kansas City soon?" The Canadian counterparts were not optimistic then.

Gary Bettman also doesn't get credit for showmanship ideas. NHL owners for the most part are a pretty unimaginative bunch historically. Agree with Down Goes Brown on Bettman being the chew toy distracting NHL fans and media from the real bunch of farkups in team offices.
 
Social Justice Warlock
2023-01-30 10:35:55 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size


Fark user imageView Full Size


Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Flappyhead
2023-01-30 10:41:59 PM  
His expansions in the 90s and early 00s drastically diluted the product and birthed the dead puck era.  However, Auston Matthews.
 
Incident on 57th Street [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 10:50:43 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Palined Parenthood [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 11:08:00 PM  
Fark you, Bergman!
 
Tea_tempest_Cup
2023-01-30 11:14:17 PM  
Bettman's job is to make team owners as much money as possible, and from that stand point he has clearly been good at his job b/c he hasn't been fired yet. With that said, it's my opinion that he is: a) bad at growing the game and b) too full of himself.

I look forward to the day he leaves this position, but I'm aware that his replacement will likely be just as bad, if not work than he has been. The NHL is a joke of a professional league, it makes sense for them to be led by a clown.
 
Jeebus Saves
2023-01-30 11:15:02 PM  
I read that as Batman and didn't quite understand the headline.
 
bluorangefyre [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 11:18:15 PM  
The only commissioner who seems to appreciate the boos is Roger Goodell.
 
drunk_bouncnbaloruber
2023-01-30 11:55:19 PM  

Dafatone: AuralArgument: AuralArgument:

I repeated myself because I couldn't bear to write he's been the best....

Because of the original jets to Arizona bs that keeps getting worse.

Taking Quebec when Denver should have been an expansion team ( the fees lost on that one)

And putting a team back in Atlanta instead of going to Seattle, Quebec, Kansas city, Indianapolis, Houston, salt Lake city, Portland, OKC, San Diego ( with all the retired military there, there's enough transplants ) etc, basically any city that has a major sports team but Atlanta would have been a better choice.

People get all worked up about expansion/relocation geography. It doesn't matter.

People come when teams win. They don't when they suck. Arizona has had like one even vaguely decent season and I think they finished 4th in the conference. Nobody wants to see them.

Atlanta also sucked. They left.

Meanwhile, Nashville does fine. Carolina does fine. Tampa Bay sells tons of tickets in Florida. Vegas is doing well on attendance, I think.

Win games. Sell tickets.


On that note, guess where it snowed today.

https://mobile.twitter.com/VAurora__/status/1620145747906940929
 
desertgeek
2023-01-31 12:40:43 AM  
I hate having to be the bad guy and somewhat defending Bettman, but goddamn some of the comments in here are dumb.

AuralArgument: Because of the original jets to Arizona bs that keeps getting worse.

Taking Quebec when Denver should have been an expansion team ( the fees lost on that one)


You realize that the Canadian dollar was tanking when those two teams moved and it was no longer feasible for those markets to support teams at that time? And you realize that the Flames and Oilers should've followed them, but Bettman helped make sure they didn't?

Also, I looked this up: the two expansion teams (Tampa and Anaheim) before those two teams moved paid $50 million to join the NHL. The four that came after them paid $80 million. The league didn't lose a lot with relocation fees there, which I can't even find what those were.

Dafatone: People come when teams win. They don't when they suck. Arizona has had like one even vaguely decent season and I think they finished 4th in the conference. Nobody wants to see them.


They made the conference final and should've won the Cup if not for farking LA. And the issue with the Coyotes isn't the league or lack of interest (look at the talent coming out of Arizona and the strength of youth hockey there), it's mismanagement and corrupt ownership until recently.

Tea_tempest_Cup: Bettman's job is to make team owners as much money as possible, and from that stand point he has clearly been good at his job b/c he hasn't been fired yet. With that said, it's my opinion that he is: a) bad at growing the game and b) too full of himself.


The job of every commissioner in modern sports is to make the team owners as much money as they can and to be the punching bag of the fans when the owners are being stupid. Bettman is exceedingly good at that.

But the bolded part of what you said is just categorically wrong. He was brought in to grow the game in the USA. According to USA Hockey's stats, there were 303,611 registered hockey players in 1993 when he started. In 2019-20, it was over 560,000 (Source. I'm discounting the last 2 years because of Covid). And if I had the time to dig deep in there, I bet I would find most of that growth was in the newer NHL markets.

There's a lot of things the NHL needs to be better at, but it's mostly things on the ice: player safety, consistent officiating, not exhausting the players by having them play a ton of games in a short time frame, actually proving through action and not just words that the sport is for everyone, marketing the players, and I'm sure there's more that I can't think of now. But Bettman's job has been to improve the business of the NHL and he's done that.
 
Don Gato
2023-01-31 5:04:18 AM  
I'm looking forward to the All Star game interview with Ron MacLean as the prosecuting attorney.
 
caira
2023-01-31 7:53:39 AM  

desertgeek: The job of every commissioner in modern sports is to make the team owners as much money as they can and to be the punching bag of the fans when the owners are being stupid. Bettman is exceedingly good at that.


Some might say... too good.  I mean, really, when Booing the Bettman becomes a regular Sunday ritual at the Church of Hockeyology shouldn't you at least try to suck for five minutes or so, just to give everyone a break?

But the bolded part of what you said is just categorically wrong. He was brought in to grow the game in the USA. According to USA Hockey's stats, there were 303,611 registered hockey players in 1993 when he started. In 2019-20, it was over 560,000 (Source. I'm discounting the last 2 years because of Covid). And if I had the time to dig deep in there, I bet I would find most of that growth was in the newer NHL markets.

Putting those numbers in perspective, that's an 84% increase, and the U.S. population went up about 25% in the same period of time.
 
Anderson's Pooper
2023-01-31 8:55:21 AM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Tea_tempest_Cup
2023-01-31 10:27:42 AM  

desertgeek: I hate having to be the bad guy and somewhat defending Bettman, but goddamn some of the comments in here are dumb.

AuralArgument: Because of the original jets to Arizona bs that keeps getting worse.

Taking Quebec when Denver should have been an expansion team ( the fees lost on that one)

You realize that the Canadian dollar was tanking when those two teams moved and it was no longer feasible for those markets to support teams at that time? And you realize that the Flames and Oilers should've followed them, but Bettman helped make sure they didn't?

Also, I looked this up: the two expansion teams (Tampa and Anaheim) before those two teams moved paid $50 million to join the NHL. The four that came after them paid $80 million. The league didn't lose a lot with relocation fees there, which I can't even find what those were.

Dafatone: People come when teams win. They don't when they suck. Arizona has had like one even vaguely decent season and I think they finished 4th in the conference. Nobody wants to see them.

They made the conference final and should've won the Cup if not for farking LA. And the issue with the Coyotes isn't the league or lack of interest (look at the talent coming out of Arizona and the strength of youth hockey there), it's mismanagement and corrupt ownership until recently.

Tea_tempest_Cup: Bettman's job is to make team owners as much money as possible, and from that stand point he has clearly been good at his job b/c he hasn't been fired yet. With that said, it's my opinion that he is: a) bad at growing the game and b) too full of himself.

The job of every commissioner in modern sports is to make the team owners as much money as they can and to be the punching bag of the fans when the owners are being stupid. Bettman is exceedingly good at that.

But the bolded part of what you said is just categorically wrong. He was brought in to grow the game in the USA. According to USA Hockey's stats, there were 303,611 registered hockey players in 1993 when he started. In 2019-20, it was over 560,000 (Source. I'm discounting the last 2 years because of Covid). And if I had the time to dig deep in there, I bet I would find most of that growth was in the newer NHL markets.

There's a lot of things the NHL needs to be better at, but it's mostly things on the ice: player safety, consistent officiating, not exhausting the players by having them play a ton of games in a short time frame, actually proving through action and not just words that the sport is for everyone, marketing the players, and I'm sure there's more that I can't think of now. But Bettman's job has been to improve the business of the NHL and he's done that.


Bettman grew the NHL from the 4th most popular sport in the US (behind MLB, NFL and the NBA) into the 5th most popular behind the previous three plus MLS. Much wow, great success.
 
themunsterfullback
2023-01-31 10:42:15 AM  
I could do without the lying to my face (see digital board ads) about things that benefit the leagues wallets but is a nuisance for fans. But I guess every commissioner is paid to do that?

However anyone who remembers how corrupt this league was when he took over (Alan Eagleson anyone? Wirtz? Ziegler?) knows he is owed credit for stepping into an absolute rats nest and untangling a nightmare that was the NHL at that time.
 
Dafatone
2023-01-31 10:52:25 AM  

desertgeek: I hate having to be the bad guy and somewhat defending Bettman, but goddamn some of the comments in here are dumb.

AuralArgument: Because of the original jets to Arizona bs that keeps getting worse.

Taking Quebec when Denver should have been an expansion team ( the fees lost on that one)

You realize that the Canadian dollar was tanking when those two teams moved and it was no longer feasible for those markets to support teams at that time? And you realize that the Flames and Oilers should've followed them, but Bettman helped make sure they didn't?

Also, I looked this up: the two expansion teams (Tampa and Anaheim) before those two teams moved paid $50 million to join the NHL. The four that came after them paid $80 million. The league didn't lose a lot with relocation fees there, which I can't even find what those were.

Dafatone: People come when teams win. They don't when they suck. Arizona has had like one even vaguely decent season and I think they finished 4th in the conference. Nobody wants to see them.

They made the conference final and should've won the Cup if not for farking LA. And the issue with the Coyotes isn't the league or lack of interest (look at the talent coming out of Arizona and the strength of youth hockey there), it's mismanagement and corrupt ownership until recently.

Tea_tempest_Cup: Bettman's job is to make team owners as much money as possible, and from that stand point he has clearly been good at his job b/c he hasn't been fired yet. With that said, it's my opinion that he is: a) bad at growing the game and b) too full of himself.

The job of every commissioner in modern sports is to make the team owners as much money as they can and to be the punching bag of the fans when the owners are being stupid. Bettman is exceedingly good at that.

But the bolded part of what you said is just categorically wrong. He was brought in to grow the game in the USA. According to USA Hockey's stats, there were 303,611 registered hockey players in 1993 when he started. In 2019-20, it was over 560,000 (Source. I'm discounting the last 2 years because of Covid). And if I had the time to dig deep in there, I bet I would find most of that growth was in the newer NHL markets.

There's a lot of things the NHL needs to be better at, but it's mostly things on the ice: player safety, consistent officiating, not exhausting the players by having them play a ton of games in a short time frame, actually proving through action and not just words that the sport is for everyone, marketing the players, and I'm sure there's more that I can't think of now. But Bettman's job has been to improve the business of the NHL and he's done that.


Yeah, I underestimated how good the Coyotes were that year. But they've been pretty garbage since for a decade.

It's kind of a same cause thing. They suck because they've been mismanaged. They're playing in a 5,000 seat arena because they've been mismanaged.

Good management, make the playoffs about half the time? Should sell tickets if they have the capacity.
 
desertgeek
2023-01-31 11:01:47 AM  

Dafatone: It's kind of a same cause thing. They suck because they've been mismanaged. They're playing in a 5,000 seat arena because they've been mismanaged.


Also because they got kicked out of their building by Glendale because the town thought they'd make more money on that building without them (and they haven't so far and if the economy goes into a recession as is predicted, they won't)
 
ElwoodCuse
2023-01-31 12:35:40 PM  

Tea_tempest_Cup: Bettman grew the NHL from the 4th most popular sport in the US (behind MLB, NFL and the NBA) into the 5th most popular behind the previous three plus MLS. Much wow, great success.


the NHL has more than 3 times the revenue of Major League Soccer

FFS Major League Soccer isn't even the most popular SOCCER league in the US (that would be the English Premier League, which has a bigger TV deal and higher ratings)
 
fatalvenom
2023-01-31 12:41:36 PM  

sno man: fatalvenom: /Offer not valid in Canada. Even if you suck, they will show up in droves. Because what else is there to do?!?

Curling in Winter, canoe in Summer, fishing and hunting... Golf for a week or two late Spring, early Fall... Lots to do.


That was a joke.

I love Canada. In the summer.
 
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