I’m a big hockey fan.
So yesterday’s news of a lockout was extremely disappointing. As I was reading a newspaper article at lunch today, an amazing stat jumped off the page. Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the NHL claims that the league has lost a collective 1.8 billion dollars over the past 10 years. Astonishing!
But this has me wondering… How many corporate CEO’s would be allowed to run a their companies into consecutive years of earnings losses. I’m guessing not many.
I just don’t understand why the NHL Owners continue to allow this guy to run their league.
Now I am a big Football fan (or at least until the lockout is ended)!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
What is wrong with you? You cannot have a hockey season without players. I think they’ve given up enough. What are you, a bunch of fat cats that want the money, or true hockey fans who want to see the game go on? Get on with hockey or you’ll see it die and that will lie with you Gary Bettman. Is that how you want to be remembered?
Bettman is the reason the NHL is in Financial Ruins.
Just a reminder that Gary came from the NBA and he knows well enough that by crippling the NHL the NBA prospers.
Salary Cap! That’s crap, take a good look at the NBA, HFL and MBA these guys are making well over a million dollars a year.
Bettman,you are the sucking sound that is depleting the NHL revenues.
Bettman is the reason the NHL is in Financial Ruins.
Just a reminder that Gary came from the NBA and he knows well enough that by crippling the NHL the NBA prospers.
Salary Cap! That’s crap, take a good look at the NBA, NFL and MBA these guys are making well over a million dollars a year.
Bettman,you are the sucking sound that is depleting the NHL revenues.
How can this moron still be in charge? Does he have pictures of the owners having sex with underage girls? Do the owners make more money if they lose money on this investment?
One has to ponder how it is that people who have made themselves successful enough to own a major league sporting team (choke) cannot see what damage Bettman has done to the game, its reputation, its ratings, its fans, its players and worse maybe of all – its future.
How many kids will grow up wanting to play hockey when they can’t even watch a game on TV. The 2007 All Star game received a .7 rating in part because some idiot in charge (Bettman) moved it from the weekend to Wednesday night opposite American Idol. Should I even bring up the whole Versus cable deal in the US? So what if ESPN did not pay as much, more people could watch it – everyone has ESPN stupid.
Once die-hard fans are almost embarrassed now to watch (if they get Verus that is) – bowling gets better ratings!
You can bet this will be my last year watching Hockey unless the owners wake up and fire Bettman!
I do not want to just complain and not provide solutions so here are my 10 steps for success(ok 11 points)
1)Owners admit the NHL has a problem and that you made a mistake in Bettman
2)Then Fire the fool.
3)Share TV rights with Versus and ESPN, HDNET, ABC, NBC and FOX
4)High Def, High Def, High Def – the majority of NFL fans already own or will own High Def TV’s. There is little programming in High Def in the US now. Here is an excellent opportunity to provide that programming! Create a High Def Hockey channel – make it affordable to the cable companies – like I said they need programming all of us with HDTV’s know this!
5)Lower season ticket prices – this has to be done for the next five years to bring back fans
6)Stop tweaking the rules just enforce the ones already there
7)Stop tweaking the game – leave the nets alone, etc, etc, etc
8)Raise star player and team awareness through commercials, local events, charity, sponsor an NHL vs. the NFL golf game for charity in the off season
9)Make watching hockey cool not pathetic, focus on the intelligence of the game, make it manly and macho to watch. And please sports announcers stop giving us the rules 101 and try instead to focus on the coaching, conditioning, game plans, etc.
10)Hire major league sports players, coaches, actors, actresses, models, politicians, (the best, the brightest, the most popular, and the most well respected) to go to the games, to promote the game etc.
11)Finally did I mention fire Bettman! I could go on an on with ideas all of which are smarter than anything Bettman has done in the last 14 years.
New uniforms thats news? What about the fact the League is going in the crapper?