With the NHL season at its halfway point and All-Star
festivities set for this weekend in Boston, NHL Commissioner Gary
Bettman released a statement Friday promoting the league and its
Enterprises division as reflective of a "new reality -- one of
strong partnerships, unprecedented television coverage and labor
peace into the next century." Bettman and NHL Enterprises COO
Rick Dudley touted the new companies which have aligned
themselves with the league -- Dodge, Campbell's, ITT Sheraton,
Gatorade, MasterCard Int'l, Duracell, Owens-Corning and 7-Eleven
-- joining Alka-Seltzer Plus, Breathe Right, Coca-Cola,
Kellogg's, Molson, Bud Ice, Kraft, McDonald's, SpeedStick and
Nike (NHL).
BOSTON WELCOMES ALL-STAR FEST: Sunday's BOSTON HERALD
featured a special eight-page pullout section on the All-Star
Game, with articles on past games, previews of the week's
activities, a look at Fox's TV extensive camera set-up and new
technology that debut during the game, and a profile of Bettman
by columnist Karen Guregian. Guregian notes the NHL is beginning
to take advantage of the players' personalities. As for changes,
"Bettman dearly loves creativity when it comes to marketing and
selling the sport, but at the same time, he won't sacrifice the
fan base that already exists." Bettman: "What I want to do is
see if there are more people who we can hook into getting a
little interested." Guregian: "Like him or not, you can't argue
with the results" (BOSTON HERALD, 1/14).
