NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is interviewed by Al
Strachan of the TORONTO SUN, and asks Bettman about the
possibility of Canadian teams receiving lottery money to
remain viable: "There seems to be a degree of inconsistency,
or perhaps even hypocrisy, in that you've always been
opposed to gambling revenues." Bettman: "We are opposed to
it, but it's not going away any time soon. And it is being
done on the results of our games, which we spend $2 billion
a year to produce. We would be open to accepting the
misappropriation of our games, if it's going to be done, if
that were a vehicle to resolve the problem. We feel
strongly about maintaining a strong Canadian presence we
would be prepared to deal with the lottery if that were a
solution." Bettman, on the amount of media coverage the
league gets: "The fact is we're getting more coverage on a
consistent basis and more exposure for the game on a
consistent basis than ever before. There is really no
question about that. We think we're heading in the right
direction. ... The combination of Disney's ownership, ABC
and ESPN working together to promote the game, we think is
going to be absolutely terrific" (TORONTO SUN, 11/18).
