On Season's Eve, Bettman Praises Euro Presence, Versus, CBA
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Bettman Hopes NHL Can Continue To
Expand Its Presence Throughout Europe |
The NHL season begins this coming weekend with the '08 NHL Premiere Series in Prague and Stockholm, and the league "hopes to take interest to a new level this year by staging a pair of games" in the cities, according to Chris Johnston of the CP. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman: "Now we have an opportunity to go to more well-developed hockey markets where a number of our players actually come from. We are getting, from the early indications, a fabulous reception." Bettman also said that he "hopes the league can continue to expand its presence" in Europe." Bettman: "Assuming it works the way we anticipate and hope it will, this will be something to build off of. Like this year built off of last year." With questions lingering over the NHL's TV rights deal in the U.S. with Versus, Bettman said, "ESPN is a very powerful force in the marketplace. I think it's easy if you're looking to take a shot at us to say, 'Well, they're not on ESPN.' We chose not to be. The relationship that we have with Versus is quite significant both financially and in terms of the coverage they give us. We have no complaints." Bettman added the current CBA "has been fair to everyone." Bettman: "It has made the industry healther and it has made the game better" (CP, 9/28). Bettman added of ESPN, “We had a good run with them. But they have everything. And I believed coming out of the work stoppage … it was important for us to be in a place where we were going to be the priority. We weren’t going to be part of the run of programming that ESPN has because they have everything. It has worked out that way. While we gave up some distribution in the short term, the fact of the matter is our ratings continue to grow. Versus’ production qualities are hailed as being first rate. This over time will have turned out to be an excellent move for us” (BUSINESSWEEK.com, 9/27). BUSINESS WEEK ranks Bettman No. 21 in the upcoming list of the 100 most powerful people in sports, and CIT Managing Dir of Media, Entertainment & Sports Gordon Saint-Denis said, "The things Gary is doing are working" (BUSINESSWEEK.com, 9/27).
GROWING TREND: NHLPA Exec Dir Paul Kelly said that "as many as eight teams likely will travel to Europe next year, perhaps to cities such as Helsinki or Moscow, to continue the NHL's program of opening the season overseas." Kelly: "This is not a flash in the pan for us. We're actually thinking about continuing it and growing it." Kelly also said that "there are ideas about putting NHL franchises in Europe, ideally an entire division," but he added that "the chances of that happening are on the far end of a five- to 10-year window." Kelly for the first time indicated that there is a "good chance there will be a World Cup of hockey that will be held every four years" beginning in August or September 2011. The tournament "has shown up intermittently over the years," with seven held since '76, and Kelly said that a "final decision could come in six months or less." He added that "the consistent appearance of the World Cup will not necessarily preclude NHL players from participating in the Olympics" (TAMPABAY.com, 9/28).
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