If there’s one quality that defines NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, it’s his decisiveness. Colleagues say he can size up an issue faster than anyone they’ve seen and then instantly take action.
It’s that sort of confident resolve that helped Bettman chart a course toward complete and uncompromised victory in the 310-day lockout that canceled last season, and has shaped most of his key decisions through his nearly 13 years as commissioner.
Critics have another word to describe that quality: stubborn. Bettman is aggressive when pursuing his own agenda, but when he’s not offering the fix, he sometimes denies there’s a problem. The critics say Bettman waited too long to make rules changes and address the perceived decline in entertainment value of NHL hockey in the last decade. They say he refused to recognize the league’s struggles on the marketing and television front until ESPN and ABC turned their backs on the sport.
But now, with a new labor deal in hand, new rules and new television contracts with NBC and Comcast’s OLN, the 5-foot-7-inch commish has never stood taller.
“Clearly, he’s come out of the lockout with an extremely strong business presence over the league,” said Neil Smith, former New York Rangers president and new OLN studio analyst. “He’s cemented in because he came through on the business side when the sport needed it most.”
Make no mistake about it, in hockey, as in every other team sport, it’s the owners who ultimately run the show. The commissioner has maintained his authority over the years by knowing when and when not to cross power players such as Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs or the Flyers’ Ed Snider.
For example, Bettman wanted to eliminate the system that awards clubs a point in the standings for an overtime loss, creating a mathematical incentive for clubs to play games into overtime. Owners and general managers wanted to keep the system as is, and no change was made.
It’s the sort of dance that every league commissioner does with the owners, knowing when to cash in capital and when to let them win. But there’s no one in hockey circles who comes close to having the individual effect or control that Bettman enjoys. And more often than not, the owners bend to his viewpoint, not the other way around.
“He knows what his agenda is and knows how to get it accomplished with owners,” said Steve Solomon, who spent more than six years working for Bettman as the league’s chief operating officer.
The inner circle
As an indication of Bettman’s power, most club and league officials surveyed said they thought the No. 2 most influential person in the NHL was Bettman’s right-hand man, Bill Daly.
The inner circle at the NHL is a small one. Daly, now deputy commissioner and the key architect of the collective bargaining agreement, is one of the few people to whom Bettman turns for advice. Others are general counsel David Zimmerman and outside counsel Bob Batterman
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| Ted Saskin (left) and Trevor Linden lead a union now focused on increasing league revenue to the benefit of teams and players. |
The league’s executive vice president of hockey operations, Colin Campbell, has enormous influence as the guardian of what happens on the ice, especially in a league that is using rules changes as the center of its relaunch marketing efforts. But Campbell works out of Toronto and has a very different relationship with Bettman, one that is more autonomous.
Other key executives include Steve Pellegrini, who drew up most of the financial models on which the new CBA was built and who guides clubs on how to operate under the new deal, and Doug Perlman, senior vice president of television and media ventures, who negotiated the league’s recent OLN contract and a $100 million deal with XM Radio.
All of Bettman’s deputies are awaiting a post-lockout reorganization, and the ability to hire replacements for the more than 130 staffers who were let go during the lockout. For now, most of the top executives are doing double-duty, with some assuming responsibility for entire departments once not under their direction. For instance, Ken Yaffe, managing director of NHL International, now oversees events, as well.
The league executive who stands out as having perhaps the most important job in the post-lockout world, though, is NHL Enterprises President Ed Horne. In a gate-driven sport such as hockey, the fan is king. And Horne’s job is to expand the fan base and help existing fans reconnect to the sport, while also overseeing all the key non-media revenue streams, such as licensing and sponsorship.
Of course, if there’s a king of hockey, it’s the coach of the Phoenix Coyotes, “The Great One,” Wayne Gretzky. As the face of the NHL and a part-owner and now coach of the Coyotes, and the executive director of Team Canada, Gretzky’s influence can be felt at every level of the NHL. Many hockey insiders say he’s the one person whose support is absolutely necessary for Bettman to maintain his leadership, even more so than Jacobs’.
But Gretzky is reticent when it comes to exerting that power. His low-key demeanor, mirrored by the even more silent disposition of Pittsburgh Penguins owner and player Mario Lemieux, are representative of a sport culture that extols team over individual, and loyalty above all else.
People who try to rock the boat in the NHL quickly find themselves thrown overboard. Toronto Maple Leafs principal owner Larry Tanenbaum was shouted down by fellow owners when he called for the league to compromise with the players association at a board of governors meeting during the dark days of the lockout.
Looking toward labor
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| Bill Daly (right) is Bettman's trusted adviser. He was the key architect of the new labor deal. |
The one other hub of power in the NHL sits on the player side. There was a time when NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow was the clear No. 2 to Bettman in terms of influence. But his successor, Ted Saskin, sits further down on the list. That’s partially a function of Saskin being new to the top union job, and partially because he’s yet to take on the league in any battles in which the outcome will affect the game as a whole.
The controversy over how Saskin was hired and negotiated his contract also may blunt his influence in the short term, but he has the clear support of NHLPA President Trevor Linden and, it would seem, the majority of players.
Saskin, Linden and Linden’s influential agent, Don Meehan, form a triumvirate of moderates who advocated looking past Goodenow’s objections to a salary cap and instead working with the league to increase revenue to the benefit of all.
There was a time when union hawks had great sway in the NHL. But in this new era, for the time being at least, the entire hockey world is following Bettman’s lead.
