Bettman book paints bleak picture
New volume chronicles the rise of controversial NHL commissioner
Any optimism I had regarding an early settlement to the National Hockey League lockout went out the window when I read The Instigator, a riveting and wellresearched portrait of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman by Maclean’s senior correspondent Jonathan Gatehouse.
The subtitle of the book is: How Gary Bettman Remade the League and Changed the Game Forever. Gatehouse traces the rise of Bettman from the No. 3 man at the National Basketball Association to an iron-fisted leader who is presiding over his third lockout in 18 years in what appears to be a futile effort to save the owners from themselves.
Apologists for Bettman will tell you that the lockout isn’t personal, that the commissioner is merely an employee doing the bidding of the 30 owners. It’s true that the NHL reached out to Bettman because it was envious of the rival NBA with its salary cap and a lucrative national TV deal in the U.S. But Gatehouse, who once scribbled for The Gazette, points out that Bettman has consolidated his power to the point where he has virtual veto power over any deal as long as he maintains the support of eight owners. It’s inconceivable that every owner is 100 per cent behind the current lockout, but we’ll never know because the NHL has suppressed the sacred right of free speech by imposing fines of up to $1 million for anyone who deviates from the party line.
Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly offer a vision of the owners as a united front, but there is a disconnect between the ideal world of cost certainty and the reality of how the teams do business. The 2004-05 lockout produced a deal that should have ensured profitability for the 30 NHL teams but, seven years later, the owners are complaining that the system needs to be fixed.
Part of the problem has been the growth in the NHL, fuelled by a stable Canadian dollar, increased ticket revenue and boosts in corporate sponsorship and TV deals. This has raised the cap limit, and the increased floor has made it tough for the havenots of the NHL.
But the owners have created their own problems with insane contracts, many of which are designed to circumvent the intent of the cap. There is also an unwilling- ness on the part of the rich clubs to share the wealth. If the price of a national presence is hockey in Phoenix, South Florida and Columbus, shouldn’t these efforts be subsidized in the same manner the National Football League ensures the existence of a team in Green Bay?
The NHL’s response to this is to take a hard line in its negotiations with the players, and this is where the pessimism comes in. Bettman is a highly competitive person and went into these negotiations determined to win. Bob Goodenow got the better of Bettman in the 1994-95 lockout, and while the general perception of the 2005 settlement was the players lost, they have seen their salaries rise dramatically over the past seven years.
Bettman is trying to tweak the areas in which the owners came up short in the last deal, but the biggest hurdle is that this time around, he faces a formidable hurdle in Donald Fehr, the head of the NHL Players’ Association. Fehr formerly headed the baseball players’ union and showed his resolve in his principled but wrong-headed opposition to drug testing.
As Gatehouse points out: “Don Fehr is the kind of guy who sticks to his principles, even when he probably shouldn’t. … He will play the heavy when required. And with more conviction than even the NHL commissioner can muster.”
While Bettman and Fehr are waiting for the other guy to blink, the NHL was doing some damage control with its sponsors this week. John Collins, the league’s chief operating officer, was in Toronto to discuss the lockout with representatives from Molson, Canadian Tire, Sport Chek, Sirius XM, Kraft and Scotiabank.
“They were very transparent with us,” one anonymous attendee told Chris Johnston of the Canadian Press. “I was looking around the room and the long-term, cumulative dollars around the table were probably at the $100-million mark. It’s a significant chunk of change for this league.”
The fact that the meeting was held in Toronto and involved mostly Canadian companies underlines the fact a disproportionate amount of the NHL revenue is produced by the seven teams in Canada, where people actually care about the game.
Johnston noted that sponsorships played a “significant role in the immense growth the league enjoyed after the 2004-05 lockout.”
The reality is that the NHL remains a gate-driven league. Leaguewide sponsorships produce about 10 per cent of the $3.3 billion in hockeyrelated revenue. Ticket sales account for nearly 50 per cent of the revenue and, again, Canada is driving force with a dollar at par and fans who pay top dollar for tickets in packed arenas. But I haven’t seen any plans for Collins to meet with fans for a transparent conversation.
It would be interesting to hear what he would say to the fan from Halifax who bought a non-refundable airline ticket so he could attend a game at the Bell Centre in November.
What would he say to the guy who has to explain to his kids that they bought tickets for a game in October that has been cancelled?
As Bettman will tell you, these are the greatest fans in the world, but they deserve better than to be collateral damage in the battle between the owners and the players.