David Stern sent us Bettman

[JJ Thompson94 0]

I don't know what it's going to take to get a new comissioner. Bettman is completly ruining the NHL and no on is doing anything about it. It's gotten so bad Nascar has better ratings than the NHL. That was unimaginable in 93 when bettman took over. What a joke.

Read this article

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=dw-b...o&type=lgns

[cxo 0]

For the record, NASCAR has better T.V ratings than everyone. It's the #1 spectator sport in the U.S.

[mrusse01 0]

For the record, NASCAR has better T.V ratings than everyone. It's the #1 spectator sport in the U.S.

I'm not even going to look it up...but that is not true. Spectator sport does not equal TV ratings.

[cxo 0]

It's been competing with football in spectators for years. I'm not talking T.V ratings, my mistake.

[mrusse01 0]

Yeah, they get massive amounts of spectators, but that might also be a function of the sport itself that allows such large venues. Still though, the success of the sport is undeniable.

I like the article in the original post, I've long said Bettman is ruining the NHL and frankly looking at where the game is now compared to where it was when he took control of the league, it's pretty tough to argue that he has been anything but an abject failure.

[cxo 0]

The article did make plenty of good points. I actually wasn't aware of just how many of his bad decisions had led to the current state of the NHL, and will probably remain a bit skeptical, but the latest example being moving the All-Star game to a smaller network? And I've definitely always thought that the NHL was "over-expanded" to quote the article. I'll stand by that.

[chippa13 1844]

Not for nothing, but networks weren't exactly drooling over the NHL all-star game.

[Penguinsfanatic 0]

here is a site you should all visit that hate bettman.http://www.petitiononline.com/great88/petition.html

[gxc999 7]

No argument that Bettman should be canned. His decisions have been consistently bad and only degraded the NHL's bigger picture. I actually think the article was 100% on point, Stern made sure to pick someone who would render the NHL innocuous, compared to the NBA. I've signed the petition before and if it had any effect, I would do it again.

It'd be really wonderful if he would suddenly drop dead of a congenital heart defect...

[mrusse01 0]

It'd be really wonderful if he would suddenly drop dead of a congenital heart defect...

ha, that might be a bit much...I'd just prefer if he went away.

[frankie56 0]

Seems that the owners like him or he would have been gone long ago. Blame the board of directors for lack of balls to get someone better.

The advantage of big networks on TV is long gone. Nobody cares what network it's on anymore. The all-star ratings were low because it was boring to watch.

The more of a team sport it is, the less appealing the all-star game is. Does anyone really watch the pro-bowl?

[Chadd 916]

That article is a year old, the all star game was up against American idol and something else if I remember correctly.

Seems that the owners like him or he would have been gone long ago. Blame the board of directors for lack of balls to get someone better.

The advantage of big networks on TV is long gone. Nobody cares what network it's on anymore. The all-star ratings were low because it was boring to watch.

The more of a team sport it is, the less appealing the all-star game is. Does anyone really watch the pro-bowl?

[JJ Thompson94 0]

Thats true the article is a year old, but how much better did the league get in the last year? Not much, if at all.

[ashtonhutch05 0]

Good enough that I'm at least able to watch hockey this year.

[#96 0]

I was talking to an older guy at work today that used to be really into hockey - like late 60s and 70s hockey. He was saying how people hated the Flyers but everyone watched. Something about games being on local tv, I guess like a game of the week kinda thing, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, as we started to talk and he was saying how hockey used to be so much better with the action, fights, hits, etc., it got me thinking...

People say Extreme Fighting is going to surpass hockey in terms of popularity soon, and possibly even other more well known sports. Clearly, as the name indicates, Extreme Fighting is based around physicality and as some would say "barbarity". But the NHL sought to eliminate the "barbarity" with different rules, enforcement, etc., but instead of helping the league, it's hurt it. Kind of ironic. What we tried to eliminate is exactly what's making another sport even more popular.

[cxo 0]

It's not ironic, it was simply a bad decision. A lot of people in southern states specially, where hockey is seriously lacking in popularity, go to these games with their buddies and hope to see a fight or two, get riled up over a big hit and maybe see a nice move while they're at it. Every rule change they seem to have made revolves around killing the physicality and any and all scoring. There should be so many more games with as much scoring as the recent Caps blowout of Boston, just not necessarily that one-sided. The league hates scoring and action, regardless of what they try and promote.

[hamstercaster 2]

For the record, NASCAR has better T.V ratings than everyone. It's the #1 spectator sport in the U.S.

I'm not even going to look it up...but that is not true. Spectator sport does not equal TV ratings.

In the States, pretty much every sport, including bowling gets better tv ratings than hockey. I remember hearing something about it a few years back and hockey was like number 7 or 8 in the sports TV market in the States. In Canada though, hockey rules supreme when matched to other sports on TV!! If I'm not mistaking, they rule supreme at the rink too as I believe all 6 Canadian teams have had sold out games all year.. if not all, pretty close.. which cannot be said for pretty much all of the US based teams except for maybe 3 or 4 teams at the very most.

[cxo 0]

And that's where one of many problems lies. No one used to have a problem at least selling out their buildings until recently. Maybe not even selling out, but even Dallas and Phoenix, markets that are not exactly hockey hotbeds, were pretty packed regardless of the teams standings and players.

[chippa13 1844]

And that's where one of many problems lies. No one used to have a problem at least selling out their buildings until recently. Maybe not even selling out, but even Dallas and Phoenix, markets that are not exactly hockey hotbeds, were pretty packed regardless of the teams standings and players.

Phoenix did well when they first opened but between a bad building and lackluster teams, the fan base fell off.

I was talking to an older guy at work today that used to be really into hockey - like late 60s and 70s hockey. He was saying how people hated the Flyers but everyone watched. Something about games being on local tv, I guess like a game of the week kinda thing, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, as we started to talk and he was saying how hockey used to be so much better with the action, fights, hits, etc., it got me thinking...

People say Extreme Fighting is going to surpass hockey in terms of popularity soon, and possibly even other more well known sports. Clearly, as the name indicates, Extreme Fighting is based around physicality and as some would say "barbarity". But the NHL sought to eliminate the "barbarity" with different rules, enforcement, etc., but instead of helping the league, it's hurt it. Kind of ironic. What we tried to eliminate is exactly what's making another sport even more popular.

Yeah, I know I'd rather watch two guys hug on the floor until one gets bored and taps out than watch an NHL game.

[JJ Thompson94 0]

All we need is a commish who knows hockey. Someone who grew up playing and loving hockey. Bettman is a retard. My little pinky knows more hockey than he does.

[Chadd 916]

All we need is a commish who knows hockey. Someone who grew up playing and loving hockey. Bettman is a retard. My little pinky knows more hockey than he does.

The number one hockey guy in the league, Colin Campbell, is responsible for enforcing discipline and handing out suspensions. The fact that he refuses to dish out meaningful suspensions to borderline players for cheap shots is a far bigger detriment to the league than anything Bettman has done, other than the lockout.

[mrusse01 0]

It's not ironic, it was simply a bad decision. A lot of people in southern states specially, where hockey is seriously lacking in popularity, go to these games with their buddies and hope to see a fight or two, get riled up over a big hit and maybe see a nice move while they're at it. Every rule change they seem to have made revolves around killing the physicality and any and all scoring. There should be so many more games with as much scoring as the recent Caps blowout of Boston, just not necessarily that one-sided. The league hates scoring and action, regardless of what they try and promote.

Why do people go to NASCAR? To see a crash.

Why do people watch MMA? To see someone get knocked out.

The most violent mainstream sport is football, it is also the most popular.

The NHL needs to embrace the physicality and violence that has always been a part of the game, while at the same time protecting the health of the players.

I don't know how you can say every move they've made has revolved around killing all scoring though, maybe they haven't been as successful as they would have liked, but you have to admit killing scoring is not their intent (even if it is the result).

[mattzilla 0]

I completely agree. Fighting and hitting is part of the game, thats how it is and how it should continue to be.

if there is a big fight, every person in the arena is up on their feet watching.

a goal scored? 'what happened!?'

[cxo 0]

I don't know how you can say every move they've made has revolved around killing all scoring though, maybe they haven't been as successful as they would have liked, but you have to admit killing scoring is not their intent (even if it is the result).

I understand their intentions are to increase scoring, but it seems like they don't try very hard to get the ball rolling. That's my real complaint.

[mrusse01 0]

I don't know how you can say every move they've made has revolved around killing all scoring though, maybe they haven't been as successful as they would have liked, but you have to admit killing scoring is not their intent (even if it is the result).

I understand their intentions are to increase scoring, but it seems like they don't try very hard to get the ball rolling. That's my real complaint.

They had it going a bit there with the crackdown on hooking/holding/slashing, but it seems like they've moved away from that now and what we have now is basically like a Random Penalty Generator where all of a sudden they'll just call something that's gone on all game, or something that is a completely phantom call. I think all the players, fans, or anyone else can ask for is consistency, and the lately from the games I've watched it's been horrible.

The easiest fix for increased scoring is the goalie equipment. Look at a goalie from the 80's, look at a goalie now. It's not hard to figure out the difference. I don't know why this is such a tough issue for the league to get on top of. Pads, pants, uppers, blocker, catcher, jersey...regulate everything, cut it way down and tell the goalies to shove it if they don't like it, because it's either that or the nets are going to get bigger.