NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman discussed the collective-bargaining agreement and a number of other topics on All-Star weekend.
What will it take for the NHL to be healthy financially in the long term?
If we don’t properly address our issues, people will look back at this moment and say it was critical to this league. We had two bankruptcies (Ottawa and Buffalo) last year and a series of near misses. We can’t continue this way. It has to be fixed.
Is the NHL’s future on local TV rather than national?
It’s going to continue to be a combination of both. We continue to be stronger locally and regionally than nationally, but that is still a function of not being on national television for 20 years. We are getting more exposure at all levels than we have ever had in our history.
Is there even a remote chance you may enlarge the goals to increase scoring?
I wouldn’t rule anything in or out, but I am not sure that the game needs a radical or fundamental change. The game is exciting and competitive.
Do you favor a return to the Olympics?
What I have said is we can’t focus on the Olympics in Italy (in 2006) until we have a new collective-bargaining agreement. All things being equal, I think the Olympics have been a plus for our game and for our fans, but we have a lot of other issues to deal with. … We have to take into account travel, time zones, length of schedule and the like. The things that made Salt Lake City so terrific are likely to appear in Vancouver (in 2010). But Italy is the next one up. We have to see where things stand when we have to make that decision.
Is there a chance the league will end interconference play to stimulate rivalries?
The mail, the feedback is split. “Why do we see teams from the other conference only once every other year?” versus “Why do we see them at all?” It’s hard to strike a balance. Fans always want to see the Stanley Cup champion at least once.
