Fans have been calling for Gary Bettman's firing for a long time and the NHL chooses to keep him around losing out on millions.
Bettman's Blunder
Recently, player agent Allan Walsh took to social media to air out all of Gary Bettman's filthy laundry.
"The NHL is going into its 3rd year of its 7-year media rights deal with ESPN. Since that time, ESPN's subscriber base has fallen from 80 million to 45 million. Disney (parent company of ESPN) is now actively searching for a 'strategic partner' for the network."
While this is not the NHL and Gary Bettman's fault entirely, it still is costing them millions of potential viewers. On top of this, the regional network for 12 teams, Bally Sports, recently filed for bankruptcy as well.
Affecting The On Ice Product
Obviously, the NHL is still recovering from the COVID pandemic but these poor business partners are undoubtedly lengthening the on-ice effects.
"Also, Bally Sports just announced pending bankruptcy which will apparently affect 12 NHL teams. With Bally owning $55M in media rights, it's likely that this affects the salary cap."
The salary cap is one of the most talked about issues in the NHL having a great effect on how teams can build their roster. Teams who are cap-strapped are forced to trade expensive players for very little or pay another team to acquire said expensive players.
Now, Bettman's latest blunder likely will prolong the slight cap increases and we will have to wait till things turn around or Bettman gets fired to see a real change.
