33 Facts About Gary Bettman

Gary Bruce Bettman was born on June 2,1952 and is an American sports executive who serves as the commissioner of the National Hockey League, a post he has held since February 1,1993.

Previously, Bettman was a senior vice president and general counsel to the National Basketball Association.

Gary Bettman is a graduate of Cornell University and New York University School of Law.

Gary Bettman was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.

In May 2014, Gary Bettman was named "sports executive of the year" by the SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily.

In 2016, Gary Bettman was inducted as a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Gary Bettman has often been criticized for attempting to give the game a mass appeal, and for expanding the league into non-traditional hockey markets such as the Sun Belt at the expense of the more traditional markets in Canada and the Northern United States.

Gary Bettman was born to a Jewish family in Queens, New York.

Gary Bettman studied industrial and labor relations at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he was a brother of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, and graduated in 1974.

Gary Bettman is a resident of Saddle River, New Jersey.

Gary Bettman's half-brother Jeffrey Pollack is a sports executive and has served as President of the XFL since 2018.

Gary Bettman joined the National Basketball Association in 1981, serving mainly in the marketing and legal departments.

Gary Bettman rose to third in command of the NBA, spending many years as the league's general counsel and senior vice president.

Gary Bettman played a key role in the development of the soft salary cap system implemented and agreed by the NBA in 1983, a system it continues to use today.

On December 12,1992, Gary Bettman was elected as the first commissioner of the National Hockey League.

Gary Bettman took office on February 1,1993; until July 1 he served alongside Gil Stein, who served as the NHL's final president.

Critics have accused Gary Bettman of having an "anti-Canadian" agenda, citing the relocation of the franchises in Quebec City and Winnipeg and his apparent refusal to help stop it, along with the aborted sale of the Nashville Predators in 2007 to interests that would have moved the team to Hamilton, Ontario.

Jim Balsillie accused Gary Bettman of forcing the Predators to end negotiations with him to purchase the team.

Gary Bettman was satirized in this vein as the character "Harry Buttman" in the 2006 Canadian movie Bon Cop, Bad Cop.

Gary Bettman later explained that the NHL's new divisional alignment precluded the adding of more franchises in the Eastern Time Zone, at least for the time being.

Gary Bettman chose Seattle as it is one of the fastest growing cities.

Five months later, Gary Bettman announced the cancellation of the entire season:.

However, Gary Bettman was able to negotiate a deal with Comcast to air the NHL on the Outdoor Life Network channel, which was later renamed Versus in 2006.

Gary Bettman was heavily criticized for the move to Versus, as detractors argued that the league lost a great deal of exposure since moving to the much smaller network.

In January 2011, Comcast acquired NBC Universal, and then in April of that year Gary Bettman negotiated a new 10-year deal with the merged media company, worth nearly $2 billion.

In signing this new TV deal, Gary Bettman rejected offers from ESPN and others.

On November 26,2013, Gary Bettman announced that the NHL had sold twelve seasons' worth of exclusive Canadian national broadcast rights to Rogers Media, who would broadcast games across its numerous platforms, including Sportsnet, Sportsnet One, and City, at a price of CAD$5.2 billion.

Gary Bettman spoke at the World Hockey Summit in 2010, and stated that being in the Olympics was a "mixed bag" for the NHL, and its experiences outside of North America tended not to be positive.

Gary Bettman gave a list of issues that he wanted to see resolved in consultation with the National Hockey League Players' Association, which included more control over marketing and promotion, timing of games being televised in North America, the hiatus in the NHL regular season schedule, ability for NHL team executives to access their players, travel concerns, and risk of injuries.

Gary Bettman is regularly booed in various arenas around the league, ranging from his appearances at the yearly NHL Entry Draft to his annual presentation of the Stanley Cup to the league champions at the end of the playoffs.

On May 21,2014, Gary Bettman was named "Sports Executive of the Year" by the SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily at the publications' annual Sports Business Awards event in New York.

In 2016, Gary Bettman was inducted as a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

In January 2023, Gary Bettman was the recipient of SportsBusiness Journal's Lifetime Achievement award.