Harry Buttman
I get the feeling most of these posts will take place at 2:30am or later.
This is a continuation of something else I just wrote elsewhere, I figure I'll post it here so I can look back on it someday and see if I think "man, I was an idiot" ... much like I've been doing thus far with this blog.
Why I don't like Gary Bettman :
It's the man's job to try and grow revenues for the owners, he's the commissioner after all. So I can't really blame him for that. I don't really care about the NHL's revenues, or the value of franchises or the TV ratings and all that. I only start to care about them when those numbers (or lack thereof) start to affect (hold on, I'm gonna get pretentious/cheesy here) The Game.
I care about hockey in Canada, I care about how strong a cultural institution it is, and therefore, I don't like things that may diminish that. And like it or not, the NHL has a huge impact on hockey at all levels in Canada. In February 2005, how many times did you hear "they cancelled the hockey season!" as opposed to "they cancelled the NHL season!" and in October 2005, how many times did you hear "hockey's back!" as opposed to "the NHL is back!"? Exactly.
I know the NHL has gone chasing big revenues in the US in the past, in "The Game", Dryden mentions how cyclical it is, and how it'll happen again (writing this in 1980~, mind you) when people forget how the last time never really worked. But since 1993, the NHL has seen the loss of two Canadian clubs, and it doesn't look very likely that any of them will be coming back to their respective cities. I know there are still hockey fans in QC and Winnipeg, but I can't help but feel that there are kids there who aren't gonna be quite as big of hockey fans (or hockey fans at all) because they don't have the big club to cheer for. The AHL doesn't have quite the same draw. Hockey can still be strong with six teams in Canada, but not as strong as it'd be with eight teams.
There are other areas; Tom Benjamin had a post a while back about how minor hockey leagues in both the US and Canada had adopted the NHL's "new rules" on contact (I don't think there's a hockey phrase out that that annoys me more than "the new rules") and how it was driving the players crazy and really bothering alot of them. I'm not exactly involved in minor hockey this year, so I don't know how true that is, but it certainly wouldn't suprise me. For the most part, what the NHL does gets adopted by the CHL, and so on down the ranks.
I suppose it all comes down to this: The NHL is concerned with making the most amount of money possible for the owners, but that's not necessarily in my interests. If the NHL gives the next Canadian TV rights to TSN and CTV instead of the CBC, and CTV only airs one game on saturday nights and that one game is only the leafs... well how does that help me as an Oilers fan (presumably) not living in Edmonton? And if I dislike TV and don't care to spend $50 a month simply for a few extra hockey games and then don't get TSN, how many fewer hockey games will I be watching? CTV/TSN might give the NHL more money, but it doesn't improve my experience as a hockey fan, and it's certainly worse for those who only get over the air channels.
And IF (this is a big IF) the NHL goes out of it's way to block an American team from moving to Canada (as they may well have done with regards to the Pens) because a team in Canada doesn't fit with their plans for a huge TV contract..... well, you see where I'm going with that.
In the end, the NHL has every right to do what they want to make money. But what's good for the NHL may not be good for "The Game", and that's what I care about. I don't like how the NHL has seemingly pushed away or taken for granted its more diehard fans in their search for the casual fan dollars. A few weeks ago the NHL VP for Communications said something about the NHL having a strong sophomore season, which sounded like a very telling quote about the NHL's attitude to me. It may have been off the cuff, a joke, but it could also be a very strong hint about how the NHL feels about its past. Larry Brooks says more in that link.
And what of that salary cap? It's supposed to save the small market Canadian teams, right? (Well, Bill Daly actually said it was intended to increase franchise values, but...) Well what happens when the salary cap hits $55 Million (and the floor is $38M) and the Canadian dollar drops back down to $0.65 instead of $0.85US? And then 50 goal scorer Rob Schremp is a UFA to be and demanding $9 Million from the Oilers?
I tried to come up with a better way of explaining why I don't like the guy than the usual stuff you'll read on messageboards and the like, while trying to be fair to him at the same time. It's quite possible that he personally didn't decree that NHL teams should change their sweaters to something "sexier", but if he's the figurehead, then it's being done in his name. The sweater changes, by the way, seem like the perfect example of trying to fix what ain't broke, and it'll be alot easier for them to get it wrong than to get it right.
All I know is, I watched Bon Cop Bad Cop the other day (which is where Harry Buttman comes from), and I found myself rooting pretty hard for the bad guy, especially at the end.
This is a continuation of something else I just wrote elsewhere, I figure I'll post it here so I can look back on it someday and see if I think "man, I was an idiot" ... much like I've been doing thus far with this blog.
Why I don't like Gary Bettman :
It's the man's job to try and grow revenues for the owners, he's the commissioner after all. So I can't really blame him for that. I don't really care about the NHL's revenues, or the value of franchises or the TV ratings and all that. I only start to care about them when those numbers (or lack thereof) start to affect (hold on, I'm gonna get pretentious/cheesy here) The Game.
I care about hockey in Canada, I care about how strong a cultural institution it is, and therefore, I don't like things that may diminish that. And like it or not, the NHL has a huge impact on hockey at all levels in Canada. In February 2005, how many times did you hear "they cancelled the hockey season!" as opposed to "they cancelled the NHL season!" and in October 2005, how many times did you hear "hockey's back!" as opposed to "the NHL is back!"? Exactly.
I know the NHL has gone chasing big revenues in the US in the past, in "The Game", Dryden mentions how cyclical it is, and how it'll happen again (writing this in 1980~, mind you) when people forget how the last time never really worked. But since 1993, the NHL has seen the loss of two Canadian clubs, and it doesn't look very likely that any of them will be coming back to their respective cities. I know there are still hockey fans in QC and Winnipeg, but I can't help but feel that there are kids there who aren't gonna be quite as big of hockey fans (or hockey fans at all) because they don't have the big club to cheer for. The AHL doesn't have quite the same draw. Hockey can still be strong with six teams in Canada, but not as strong as it'd be with eight teams.
There are other areas; Tom Benjamin had a post a while back about how minor hockey leagues in both the US and Canada had adopted the NHL's "new rules" on contact (I don't think there's a hockey phrase out that that annoys me more than "the new rules") and how it was driving the players crazy and really bothering alot of them. I'm not exactly involved in minor hockey this year, so I don't know how true that is, but it certainly wouldn't suprise me. For the most part, what the NHL does gets adopted by the CHL, and so on down the ranks.
I suppose it all comes down to this: The NHL is concerned with making the most amount of money possible for the owners, but that's not necessarily in my interests. If the NHL gives the next Canadian TV rights to TSN and CTV instead of the CBC, and CTV only airs one game on saturday nights and that one game is only the leafs... well how does that help me as an Oilers fan (presumably) not living in Edmonton? And if I dislike TV and don't care to spend $50 a month simply for a few extra hockey games and then don't get TSN, how many fewer hockey games will I be watching? CTV/TSN might give the NHL more money, but it doesn't improve my experience as a hockey fan, and it's certainly worse for those who only get over the air channels.
And IF (this is a big IF) the NHL goes out of it's way to block an American team from moving to Canada (as they may well have done with regards to the Pens) because a team in Canada doesn't fit with their plans for a huge TV contract..... well, you see where I'm going with that.
In the end, the NHL has every right to do what they want to make money. But what's good for the NHL may not be good for "The Game", and that's what I care about. I don't like how the NHL has seemingly pushed away or taken for granted its more diehard fans in their search for the casual fan dollars. A few weeks ago the NHL VP for Communications said something about the NHL having a strong sophomore season, which sounded like a very telling quote about the NHL's attitude to me. It may have been off the cuff, a joke, but it could also be a very strong hint about how the NHL feels about its past. Larry Brooks says more in that link.
And what of that salary cap? It's supposed to save the small market Canadian teams, right? (Well, Bill Daly actually said it was intended to increase franchise values, but...) Well what happens when the salary cap hits $55 Million (and the floor is $38M) and the Canadian dollar drops back down to $0.65 instead of $0.85US? And then 50 goal scorer Rob Schremp is a UFA to be and demanding $9 Million from the Oilers?
I tried to come up with a better way of explaining why I don't like the guy than the usual stuff you'll read on messageboards and the like, while trying to be fair to him at the same time. It's quite possible that he personally didn't decree that NHL teams should change their sweaters to something "sexier", but if he's the figurehead, then it's being done in his name. The sweater changes, by the way, seem like the perfect example of trying to fix what ain't broke, and it'll be alot easier for them to get it wrong than to get it right.
All I know is, I watched Bon Cop Bad Cop the other day (which is where Harry Buttman comes from), and I found myself rooting pretty hard for the bad guy, especially at the end.
posted by Julian at 2:30 a.m.
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