NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was a special guest Wednesday on “The Pat McAfee Show” as part of the program’s Hockey Is Awesome segment. Commissioner Bettman discussed the growing popularity of the sport and upcoming 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Feb. 17-18. The Commissioner said the NHL has never been as healthy and wants to continue growing the game. Here are the highlights of Commissioner Bettman's appearance:
On the growing popularity of the NHL
“Our attendance, we’re tracking for record year on attendance, and we try to do things, whether it’s at the grassroots level or, I just came from a press conference announcing the public sale of one of our outdoor weekend events. We’re going to put on two outdoor games at MetLife on Feb. 17 and 18, tickets went on sale this morning. The Devils are going to be playing the Flyers on Saturday night and there will be a concert as part of that evening. The Rangers are going to play the Islanders on Sunday afternoon. The Giants and Jets have been great in sharing their home with us and so, we want to continue to create way for fans to connect with our game and have a great experience.”
On the excitement of outdoor games
“They’re all sold out, they’re all unique we dress up the stadium, whether it’s a football stadium or a baseball stadium and it becomes unrecognizable because it’s very hockey-centric and it’s themed based on the area and the history and tradition of hockey in that area. What’s really great about it is that the players love it. It conjures up notions of them as young kid learning to skate outdoors on outdoor ponds. And for fans, there’s tailgating, which you don’t typically have for an arena sport and we’re coming together in numbers that you’re not quite used to because we play in front of 18-20,000 people in an arena. But when you put 80,000 outdoors together braving the elements it’s really taking the game back to its essential roots and people just love the experience and dealing with the climate which takes sports, which is the ultimate reality show in our case taking it outdoors and making it more unpredictable.”
On NHL being in a good place
“We’ve probably never been healthier as a sport. The game has never been not only more competitive but more entertaining and more exciting. We have great young players, you recently had two on your show with (Connor) Bedard and (Auston) Matthews. The skill, the speed, the entertainment value, and something that I track, I think we’re trending to set a record in come-from-behind victories. It’s getting close to 50 percent of our games, which makes it exciting and fun as a fan, to be entertaining and as a fan, whoever you root for, your team likely has a chance of making the playoffs, which most sports can’t say and one the playoffs begin, anything can happen.”
On possible further expansion
“In terms of moving forward, we’re getting expressions of interest all the time. We’re getting it from Houston, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Quebec City. Expansion isn’t on the forefront of what we’re thinking about. I take meetings all the time, I listen to expressive interest, I’m not ruling it out, but it’s not something we’re focused or pushing to do right now.”
On promoting star players
“Historically the culture of our game was more team-centric than individual centricity, and our guys are great on and off the ice and our younger players understand the importance and they are putting themselves out there on social media more than ever before and it’s something that we encourage. We know that fans, particularly younger fans, want more insight into the game behind the scenes and more about our athletes and how great they are and how personable they are, and that’s something we’re encouraging and emphasizing and I think in that respect the culture of the game is changing and that’s going to help grown the game as well.”
