Gary Bettman is a business executive and is the current commissioner of the National Hockey League. He’s 69 years-old. Bettman’s time as commissioner has been rocky. He oversaw the league’s expansion from 24 teams to 32. There’s also been five team relocations during his time as commissioner. The League’s revenue has also jumped tremendously under Bettman. While there has been significant growth for the League in Bettman’s time as commissioner, Bettman’s reputation has been harmed due to the fact that there have been 3 lockouts in his tenure, which includes the 2004/05 lockout that caused the entire NHL season to be canceled. Many fans have an unfavorable view of Bettman as a result of these lockouts.
Gary Bettman was born in Queens, New York in 1952. He studied industrial and labor relations at Cornell University and graduated in 1974. In 1977, Bettman earned his law degree at New York University School of Law. He got his first job working at the law firm of Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn. He worked there until 1981 where he then went to work for the NBA.
Gary Bettman began working for the NBA in 1981 as part of the league’s marketing and legal departments. Bettman worked as the NBA’s legal council during labor negotiations and played a key role in the league’s establishment of the soft salary cap in 1983, which is still in use today.
Gary Bettman was elected NHL Commissioner on December 12, 1992. He began official commissioner duties on February 1, 1993 as co-commissioner, and in July, he became the sole leader of the NHL. At the beginning of the 1991/92 season, there were 24 teams in the NHL. The NHL expanded into Florida and Anaheim for the 1993/94 season. The league then added franchises in Nashville (1998), Atlanta (1999), Minnesota (2000), and Columbus (2000). That brought the total number of teams to 30. Things were off to a great start for Bettman. The 1990’s also saw the relocation of several franchises. The Minnesota North Stars relocated to Dallas in 1993, the Quebec Nordiques relocated to Denver and branded themselves as the Avalanche in 1995, the Winnipeg Jets relocated to Phoenix and branded themselves as the Coyotes in 1996, and the Hartford Whalers relocated to Florida to become the Panthers in 1997.
While things got off to a great start for Bettman as commissioner, it didn’t take long for the league to hit turbulence. The NHL and NHLPA were unable to come to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement in time to start the 1994/95 season. Labor relations were so bad that it ended up causing the season to get shortened from 84 games down to 48 by the time an agreement would be reached. Ten years later, the NHL and NHLPA failed to reach a new CBA agreement and the season was delayed once again. Only this time, the NHL lockout lasted much longer and resulted in the cancellation of the entire 2004/05 season. This was the first time a North American professional sports league had lost an entire season due to a lockout, and its was first time since the 1994/95 MLB player strike, that a sports league had to cancel its postseason. This drove many fans to end their support for the league. Another labor dispute occurred ahead of the 2012/13 season, which resulted in another lockout and a 48 game season. In 2011, Gary Bettman oversaw the sale of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg. They changed their name to the Jets. The Thrashers had been part of the league since 1999, but only made the postseason once. This was the 5th time a franchise relocated during Bettman’s tenure. The NHL expanded in two new markets since the relocation of the Thrashers. The Las Vegas Golden Knights began play in the 2017/18 season and made it all the way to the Stanley Cup, but lost to the Washington Capitals in 5 games. The Seattle Kraken began play in the 2021/22 season. Despite the turbulence in the league throughout his tenure, Bettman managed to increase revenue dramatically. League revenue was at $400 million per year when he took over the league as commissioner and he brought revenue all the way up to $3 billion per year by the time the 2010/11 season came around.
Beginning in 1998, it was Announced by Gary Bettman that NHL players were allowed to compete at the Winter Olympics. This continued to be a tradition at the Olympics until 2017 when Bettman announced that the NHL would not participate in the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang. Due to a Covid-19 outbreak in December of the 2021/22 season, the NHL and NHLPA agreed to not participate in the 2022 Winter Olympics despite it being part of their most recent collective bargaining agreement. Instead, they used what would’ve been a four-week break in the season, as a time to schedule games that were postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak. There is no official confirmation on participation in the 2026 Winter Games in Italy.
In 2016, Gary Bettman was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. In 2018, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Bettman is the longest-serving North American sports commissioner among active commissioners.
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