Poor management by Gary Bettman: The NHL Players' Association has had enough
There has been a lot of action in the hockey world in recent weeks, mainly in the NHL, and Gary Bettman is being criticized for questionable marketing.
Indeed, looking at the big picture, there was the Stanley Cup on June 24, the individual trophies ceremony, the draft on June 28 and 29, and then the opening of the free agency market on July 1.
All of this happened within just one week, which is very bad for marketing, as all these great events did not get the visibility expected. For a league that claims to be the best and most popular in the world, it's quite disappointing.
The NHLPA and the NHL are therefore evaluating how to remedy this situation, and preliminary discussions are underway for an 84-game schedule and several changes.
The NHL and NHLPA have had very preliminary discussions on what a new NHL calendar could look like. Wouldn't take effect until next CBA 2 years from now.
What's being discussed:
_ Move start of reg season up to very early Oct;
_ Award Cup earlier in June;
_ Cut pre-season to 4 games per team;
_ 84-game regular season;
Basically moving things up 2 weeks or so.
It's not awarding the Cup by May 31 but it sure beats what it looks like now!
Again, these are preliminary discussions. Let's see where it goes."
- Pierre LeBrun
This means that both sides are working to better capitalize on major events by spacing them out. This is a very good thing for the future of the NHL.
Significant changes could/should take place in two years, during the renewal of the NHL's collective bargaining agreement.
| POLL | ||
Would you like the NHL schedule to include 84 regular season games and fewer preseason games? | ||
| Yes | 207 | 68.5 % |
| No | 95 | 31.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
