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Entries with the tag: NHLFA
Suggest A “Fire Bettman” Rally
by Mike Chen on 10/26/09 at 11:00 AM ET
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The NHL Fans’ Association (NHLFA) is a one-of-a-kind organization that tries to position itself as the voice of the NHL fan in terms of negotiations and direction of the league. With 30,000+ members, they’ve got a reasonably sized constituency, though one could argue that that’s a fraction of a percentage of the entire NHL fan base (some 21 million tickets were distributed last season and some 8 million watched Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final just in the US). One of the NHLFA’s goals for this season is to fire Gary Bettman. A lofty goal, considering that the only people that can fire Bettman are the 30 members of the Board of Governors, and they just gave him a contract extension not too long ago.
To try get their point across, the NHLFA is taking suggestions from its members for creative ways to start a Fire Bettman rally. While this will surely create some amusing fantasies probably worthy of a Will Ferrell movie, I’m guessing the NHLFA wants something that will realistically get noticed and carry some weight.
However, it’s times like this I try to remind folks that Bettman isn’t in charge of the NHL—the Board of Governors is. Bettman’s a first mate, assigned with certain operational and logistical duties, along with general counsel and negotiation, but he’s no evil emperor pulling the puppetmaster strings of all things hockey. For a refresher on what Bettman’s job description entails, check out this post from a few months back.
What could create change in the league’s culture? It’s change at the top—the ownership groups.
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Tags: Gary+Bettman, NHLFA,
