Life after Gary Bettman

Did Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold make a simple mistake by revealing that NHL owners are preparing to release Gary Bettman? Or, on the contrary, did Leipold know perfectly well what he was doing?

Craig Leipold serves on the executive committee of the Board of Governors of the NHL. Made up of 10 influential team owners (including Geoff Molson), this powerful committee dictates, in a way, all the major directions of the league.

Normally very disciplined, the members of this circle very rarely come forward in public to discuss the internal affairs of the league. And the reason is very simple: this responsibility falls to Commissioner Gary Bettman, an expert in cryptic answers.

For this reason, colleagues from the site The Athletic were startled Wednesday when they heard Craig Leipold publicly reveal that Bettman is preparing to retire. The Wild owner made the admission while participating in a podcast titled The Sick Podcast/The Eye Test hosted by Pierre McGuire and Jimmy Murphy.

Although Leipold praised Bettman’s accomplishments and expressed concern about his departure, he nonetheless revealed inside information from the Board of Governors. And what’s more, Leipold interfered in Bettman’s private life by preventing him from choosing the moment when he would publicly address the question of his possible retirement.

Questioned Thursday about his statement the day before, Craig Leipold did not shy away. Instead, he gave it up again.

When asked if the executive committee has formally begun the process of finding the commissioner’s successor, Leipold responded in the affirmative. I would say we have startedhe declared.

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In the world of hockey, and even in North American professional sport as a whole, this is major news. Aged 72, Gary Bettman will celebrate in a few days (February 1) his 32nd anniversary as commissioner of the NHL.

He holds the record for longevity among the leaders of major North American sports championships. And in the world of management, he is recognized as a tough guy and a slayer of unions. He is famous for triggering three lockouts – one of which led to the entire cancellation of the 2004-05 season – and for successfully imposing on players the most restrictive salary cap and collective bargaining agreement in the professional sports industry.

By coincidence, Bettman attended the Wild’s game in Minnesota on Thursday night. And when Brother Michael Russo (The Athletic) questioned him about his future plans, the commissioner of the NHL offered a very different version from that of Leipold.

The commissioner insisted on the fact that he still has the energy and passion necessary to do his job well and that he does not foresee retirement in the short term.

Bettman confirmed he raised the issue of his possible retirement with the executive committee last month, ahead of a Board of Governors meeting in Florida. But he did it out of a simple sense of responsibility, he says, because of his age and because the process of ensuring succession to a long-serving CEO is normally more complicated.

I’m not ready for retirementhe said.

Ultimately, this strange situation raises some questions.

If Bettman is not considering retirement in the foreseeable future, why did he feel it necessary to raise this issue with his superiors?

And if the date of his departure has not been set, why has the executive committee taken steps to find a successor?

Finally, why did Craig Leipold reveal this information? Was it a simple mistake, or did he elegantly want to make it known that Gary Bettman was being pushed out and force the latter to comment on his situation?

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Leipold’s indiscretion also sheds new light on information that has been circulating for several weeks regarding Bettman’s working relationship with the new executive director of the Players’ Association, Marty Walsh.

The collective agreement of the NHL will officially end on September 15, 2026. But rather unusually, Bettman has shown great interest in entering into negotiations as early as this year. He even said he wanted to conclude a new agreement before the next Stanley Cup final, i.e. 15 months before the expiry of this employment contract.

Is this eagerness linked to the fact that Bettman is preparing to leave his position before the normal expiration of the collective agreement? Or is the commissioner trying, before bowing out, a move similar to that which occurred during the last NFL negotiations?

In March 2020, NFL players made a major concession (adding one game to the schedule and adding two teams to the playoffs) in exchange for peccadilloes. The Players Association learned a year later that the owners had just agreed to an 11-year television deal worth $110 billion.

However, the next Canadian television contract from the NHLwhich league leaders hope to see surpass 10 billion, should normally be announced in the fall of 2026, at the same time when the players’ current employment contract should have ended.

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When Gary Bettman leaves, it will also be interesting to see what the owners’ approach to replacing him will be.

Some believe that Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly would be the perfect man to take charge.

Aged 60, Daly was hired by the NHL in 1996 as senior vice-president of legal affairs. His title and responsibilities have evolved over time, but in fact he has always been Bettman’s inseparable right-hand man.

The two men have developed such a bond over the years that one sometimes completes the other’s sentences at press conferences.

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Over the past 30 years, Bill Daly has been involved in every major negotiation of the NHL. Those of collective agreements, of course, but also the negotiations of TV rights, the negotiations with the IIHF and the CIO as well as the talks leading to the various expansions of the league.

For owners, it would probably be very reassuring to bet on Daly. Compared to the Bettman administration, it would be white hat, white hat. And Bettman’s administration proved exceptionally profitable for the owners.

The concessions extracted from players during the lockouts of 2004-2005 and 2012 made the teams profitable to such an extent that the growth in the value of the teams in the NHL now surpasses that of NFL and MLB franchises.

Conversely, the growth in salaries of superstars of the NHL is half as fast as those of MLB and NBA players. And incredibly, collectively, the 10 highest earners in the NHL receive less money this season than in 2004.

When Bettman took office in 1993, the Montreal Canadiens were worth $73 million. The team is now worth 3 billion according to several specialist publications, more than 41 times its former value. Since the acquisition of CH for some 500 million 15 years ago, the Molson family has seen the value of its investment multiply sixfold.

In short, it could be comforting for owners to bank on Daly and continue to recommend the same recipe for a few more years.

Or perhaps owners will remember that Bettman was only 40 years old and extremely ambitious when he was hired. And that perhaps the time has come to pass the baton to a new generation in order to make the goose lay more of the golden eggs.