No wonder the league’s 24 owners have turned to the NBA to solve its woes. Last week the NHL agreed to pay Gary Bettman, 40, a protege of NBA Commissioner David Stern, a reported $1 million a year to bring his marketing savvy and labor-relations expertise to the beleaguered sport. A New Yorker and longtime hockey fan, the new NHL commissioner promises to be “extremely hands on”-although he remains vague about his prescriptions. “The NHL has yet to go through its boom period,” says Bettman. “I’m committed to making it happen.” There are already signs the league is coming to life. The NHL has signed a big cable-TV contract and new teams in San Jose, Tampa Bay and Ottawa generated excitement that the league had lacked for years. And the NHL got another lift recently when The Walt Disney Co. was awarded a new team.
What’s been keeping hockey on ice? The biggest mistake may have been made four years ago when the NHL buried its game on SportsChannel America, a cable network that has topped out at a meager 25 million homes. But hockey’s problems are bigger than who televises the game. For example, a poorly designed playoff system makes the 84-game season largely irrelevant. And despite rule changes aimed against fighting, it wasn’t eliminated. So NHL “goons” still patrol the ice, inciting pointless brawls-a crowd pleaser for some diehards but a turnoff to most sports fans.
The arrival of Bettman, though, has coincided with a number of positive developments. The league has a new four-year ESPN contract (which may also include playoff games on ABC), and by 1994 new franchises-owned by Disney and Blockbuster Entertainment chairman H. Wayne Huizenga-will be added in Anaheim and Miami. The new sun-belt teams should enhance the NHL’s national appeal, and the involvement of marketing-driven owners like Disney will heighten the league’s profile. Bettman also plans to encourage snazzy marketing ploys, including NBA-style dream teams during the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, in February 1994.
Some team owners have already caught on. The Tampa Bay Lightning has won fans with an irreverent marketing campaign (centering on the slogan “Kick Ice”). Such shrewd gimmicks include hiring the NHL’s first female goalie, Manon Rheaume, 20, for training camp. (They used her once before shipping her to a minor-league team.) Despite the second worst record in the NHL, the San Jose Sharks have ranked second behind the NBA champs, the Chicago Bulls, in team-merchandise sales. Especially popular are its jerseys, featuring the team’s logo, a shark chomping on a hockey stick. The new teams may be the league’s salvation. Not only are they selling out, but their diverse locations are making it worthwhile for national networks to televise the games.
Bettman may make his real impact in labor relations, which hit rock bottom last season during a 10-day strike that delayed the playoffs. Again, the NBA could be the model. Under Bettman’s leadership, the basketball league linked the interests of owners and players through revenue sharing, and helped to ensure profits with team salary caps. Yet fundamental problems remain. The NHL has stiffened penalties for brutality, but fighting is still commonplace. And despite the potential marketing pluses from the ESPN contract, NHL owners “haven’t done anything different today than they did 40 years ago,” says a top network executive. The new signs of life are encouraging, but it may take more than an NBA veteran and Disney to jump-start a league that’s been Mickey Mouse for years.
