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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 28, 2007Gary BettmanCOMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Let me add my voice in welcoming you to the 02. It is an incredibly impressive facility, arena. All the other aspects of this facility, surrounding it, are really state-of-the-art, really cutting edge. It's a delight for us to be here. I've had a little bit of time to interact with fans. I've met a number of people from Los Angeles and from Orange County. I've seen fans from other places in Europe. Met some fans from Finland and Sweden. For us, this was an opportunity to dip our toe in the water in Europe, take what we believe is the most international of the North American sports, and bring it to the other side of the Atlantic. Well, obviously London and England may not be the strongest hockey markets in the world, it puts us in closer proximity to markets and people have traveled here. A combination of the media and television exposure, people wanting to see two real live games that count in the standings, we think is a good opportunity for us to delve in slightly, control the experience in terms of what we can provide to the players for the on-ice competition and see exactly how well this can work for us from a starting point. And so far the experience has been good. I just bumped into a number of the Kings players and the coaching staff as I was walking in here. They are all thrilled to be here and are enjoying the trip. I'm here, as well, enjoying myself, though I've only been here two hours. I'm happy to take your questions. Q. How did this come together? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Like many things, it has many parents. What do they say? Success has many parents and failure's an orphan. We have been acutely aware of the international presence of our games for the reasons I articulated. It's the reason our players who don't make the playoffs play in the World Championships. It's the reason we have stopped three times during our season to go to the Olympics. We've played games in Japan. We were here in I think '93 with exhibition games with the Rangers and the Leafs. We are very proud of the fact our players enjoy playing internationally, in international competition, and we're also very proud of the fact that our game is followed on a worldwide basis. So the international aspect of our game is always on our mind. When AEG, which also owns the Kings, got involved in this fabulous facility, we started having serious talks about seeing if we could get this all to come together in a way we felt we could create an experience from our teams that from a competitive standpoint would work. Since these games count in the standings, we had to be very comfortable that the logistics would work. From a European standpoint, we're dealing with a state-of-the-art facility and the closest proximity to North America that we could get as opposed to other places. So those were two of the factors. We also felt the games would be well-supported here. I think two weeks after Bill Daly was here to make the announcement, the Deputy Commissioner, without any advertising, marketing or promotion, both games were sold out. The response was what we expected. And the environment for the game makes us comfortable that from a competitive standpoint this was something we could do. Q. I spoke to a Tottenham Spurs fan today who said he got his tickets for two reasons. One, he knows it's for points. And, two, he's confident because he knows it's for points that he'll see somebody drop his gloves. COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: We're not warranting whether or not there will be fisticuffs, but there will be a competition that has all of the intensity and emotion and passion and skill that our game has. I think one of the reasons that the game sold out so quickly is that this is a market that respects authenticity. These aren't exhibition games. As you point out, these are the real deal. If you look at our standings at the end of the regular season for the last few years, a couple of points won or lost in October, end of September, can be the difference of making the playoffs. I think that's one of the reasons London has responded and Europe has responded so well to these games. Q. What is the plan for next year, the year after that in terms of doing this again? Where would you like to go? Will there be more teams involved? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: That's a great question. I'm going to probably disappoint you with the answer. We can blue sky lots of different things, more teams, more places, but that would be blue skying. Please don't let your headline writers say, We're doing more games in more places. What we're going to do is debrief once the experience is over, talk to the teams, talk to the players, and make sure that not so much today and tomorrow but next week when they're back and they've readjusted to the time zones, that everything is okay. Because, first and foremost for us, it's about the competition. We have to make sure we're creating the right circumstance for the real games that count. The benefit of these games is that they count, and the thing that we have to worry about most is that they count. So we're going to have to debrief. Obviously, if this works well, we're going to want to use this as a steppingstone. Being able to play in a facility like the 02 gives us great comfort. Q. Not sure if the league has decided on punishment for Downey. If there is going to be punishment, can you explain that? Are you concerned with the issue about blows to the head? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Actually, I think, as you know, we made a point of emphasis over the summer in meetings with the general managers, the coaches, Colie Campbell, who runs hockey operations for us had a number of meetings with coaches and with the Competition Committee, then we reported to the Board of Governors in Chicago last week that we want to be particularly sensitive to hits to the head that are out of the ordinary, where it looks like there was headhunting. We sent out a DVD that the players have all seen. We sent out a memo explaining the criteria, an unexpected blow, primary contact to the head, late hits, injury, a player launching himself, there are a variety of factors that are looked at and considered. Downey was given a match penalty, which means he was automatically suspended. He is going to have an in-person hearing with Colie Campbell later today or earlier today, depending on your time zone. But the fact of the matter is this is a case that may result in supplemental discipline. I don't want to be more specific because we don't prejudge these things, and Colie has to have a hearing. But the one thing I want everyone to focus on in terms of the physical play in the game, this is a physical game and we're not looking to take physicality out of the game. I believe from a statistical standpoint last year, 45,000 hits were recorded in our games. There were probably 10 hits to the head that we had to look at closely. There were less than a handful that we didn't like and needed to be addressed, which was part of the effort this summer. What we want to do is get rid of the less than handful of hits without getting rid of the other 45,000 hits because we're not looking to change the nature of the game, we're looking to protect heads, and that will be a priority for us during this season. We can all speculate what the result of the supplemental hearing will be today, but you can weigh in as to whether or not you thought we were too heavy or too light or sent the message or didn't send a message or disciplined appropriately or didn't after Colie renders his determination. Q. Is it important to put priority on having success in some of your markets you're not having a lot of success in before you broach coming to Europe? If you came here, how tough is it going to be to entice a fan that has cheered for Sparta Prague for three generations to start cheering for an NHL team? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I have to break down your question into a number of parts. Good question. First of all, our franchises are doing better than they've ever done before. As the league, I anticipate another season of record attendance. The last two seasons, post the work stoppage, have both had record attendance. Yes, there are always markets that are up and markets that are down, but we're still playing to 92% of capacity. Actually, season ticket sales were up compared to where we were last year at the same time. I think the core business is strong in that regard. And I've said this previously. Our definition, our collective definition of struggling franchises, has changed dramatically. We used to worry about franchises struggling as they were on the verge or sometimes actually in bankruptcy. We don't have that any more. We have some franchises whose fortunes can improve, whose attendance can improve. The fact of the matter is none of our franchises is in jeopardy in the way that they were a few years ago. All of our franchises have an opportunity to be economically stable and competitive at the same time. So I think over time you're going to see increased strengthening in our game. There seems to be a quantum leap that's being made that we have this grand plan to put franchises on the continent here. And my response to that was, I'll never say never to anything but that's not anything that we're currently contemplating. Our first goal is to be as strong as possible in North America and to have 30 franchises, all of whom are doing great. That's the ultimate goal. But we are trying to be responsive to the fact, because we're in better shape than we've been, we're trying to be responsive to the interests of the game. You bring over a couple of regular-season games. You have a deal with NASN where we're putting on two or three games a week on television. We're having more of a presence, but we're not straying too far from what is our core foundation, and that's North America. Q. If this is a steppingstone into Europe, Ireland is growing rapidly. How do you see the NHL interfacing with the Champions League, the International Hockey Federation? Do you see yourself working with that or is that a competition to what your development plans are here? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Our preference is to work in concert with hockey at all levels and in all places. That's why we tried to forge a close relationship over the years with the IIHF. That's why we have a transfer agreement. That's why we let our players play in the World Championships. That's why we stop to play in the Olympics. We're not looking to take on anybody else's hockey establishment. It's a big world. I think working together we can all be more effective in growing the game. "Steppingstone" again is too big a term in terms of what we're doing. We're responding to interest. Bringing over a couple of regular-season games is a way to deal with that, bringing our best product as opposed to exhibition games. And, obviously, we're the first here. I think there's a basketball league that's got a couple of exhibition games coming shortly. There's a football league that's got a regular-season game coming. The world is shrinking. People have the luxury of using the Internet and satellite, cable TV, digital media, to follow sports on a world wise basis. Coupling the two aspects of your questions, we're trying to be good citizens in the hockey world in terms of being responsive to fan interest and trying to grow the game. Q. The point about the world shrinking, I don't know if this is a rhetorical question or not. COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I'll let you know (laughter). Q. Why not be a leader? Instead of following, why not jump up and say, We are going to be the first North American professional league and most international to put a footprint in Europe? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Well, it's not a question of being a leader or a follower. I would suggest that by being here today we're being a leader in some respects. But it's not about being a leader; it's about doing what's right for your game and doing it on a timetable that makes sense. For us, as strong as we've come back, there are very few businesses that could be out of business for a year and come back as strong as we did. We've got to make sure that our core - and our core is Canada and the United States - is as healthy and vibrant as we know it can be and will be over time as we continue to strengthen before we worry about, you know, throwing haste to the wind and saying, Oh, great, we're going to put a bunch of franchises in Europe. It's much more complicated than that both from our standpoint and as a follow-up to the last question dealing with the existing structures that are there. Q. Do you have it broken down in terms of percentages of people who go to something like NHL.com for marketing, merchandising from Europe? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Somewhere around 30% of visits to NHL.com come from outside of North America. So that's one of the reasons that we know we can track the worldwide appeal of the game. And we have a very strong and important relationship with NASN, North American Sports Network. We were one of their priorities when they went into business a couple years ago in terms of a sport they felt would be significant for them to have in Europe. Q. As far as I know the only way to watch hockey during a regular season up until the playoffs is a handset. You have to sign up for a year. I'm wondering if you think the league is doing enough to be attractive and affordable to new fans in the market? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I think we do. We try to make our game as available as possible. You can get highlights. You can get information on NHL.com and on the club websites. It was important to have a distributor who was going to make our product a priority. Q. But Major League Baseball offers a broadband service. COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: We're working on that as well. We now have NHL broadband that you can get in North America and we're working on a package for Europe as well. But that's a different product. Obviously watching our game on a high-definition screen, television screen, isn't quite the same as watching it on broadband. But, yes, broadband is something that we envision in our future as well. Q. But do you think it's realistic by staging two games in London, you have people say, I like that sport, I'm not only going to sign up for the NHL season, I 'm going to sign up for a year and pay for four months where there is not even hockey games? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Well, you have to start somewhere. The attention that the games are getting will make some people curious and will cause some people to watch it on TV. I was talking to somebody who works for Channel 5 here in the UK and was telling me they couldn't believe the number of people that were watching the Stanley Cup final games right through the night into the early morning. So there's interest. And by being here, you spur that interest, you cause people to be a little more curious. With the access to the game, to our content, which is unprecedented because of the new technologies, it gives us an opportunity to grow. Are we going to cause the game, the level of interest in the game, to quintuple overnight? No. But there's always a starting point. It's interesting. We get a question that says, Can we expect doing a little to have any impact? Then, Why aren't we being the leaders in doing everything? It's a balancing act. Again, the core for us is the most important part of our business and our game, and that's Canada and the United States. But there are things that we can do to begin to develop the interest, nurture the interest, and overtime as we continue to grow and get stronger see what we can do about finding new and interesting ways to satisfy the interest. Q. You mentioned earlier the league sold out the two games without any advertising, marketing or promotion. I've been here since Tuesday afternoon. I haven't met anyone outside this building who knows about these games. COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: It's interesting because depending on where you're staying and who you're interacting with depends on your experience. I'm getting a different reaction not from everybody but there are people telling me there's a real buzz about these games. I think it may be just a question of who we're interacting with and who you have an opportunity to see. I don't know how much time you're actually spending outside of this building. Q. Here is the thing. I've been here for four days. You've been here for two hours. I think I have a broader survey than you have. COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Neither of them is probably scientific. Q. Has the NHL promoted this? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Yes. Q. With regards to the debriefing, will you ultimately consider the fact you're starting the season early and possibly doing that for the rest of the league so we can finish earlier than mid June? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: There's always a very good debate in the league. A lot of the clubs actually want to start later because when it's still 80 degrees out, even in northern outposts of our game, people are saying, We shouldn't be in training camp in early September. We shouldn't start early October. We should wait till the middle of October. Baseball is getting ready for its playoffs. Football season is in full gait. There are 30 teams playing at the beginning of the season and there are two at the end. I think more teams are concerned about getting a slightly later start as long as we're finishing by mid or the first third of June. That's the constant debate. Obviously for the two teams that are here, we let them start a little early because we want to give them an opportunity to readjust when they fly back and deal with jetlag. But I think if you polled the clubs, I think more of them would tell you they'd rather see a slightly later start than early start. Frankly, if we start in September, we're going to be opening up training camps before Labor Day. I'm not sure the clubs or the players want that. Q. Do the fans want it, is the question? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I don't think the fans do either. To answer your question a little more scientifically, our attendance tends to increase month by month. October is our weakest attendance. November gets stronger. December gets stronger. So the later we get into our season, the stronger our attendance gets. So I believe that's how the fans are responding. Q. With regard to the profile over here, would you consider having more Saturday afternoon games even if they're not on the American network so that they can be seen here in prime time? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Saturday afternoon games back in North America? Q. Yes. COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: We play a fair number now. Q. They don't start until what? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: As we go through the season, my guess is, off the top of my head, on most Saturdays we have at least one if not two afternoon games as the season progresses. We play a fair number of games on Saturday afternoon, which are very kid friendly as well. Q. Is it time to start looking at the concept of having suspended players not play in pre-season games? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Yeah, I think as a general rule that probably makes a lot of sense. I think people are referring to Simon. That was a little unique because there was a minimum number of games. We may have oversimplified his suspension because, for example, I think the math worked out if the Islanders had gone to the third round of the playoffs, depending on how long each series was, then the suspension would have been over. I'm not a big fan of counting pre-season games in a suspension because sometimes that's not viewed as punishment. But in a typical suspension, probably it's better to have the player sitting out as well. Simon was a unique circumstance based on the way that suspension was levied. But point is well-taken and understood and not one we disagree with. Q. The British leagues are playing this weekend. What do you think of the relationship you have with the British ice hockey authority? COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I tend to believe I have a good relationship with Freddie Meredith. You know, our relationship with the Federation tends to be through the International Ice Hockey Federation, with whom we have a very good relationship. An my understanding is actually René Fasel will be here tomorrow to join me for the game. Enjoy the games. Enjoy the weekend. Enjoy this magnificent facility. Thank you for your time and attention. End of FastScripts |
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