Quote:
Originally Posted by calgarygeologist
According to some people Bettman is just a figurehead for the league and the owners run the show. How hard would it be to find someone new to get in front of a camera and spread the ownership group's message?
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It's true that the commissioner of any league is a figurehead but they also have to navigate the 32 different personalities that are not always on the same page and keep them unified. I don't think it's an easy job at all as you are trying to keep the owners happy, keep the league successful while trying to continually grow the sport, deal with labour issues, etc while being the most disliked person in the sport facing critique form fans and media for every decision, change, or thing that goes bad. I can see why a lot of successful business people would not be interested in the job as it's pretty thankless.
The main criticism I have of Gary Bettman is the state of officiating today and how it has not improved over the years and if anything seems to be getting worse. To me this is the biggest issue facing the league as officiating has become an obstacle to winning games in this league and that's a big problem. At it's very best its passable but at it's very worst it influences the outcome of games on a nightly basis. To me that's simply unacceptable.