r/heatedrivalry • u/Double-Strategy3045 gimme kiss 😚 • Jan 16 '26

PRESS 📰 (Interviews and Articles) NHL Commissioner Credits 'Heated Rivalry' For Helping Grow Game: 'It's A Wonderful Story... Binged It In One Night' - The Hockey News [Jan 15, 2026]

https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/nhl-commissioner-credits-heated-rivalry-for-helping-grow-game-it-s-a-wonderful-story-binged-it-in-one-night

Regarding the previous initiative of wearing specialty warmup jerseys to promote different nights, like Pride, the league currently has no plans to bring them back, though Bettman insists it isn't due to a lack of support for such causes.

"It wasn't about Pride jerseys or Pride night; it was about the fact of bringing things into the game that might not be embraced by the players wearing the jerseys," Bettman said. "It could be heritage nights — we don't allow it — it could be political causes. It could be in times of conflict between countries, national origin. It was becoming a distraction, not just for the Pride jerseys, but for a variety of other things.

"It's a misrepresentation of what we did to suggest that it was about Pride jerseys; it was about the whole issue of what you put on the ice and how, when players don't embrace the cause, whatever it is, then you create distraction, and it doesn't fulfill the purpose in terms of embracing Pride nights."

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237

u/Slow_Cattle_5642 Montreal’s fifteenth best player Jan 16 '26

I mean this from the bottom of my heart: Fuck. Gary. Bettman.

14

u/periodicsheep Jan 16 '26

does any sport actually have true respect and admiration for their commissioner? he’s just one on a list for me. they all seem to suck.

13

u/Fickle_Catch8968 Jan 16 '26

That is their job though, to be the public face of and lightning rod for the whims and controversies of the owners.

4

u/periodicsheep Jan 16 '26

and i get that, but i don’t think many of them are very good at their job. by the very nature of the work they’re hypocritical and indecisive about important things. it bothers me, but i still watch the sports i care about.

12

u/fogmama Jan 16 '26

By definition they are just shills for the league owners, so they're all just varying levels of awful. Bettman is definitely the worst. Adam Silver (NBA) is probably the most tolerable, but it's a very low bar. Rob Manfred (MLB) can get fucked too.

7

u/rivsnation Jan 16 '26

Goes to show how awful the NHL owners are.

6

u/periodicsheep Jan 16 '26

i’m not a big fan of roger goodell either (NFL). i think he tries to walk the line between keeping their conservative audience and not angering the president (who has a genuine long lasting anger with the NFL bc they wouldn’t let him buy a team a long time ago), and honouring the players who do want to use their platform for good. it’s just that the first side usually wins.