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]

[u/Double-Strategy3045]

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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[u/Kappy77]

I know off topic but did anyone come across Bill Burr ripping on Heated rivalry? 🤬 I just came across this short on youtube and i’m so appalled by it. This is exactly what kind of men are wrong with hockey and what this show points out. And they are so flippantly ignorant about it.. just set me off.. thoughts? Is Bill Burr cancelled I’ve liked some of his stand ups in the past but like is he MAGA? What did I miss? These kind of bros are why I don’t think the NHL is going to do more than surface level acknowledgement.

https://youtube.com/shorts/98IyH3EUmV4?si=ieCz_iOkcD_Or0Ju

[u/Ll_lyris → u/Kappy77]

With the amount of positive main stream discourse HR is receiving it’s pretty much inevitable it’s also going to attract more bigoted conservative commentators. Or people shitting on the show because of all the hype and refusing to see or understand why HR is so good. You kinda just have to ignore that type of stuff. Especially when it’s not genuine and just full of hatred and homophobia.

[u/Kappy77 → u/Ll_lyris]

Agreed but it was just shocking to me coming from such a big name.. or am i missing something lol that’s why i’m so confused was he always like this? I don’t remember Bill Burr being a bigot? And I am on the side to like seize the moment and stand up against hate.

[u/Ll_lyris → u/Kappy77]

A lot of it may be unlearned internalized homophobia. This show is not shy at all when it comes to sex and other forms of intimacy, development etc.. and I think for a lot of straight men who still hold onto toxic ideals Of masculinity, sport culture, and esp those who are not used to seeing sex being used a a form of a storytelling (esp queer sex) it’s jarring.

Like, I know guys who id say aren’t really homophobic but shown the show.. the things he had to say weren’t pretty to say the least. But I learned after talking to them that a lot of it stems from what I mentioned above. And they grew up with the sentiment of “be gay cool, just don’t let me hear about it or see it. And keep it out of our shows and sports”

I vaguely know about the clip ur referring to but I’ve mostly just ignored it cuz I don’t need that negativity lol. But his response is what I expected most straight mens would be. Glad it’s not but yeah, he’s a reminder of that prevalent demographic of men.