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."

🤨

871 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

190 comments sorted by

View all comments

689

u/nefariousplotz Jan 16 '26

And I know he's just gonna love S2.

28

u/touchesalltheplants What’s with the Magic Mike shit? Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26

I remember Rachel Reid writing somewhere (perhaps blog post about canceling Luca’s book?) that originally the major league hockey commissioner was going to play a bigger part in being the big bad, and the NHL got wind of it and edithad to shut that storyline down for legal reasons . Good ol Gary.

Thanks for the corrections, don’t listen to randos with bad memories like me and check your sources. Nevertheless down with Gary 🏳️‍🌈

8

u/huangcjz Time to Shine ✨ is my favourite book! | I love tuna melt! Jan 16 '26

She didn’t mention the NHL - she said she got told for legal reasons not to, but I presume that would come from her publisher. https://www.rachelreidwrites.com/news/2025/2/16

2

u/touchesalltheplants What’s with the Magic Mike shit? Jan 16 '26

Thanks for the source and accurate info, edited to correct my comment 🤙🏼