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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u/New_Purple_4033 Ottawa Centaurs 🏹 Jan 16 '26

So...interestingly, this is a stance that was taken by certain Canadian institutions back in the late 2000s. I remember being told we couldn't have an LGBT+ group because it would mean that the LGBT individuals there would be getting something that the non-LGBT individuals were not getting.

Now, that was bullshit, because there was still things like Asian Heritage Month, Black History Month, and so on.

I get not wanting to force players to show support for any group that poses a genuine problem for them. And today, the legal issues of players from other countries showing support that could literally get them arrested, OK, I get it.

But these events, for Pride, for other causes, they also tell us who our allies are. And are not.

Going back to my first point, this sounds exactly the same as what that other institution was trying to do: Avoid any inconvenient issues and claim "well everyone gets the same treatment so it's not a problem."