Gary Bettman is the first and only commissioner in the history of the National Hockey League. Since his tenure began in 1993, total league revenue has grown from $732 million to $2.6 billion.
In 2005, Bettman presided over a bitter lockout that resulted in the NHL being the only professional sports league in North America to lose an entire season to a labor dispute. In resolving the dispute, Bettman and the league’s board of governors modernized and revolutionized the economic system under which the league operates, creating a partnership with the players through a new collective bargaining agreement that makes a shared objective of increasing hockey-related revenue.
In concert ...