National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman is lustily booed every time he makes a public appearance in Buffalo. To Buffalo Sabres fans, he is the epitome of everything that is wrong and unfair about the NHL.
After a tumultuous off-season, however, Sabres fans are now counting on Bettman to save their team.
Bettman, in town Tuesday for a routine visit and to take in the Sabres' game against the Boston Bruins, said the NHL is now turning the corner and coming closer to the end of the long, drawn-out negotiations regarding what group will become the next owner of the maligned hockey club. The team is currently under NHL control after former owner John Rigas was brought up on fraud charges.
"I'm optimistic that we are a lot closer to the end of (the ownership negotiation) process than we are to the beginning of it," Bettman said, later stressing that once the league decides on a group, the process of closing will not happen overnight. He would not go into further specifics regarding the negotiating process. He did, however, say that only one bid has been officially submitted, that coming from Mark Hamister's group, and that he has met with both Hamister and B. Thomas Golisano, the Rochester businessman whose recent bid for New York State governor was unsuccessful. Hamister is the owner of the Arena Football League's Buffalo Destroyers.
"I'm comfortable that we have explored the variety of opportunities that are out there," Bettman said. "While some bids may be further along than others, we are now going to move this along as quickly as possible and if somebody can catch up then so be it."
Bettman has not seat a deadline for any bids and as of now does not plan to do so.
The NHL commissioner also addressed the Sabres' lagging season ticket sales. According to the Sabres Web site, the team had sold 6,874 season tickets as of Tuesday, well short of their goal of 10,800 - the league average. Recently, a "Business Backs the Sabres" campaign has attempted to drum up support from local businesses but has produced minimal results.
"I think it's still too early to talk about the results of the campaign," Bettman said. "Having said that, to this point I remain disappointed in season ticket sales. I'm not setting any deadlines, I'm not issuing any threats, I'm not issuing any ultimatums, but it is a little disappointing. This is an important time for this franchise."
"I, however, believe in the Buffalo market. We believe in the Buffalo Sabres. We are not doing anything other than working 100 percent of our efforts in respect to this franchise, making sure this franchise has a bright future right here. It's a lot easier to operate this franchise without an owner than it is to operate it without season ticket holders."
According to Bettman, the Sabres have been able to operate without any outside funding, just based on their revenue from ticket sales and other sources. The team, however, may soon need some support from the league.
"We have not yet had to put a financing deal in place," Bettman said. "The club is operating on its own oxygen right now but at some point we may need to bring in an oxygen tank. ... This is a franchise over the years that has chronically lost money."
With the NHL's Collective Bargaining Agreement running out in 2004, Bettman was asked if he thought this was a good time to make an investment in an NHL franchise. The commissioner made no bones about it; during the next negotiation, the league is going to take a hard stance with the players union in an attempt to even out the competitive balance.
"I think this is a terrific opportunity to buy an NHL franchise under circumstances that give you a lot of upside potential," Bettman said. "2004 ideally is an opportunity for us to insure that we have the right system so that all of our franchises can be healthy and competitive.
"I'm hoping that we can do that without labor strife. But the issue is not labor strife, it's easy to avoid labor strife. The issue is making sure you get the right deal so the franchises can be healthy and competitive. I want to insure that we have a system so that fans in all of our markets, particularly markets like Buffalo, can believe and have the hope and expectation at the start of the season, the same as any other franchise, that they have a chance of making the playoffs and competing for the cup, and that's what it's all about."
