st. PAUL, Minn. – The NHL’s Board of Governors’ executive committee has begun planning for Gary Bettman’s retirement in “several years” and has begun the process of finding a successor for the longest-serving commissioner in North American sports. Craig Leipold gave more details on Wednesday’s podcast and on Thursday’s call with The Athletic.
Leipold was asked Wednesday if he had any concerns about the business of the game while appearing on The Sick Podcast/The Eye Test with Pierre McGuire and Jimmy Murphy. He raved about where things stand in the league before adding his only concern: “The fact that Gary is retiring.”
Leipold said it was a sad day that Bettman, a commissioner for nearly 32 years, was no longer part of the league. When he leaves, it’s soon. ”
Leipold, one of the owners of the Governor’s Executive Committee, elaborated in a conversation with The Athletic.
“Listen, we’re like a $5, $6 billion company. The whole league is like that,” he said. “So, we have a CEO going forward and any transition can concern us. So, really, what I was saying is that we have a CEO for 30 years, maybe a little more. I mean, he was a really, really incredible commissioner and did some great things.
“Now we move on to someone else and that should make us a little concerned that we have to be sure we get the right person. “How do we get someone as good as Gary? Are you going to let me in?’ The answer is we don’t. So who will be the second best, and is it good enough? ”
Asked whether the executive committee had begun a formal process to find Bettman’s successor, Leppold said, “I would say we have.”
However, Leipold was unaware that Bettman had not formally announced his plans to retire.
Bettman coincidentally attended Thursday night’s wild game against the Utah Hockey Club and met exclusively with The Athletic in Leipold’s suite before the game.
Bettman, 72, said he has not decided when he will retire, but brought his eventual retirement to the executive committee for the first time ahead of last month’s governor’s meeting in Manalapan, Florida.
“At some point, I’m asking that this is something the league has to deal with, because when you’re dealing with a CEO who’s been doing this for as long as I’ve had, it’s a more complicated process. ” Bettman said. . “But the only discussion that was there was over 30 years in this job. At some point, the league has to deal with the reality that I can’t do this forever.”
Bettman was named NHL commissioner on February 1, 1993, already surpassing Clarence Campbell for the longest tenure of any leader in league history. The NHL grew from 24 to 32 teams on his watch and pursued an expansion strategy into the southern United States. It also became an approximately $7 billion a year business.
Bettman was also at the helm of four work stoppages, including the lockout that wiped out the entire 2004-05 season before the implementation of the salary cap.
There is growing interest in Bettman’s future. There is a lot of speculation about the succession plan, with his tenure extending to 40 years in the league and passing to vice-chairman Bill Daly. Bettman has repeatedly fielded questions on this topic.
Eyebrows further grew in November when the NHL promoted multiple senior staff members. Steve McArdle as Chief Operating Officer, Keith Wachtel as President of NHL Business, Steve Mayer as President of NHL Content and Events, and Julie Grand as Daley’s Chief of Staff – with the long-term future of the league’s headquarters in mind. Put it down, in a series of movements.
But while Bettman said it would be irresponsible of him not to start preparing for life without him on the governor’s board, he never gave Leipold and the executive committee a timeline for his final departure. He claimed he had never told him.
“I just wanted to put it on their radar,” Bettman told The Athletic. “When you don’t have energy and passion, you have to think about it. The good news is I have energy and I have passion. I love what I do. And actually, I enjoy doing what I do even more than I enjoy retirement.
“I’m not wired to retire.”
(Photo: Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
