Eurolanche

Bettman: We want to establish a presence

During yesterday’s press conference prior to the first game of the NHL Global Series, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said that the league wants to establish a lasting international presence. “The vision is to establish a more predictable and regular presence for our international events. In order for us to really commit to growing the game internationally, we need a regular presence and international strategy for major events, whether it’s exhibition games, preseason games, regular season games, clinics and the like. It’s something we do in conjunction with the Players Association and something we’re in discussing with them and working on,” said Bettman. He also added that growing the game globally not only brings the NHL closer to fans outside of North America, but also encourages the development of world-class players, Sweden being a great example. Could the NHL have a European franchise or even a division in the future? “I don’t think it is on our agenda in the short to medium-term to have franchises here. We want to work with the European hockey community and clubs to be able to grow hockey and certainly have a bigger connectivity between the NHL and European hockey fans,” said Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly. He also added that the goal of the league is to increase the number of events in different countries over time. 

Michal Hezely, the author of this article, was given media accreditation for the entire NHL Global Series and is reporting directly from Stockholm, Sweden.

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