Gary Bettman and the NHL lose a major sponsor

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Joshua Deeds
May 31, 2022 (6:37 PM)

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The NHL and Gary Bettman suffered another blow to their reputation and wallets today. Gatorade announced that they are not in alignment with the NHL in renewing the contract with the league. With Stars like Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Sidney Crosby it is worth questioning his capability of growing the sport(again).

Gary Bettman had held the spot of Commission since February 1st of 1993 and has put the league through 3 lockouts, in 1994-1995, 2004-2005, and 2012-2013 he has earned villain status easily and this as owners cry foul amidst making players payback escrow from the 2020-2021 season.

"If we have to pay out lots of cash, two-thirds of which is going to come back to us, that may cause some stress," Bettman said. "And by the same token, if the players owe us more money than anybody imagined, the salary cap could well be flat or close to flat for the next five or six years, and players into the future will be repaying what we're owed."

He is there to safeguard the owners and nothing more. The loss of the Gatorade contract for younger sports stars and for NIL deals may make sense for Gatorade, as it will diversify audiences instead of a league struggling to address multiple issues and PR nightmares.

«We view ourselves as both a supplier of best-in-class equipment to help the athlete and the partner, but also a partner that when we work together can make an impact,» Kearney said. «We're just trying to move sports and our partnerships forward in that fashion, taking a different lens on all the relationships that we currently have and that we're building in the future.»

Heard that Gary? Your version of the NHL isn't the future it's still stuck in the past.