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NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is the longest-tenured chief executive across all North American professional sports leagues all time at 32 years, but his time at the helm may be coming to a close soon.
Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold revealed that news on the latest edition of The Sick Podcast – The Eye Test with Pierre McGuire and Jimmy Murphy (32-minute mark), per Michael Russo and Chris Johnston of The Athletic.
Leipold was answering a question about the business of the league, saying that “it’s never been in this good of shape,” adding “every team is strong.” But he then added that “the fact that Gary’s retiring, that’s a concerning factor” before elaborating further.
“…But that’s a couple years down the road and we’re doing the planning now, and we have to make sure we get it right when he leaves.”
Leipold made clear that Bettman has done very well for the teams and players and that it would be a “sad day” when he’s not part of the league anymore.
The Athletic then caught up with Leipold to discuss the matter further.
“Listen, we’re like a $5, $6 billion company — the entire league is,” Leipold said. “So we have a CEO who’s going to be moving on and any transition would cause us to be concerned. And so, really, all I was saying is that we have had a commissioner now for 30 years, maybe a little more, and he has been outstanding. I mean, truly, truly, has been an incredible commissioner and has done great things.
“Now we’re going to transition to somebody else, and that should make us all a little concerned that we have to be certain we get the right person. It’s a concern that I have that, ‘How are we going to get anybody as good as Gary?’ The answer is we’re not. So who’s going to be the second best person, and is that going to be good enough?”
When asked if the executive committee had begun looking for a successor, Leipold replied: “I would say that we have.”
Bettman, who was at Minnesota’s home game against Utah Hockey Club on Thursday, then spoke with The Athletic. He said that he doesn’t have retirement plans or a timeline right now. However, as he noted, he “can’t do this forever.”
“I raised the specter that at some point this is something the league is going to have to deal with because when you’re dealing with a CEO who has been doing this as long as I have, it’s a more complicated process,” Bettman told The Athletic. “But the only discussion that was had was with three-plus decades at this job, at some point the league is going to have to deal with the reality that I can’t do this forever.”
Bettman also noted that he referenced his future retirement to the executive committee for the first time before the league’s Board of Governors meeting in December.
The 72-year-old Bettman, a lawyer, was worked in the NBA as the league’s general counsel and senior vice president in the 1980s. He took office as the NHL’s commissioner beginning Feb. 1, 1993.
Bettman has now surpassed Clarence Campbell’s time leading the NHL. Campbell was the league’s president from 1946-1977.
Bettman’s tenure may be in the very early stages of wrapping up given the executive committee’s preparations, but it certainly doesn’t appear imminent given his comments. So for now, he remains leading the league, which is about to embark on a new venture, the 4 Nations Face-Off, beginning on Feb. 12.
