Gary Bettman on Attendance, Mullett Arena, Miller and Reynolds

“Good evening, everyone, we have nothing to announce,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in opening his media availability from the Matt Frost Media Room at Canada Life Centre on Wednesday evening.

Much to the disappointment of fans hoping to hear of an All-Star Game, Global Series or Draft scheduled for the city of Winnipeg or the Jets, Bettman and his counterpart, deputy commissioner Bill Daly made it to Winnipeg on Wednesday night to take in a battle for first-place in the Central Division. The game certainly reminded Bettman of the passion that Jets fans carry within, as the home team rallied for a commanding 5-1 victory over the visiting Dallas Stars.

“I always like coming to Winnipeg,” Bettman said. “It’s a place where hockey matters. Being back here with the Jets has always been, for me, one of the highlights of things we’ve been able to accomplish.”

An interesting aside from a guy who just 25 years ago took the Jets away from their beloved fans and city, relocating the team to sunny Arizona, where it has been an attendance flop ever since.

But Gary, always the Coyote optimist, provided some explanation for the 1996 move south.

“There was no prospect of a new building here and nobody wanted to own the team any longer, including, if I recall correctly, and I could be off on this because it’s been quite a while, the province owned a piece of the club and the province was no longer interested in owning it. So when you have a situation where nobody wants to own a club in a particular situation, there’s nothing there.”

Speaking of nothing there, how about the state of Mullett Arena – the Coyotes current home for the 2022-23 season. The 5,000 seat arena has already hosted the Jets – in a pop-up, drape-style dressing room, to go along with heavily-inflated student section seating at the rink that normally hosts the Arizona State University hockey team.

“The reaction has been phenomenal,” Bettman said of the temporary rink. “People are saying – players are saying – it’s fun to play there, the ice is great. But everybody should understand this is temporary. There was no other place for the Coyotes to play. The plan is to have a new arena in Tempe which is the right place in that market. Greater Phoenix Arizona is a terrific market. Among other things ask Auston Matthews. And so it’s temporary and in the interim we’ll get through there. People are having a good time with it, both the players and the fans.”

Speaking of dwindling attendance figures, Bettman also responded to the question of lower attendance in Canadian cities, most notably Winnipeg, where only one sellout (Winnipeg vs. Toronto) has occurred so far this season.

“I don’t think there’s an attendance issue,” Bettman said candidly. “We’re coming out of COVID. Around the edges. Some teams are seeing a little bit of softness. Maybe it’s people’s reluctance to still go to crowds. Maybe it’s the economy. Maybe their routines have changed a little bit. And maybe the fact that not everybody’s coming into the city to work anymore which is a factor as well. For a team to be successful, any team in any market needs broad support from the business community and from the fans. I believe this building can be and will be full again.”

Attending a game in Ottawa Wednesday evening was Canadian movie star Ryan Reynolds, who recently made headlines stating his interest in purchasing the Ottawa Senators. Of course, Reynolds would need a partner – or two – to get the job done, but his excitement has clearly drawn the attention of Bettman.