they did send me the list of questions.

Well, the fact is...

Player salaries, competitive balance needed to be adjusted.

The economic system wasn't working, so they needed a salary cap, which took me a while to get and resulted in that process and me getting booed where we started the first.

They needed national exposure.

They needed better marketing.

They really needed to be taken and modernized.

Let's back

I think there's a big misconception out there that y- you weren't a hockey fan, and I'd love to clear that up.

I grew up in Queens, for the most part, New York City.

I am a product of the New York City public school system.

Uh, I went to Cornell University and NYU Law School.

Uh, growing up, I frequently used my GO card, which you got from the New York City public schools, to go to Madison Square Garden for, I think at the time, 50 cents.

Uh, and I would go to see Rangers games and bring my dinner, a sandwich, with me in a brown paper bag and do my homework, 'cause it was general admission, so you wanted to get there early as soon as they opened the doors, and then you probably had an hour and a half or two hours to wait for the start of the game.

And, you know, I, I grew up as a typical kid in New York City, and so, you know, I had my favorite football team, my favorite baseball team, my favorite basketball team, and my favorite hockey team, although that was before the Islanders, uh, came into being, so it was the Rangers.

Can you say the things that you took away from him that you were able to bring to the job that you hold now, or that you've held for such a long time?

And, now, I, I would like, uh, your impressions with, uh, everything you know about Jeff Gorton, considering, uh, Commissioner Bettman, it's not every day that a man is able to rebuild three separate original six organizations, and now onto his third one here with the Canadiens.

You know, the, the mixture of, of Jeff Gorton a- and Kent Hughes, uh, is really the chemistry that Jeff Molson put together.

I mean, both are outstanding executives, outstanding hockey people, and they each have a terrific skill set that compliments each other, and Jeff was the one who figured out to put that together.

And what's really interesting is I think they're both under contract for a while, and I think that, you know, not only did Jeff make a good choice, they both obviously love being part of Montreal and being part of this organization.

Yep, yep

...

the family name and picture on money not many decades ago.

Uh, he is the quintessential, uh, Montrealer, and he's passionate and knowledgeable about the game.

No problem, Gary

... [laughs] uh, yes.

We, we want the game to be accessible.

Our relationships with ESPN, the Walt Disney Company, w- with ABC as well, and with Turner on TNT and their networks has been great for us.

Easy to find the games.

You're not searching.

We're generally in one of two places.

But what is your program, I guess, finding new refs and keeping them?

How has it been watching this as NHL Commissioner?

Our playoffs are generally sensational.

If you look at how our regular season played out, most of our teams, with the exception of maybe a handful, were basically in a play-in tournament for the last two months of the season.

And while making the playoffs is really competitive, once our first round begins, anything can happen.

I was in Buffalo on Tuesday night.

I was with Josh Allen briefly, who's a terrific person, not just a great quarterback.

And as he said, the buzz and the excitement and the enthusiasm for Wolf Sabres is absolutely palatable everywhere you go.

Any chance you want to tell us when that will be? Because I'm getting ready to book a flight already.

[laughs]

So that was a little bit of an issue.

Uh, people, uh, from, from NBC told me that if we had played in the afternoon, the rating would've probably been twice as high.

Uh, from our standpoint, uh, our ratings nationally have taken a bump of about 23% from the games that were before the Olympic break, and we were up 29% this season to begin with nationally.

Uh, there seems to be a lot of interest.

We're hearing that there are a lot of young people registering to play hockey.

This may have been another special moment like 1980.

Um, what's your, what's your take on how prevalent this is, the impact it could have, um, and also the role of the predictions markets, which seems to be another outlet for people to bet on everything from the weather to hockey?

How does the league, yourself, feel about this Florida Panthers team, especially because how good they represent hockey, I think, as a whole?

It, you know, w- whether or not dynasties are good or bad, my view in sports is, it is what it is.

And if a team can excel, not e- to do what the Panthers have done, three years in a row in the Stanley Cup final, winning back-to-backs.

Uh, they're looking very strong as we project ahead the next year, having re-signed the three important three a- free agents.

Um, the stories are what it's all about.

It's what takes place on the ice that makes it great.

And if they can pull off a threepeat, that'll be remarkable.

Legend.

Oh my goodness.

And that's almost ancient history.

Uh, our fans are, are very geographically loyal, very tribal, very passionate about their teams, but there seems to be a country-wide interest north of the 49th parallel by people, sports fans, regular citizens in Canada, wanting to see a Canadian team bring the Stanleyback, Cup back to Canada, although, you know, I tend to view it we're one league and, and sometimes the difference between, uh, the Canadian clubs and the US clubs gets overblown, although when you go back to Four Nations and the tensions that, that were, you know, l- out there between the two countries a few months ago, uh, I guess it takes on a special appeal.

I actually believe that one of the bridges in Montreal, uh, across Saint Lawrence, uh, had illuminated, uh, Go Oilers which you would never see in Canadians', uh, country.

So, uh, it, it's really captured everybody's attention in Canada.

I think that I, I wanna know what do you believe...... had, that you've done, considering the fact that you've been in this position as commissioner for nearly 35 years, what are you, wh- what do you believe you've done over the last several years that has helped give a higher profile to the sport, per se, than may have existed in the past?

Well, it, it's not just me.

It, it's the support we get from ownership.