Chris Russell over at the Sporting News gives us a little one on one with Gary Bettman, after his article “Bettman has done a good job” drew a lot of criticism two weeks ago….

SN: How about attendance across the board?

GB: Compared to last season, when we set an all-time attendance record, we’re about a half a percentage point behind, or about 90 total people per game behind. The attendance is growing. This past January was better than last year’s mark. February is looking good so far.”

Maybe the attendance was up so much last year because we went a year prior to that without hockey???? Ever think that was the reason why attendance was so great? People were dying to see some hockey games! And now it’s going down because that feeling has worn off, and because Bettman and all of his rule changes and terrible scheduling, etc etc are ruining the game.

I’m also sick of Bettman banking on Crosby and Ovechkin as the marketing ‘tools’ of the NHL. Two players are not going to sell the game… especially when one of them is on one of the worst teams in the league, and the other player’s team might not be around next year. I don’t think this will work: “Come see the great Sidney Crosby play next year… we don’t know where he’ll be playing, but it will be somewhere where ice is not natural to its area, and no one living in that area has ever had skates on their feet…”

Thanks to http://www.johntp.com/ for some great blog tips