Gary Bettman's net worth in 2024 is $39 million. Bettman is an American sports executive who currently serves as the commissioner of the National Hockey League. He has also served with the National Basketball Association. Let's look at Gary Bettman's net worth in 2024.
What is Gary Bettman's net worth in 2024?: $39 million (estimate)
Gary Bettman's net worth in 2024 sits at about $39 million, according to Sportskeeda.
Bettman was born in Queens, N.Y., on June 2, 1952. Bettman studied industrial and labor relations at Cornell University, graduating in 1974. He earned a J.D. from the NYU School of Law in 1977.
He lives with his wife, Shelli, and their three children, Lauren, Jordan, and Brittany. His half-brother, Jeffrey Pollack, is a sports executive and has been the president of the XFL.
Gary Bettman's early career
After graduation, Bettman joined the New York City law firm Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn. Bettman joined the NBA in 1981, serving in the marketing and legal departments. Bettman rose to a high level in the league hierarchy, spending many years as the league's general counsel and senior vice president.
He played a role in developing the soft salary cap system that is still in use. This is ironic considering the state of the NHL's salary cap, which is implementing a hard salary cap system. NHL teams are faced with playing less than the maximum allowed players on a given night due to the salary cap.
The NHL had never had a commissioner until Dec. 12, 1992, when they elected Bettman as their first. The owners hoped that Bettman could mandate selling the game in the U.S. market, ending labor unrest, and completing expansion plans. According to the NHL's filings with the Internal Revenue Service, Bettman is making $9.5 million per year.
Gary Bettman's highlights
Bettman joined the NHL when they had 24 teams in the league. The league focused on expansion in the American South, and in the next six years, operations began in Florida, Anaheim, Nashville, Atlanta, Minnesota, and Columbus. In addition, the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas and became the Stars, Quebec moved to Colorado, Winnipeg moved to Phoenix, and Hartford moved to Carolina.
The only team that failed was Atlanta, as the NHL had to relocate an Atlanta-based franchise for the second time. Bettman relocated the team from Atlanta to Winnipeg, helping to stop the anti-Canada bias that people were starting to say about Bettman.
Canadian hockey fans weren't happy when Bettman moved teams out of Winnipeg and Quebec. He then stopped the sale of the Nashville Predators, which would have moved the team to Hamilton, Ontario.
The league also added markets in Las Vegas and Seattle in the past six years. Both teams have experienced great success, and Vegas won a Stanley Cup in 2022-23. However, Bettman said that there are no plans for expansion in the immediate future.
Gary Bettman's lowlights
Bettman's goal was to stop the NHL's labor unrest, but the league has locked out three times during his tenure. The 1994-95 lockout lasted 104 days and caused the season to be shortened from 84 to 48 games.
Led by Bettman, the owners insisted on a salary cap, changes to free agency, and arbitration in the hopes of limiting escalating salaries. The union instead proposed a luxury tax system. Some last-ditch negotiations helped save the season, but Bettman's reputation would never recover.
The worst lockout was in 2004-05 when they lost the entire season. The NHL became the first North American professional sports league to cancel an entire season because of a labor stoppage.
The deal featured a hard salary cap, linked to a fixed percentage of league revenues, a 24% rollback on salaries, and free agency beginning after seven years of service. After being seen as one of the worst managers in business in 2004 for canceling the season, Bettman was one of the best in 2005 for his role in bringing “cost certainty” to the NHL.
The 2012-13 NHL lockout lasted from Sept. 15, 2012, to Jan. 19, 2013, after the owners and players failed to agree on a new collective-bargaining agreement. The terms included a limit of eight years on contract extensions and seven years on new contracts, a salary floor of USD 44 million, and a salary cap of USD 60 million (a two-year transition period allowed teams to spend up to USD 70.2 million in the deal's first season, prorated for the season length, and up to a salary cap of USD 64.3 million in the second season), a maximum 50 percent variance in the salaries throughout a contract, mandatory acceptance of arbitration awards under USD 3.5 million, no realignment, and an amnesty period to buy out contracts that did not fit under the salary cap.
Gary Bettman's television deals
Bettman quickly accomplished one of his stated goals, signing a five-year, $155 million deal with the Fox Broadcasting Company to broadcast NHL games nationally in the U.S. beginning in the 1994–95 season. Despite falling ratings, Bettman negotiated a five-year, $600 million deal with ABC and ESPN in 1998.
On Nov. 26, 2013, Bettman announced that the NHL had sold 12 seasons' worth of exclusive Canadian national broadcast rights to Rogers Media, who would broadcast games across its numerous platforms for $5.2 billion.
The NHL went back to ESPN to begin the 2021-22 season. The deal also included ESPN+ absorbing the NHL Live package, which had all games being streamed on the platform. The terms are rumored to be $400 million annually.
Bettman may get booed mercilessly in public appearances, but he has done some good work for the league. Many fans don't believe that he is worthy of his high price tag. Was Gary Bettman's net worth in 2024 a surprise?
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