Gary Bettman Talks About Outdoor Game In Minnesota (video)

By Catherine Silverman | Dec 4, 2014

Nov 22, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; NHL commissioner Gary Bettman (left) talks with MLSE chairman of the board Larry Tanenbaum (right) during the second period of a game between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /

Gary Bettman chats about the Minnesota Wild and their chance at an outdoor game in the future

“Obviously, there may be no better place to play an outdoor game.”

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NHL fans usually have pretty strong opinions when it comes to Gary Bettman, but one thing is certain — he knows how to grow the league. In the past two and a half decades, Bettman has seen league expansion and financial success many couldn’t dream of.

Part of that success, of course, has come with his implementation of the All Star Games… but more than anything, the Stadium Series have been the uncontested big-ticket events in recent years.

The series, which includes the highly-coveted Winter Classic game, seem like a perfect fit for the ‘hockey state’ — yet Minnesota has yet to be awarded one of the league’s outdoor games.

Bettman attended the Minnesota Wild game on Wednesday night, though, and chatted about the possibility of Wild fans finally getting their Winter Classic or Stadium Series match in the near future.

During the intermission interview, the league commissioner admitted that the last time he was in Minnesota, he checked out a couple of different venues. He implied that it’s not a matter of ‘if’ they get a game, it’s ‘when’ — and that will be determined by whether it’s a regular Stadium Series game or the Winter Classic itself.

Of course, no interview with Gary Bettman would be complete without league expansion talks, although his answer was pretty much quid pro quo with every other time he’s discussed adding additional teams to the league.

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