NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Viewership Growth & Expansion Future | The Carton Show with Chris McMonigle

WFAN Daily

Audacy

Sports

3.8 • 794 Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Gary Bettman joins Craig Carton to discuss the NHL's record-breaking viewership numbers and the success of the Stadium Series outdoor games. They explore the league's stance on expansion into markets like Houston and Atlanta, while Bettman reflects on his career legacy and the influence of David Stern. 01:00 - NHL Viewership Growth 07:08 - International Tournament Success 14:17 - Sports Betting Integrity 19:04 - Future Expansion Markets 25:06 - Bettman's Career Legacy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	thrilled that our third commissioner in a few months, kind enough to come to the studio and join us,
0:05.4	as the NHO playoffs have started. The only commissioner of the league has ever had. Mr. Gary
0:10.6	Batman joins us. It's been a long time, Gary. Very good to see you. Great to see you as well.
0:14.9	What do you mean third? How come I had a wait to come in and visit with you?
0:20.4	We want to make sure we got you had a good time.
0:23.1	Before we get to the playoffs and a lot of your specific questions about the health of the NHL,
0:28.3	it should be noted that I'm looking at stats here that your viewership is up significantly this year.
0:35.7	It says here in front of the NHL viewership, an average of
0:39.2	three quarters of a million people,
0:41.7	760,000 viewers,
0:43.2	a 30% increase. Obviously,
0:45.3	the stadium series, bigger
0:47.3	than ever, over 2 million viewers
0:48.8	this past year, and on and on and on.
0:51.3	So, first off, congratulations on that.
0:53.9	I'll give you a chance to start off kind of your state of the union of the
0:59.0	NHL here as the playoffs are nearing the end of the first round.
1:02.3	Well, actually, the numbers you just gave were for the regular season.
1:05.8	We're up even more for the playoffs.
1:08.8	Great.
1:09.1	I think we're up somewhere around 30%. The game's in great shape. What takes
1:14.8	place on the ice, and it's been this way for years, years has been extraordinary. Our competitive
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Audacy, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Audacy and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.