Gary Bettman Fan Quotations

More games are up for grabs right up until the final buzzer, ... That's great, and the fans are loving it.

Over the years, thousands of great NHL moments were presented to our fans through the lenses of ESPN cameras. ESPN was a supportive partner, and both the National Hockey League and ESPN enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship. We wish ESPN continued success.

We can't thank our fans enough for the record support they showed. For all our clubs, a terrific season was made even better by the enthusiasm and encouragement our fans displayed night after night. We are deeply appreciative.

The cynics were predicting that by taking a year off, which obviously is something nobody wanted to do, we would have destroyed our following and our fans would never come back,

They will continue to cover us in a meaningful and significant way, which is what we expect and the fans of this sport deserve. We anticipate continuous highlight coverage of our games.

This all adds up to good news for fans of our terrific sport and of the superb athletes who play in the NHL.

The fans deserve better in terms of experience. If there was no team here and somebody came to us and said, 'We'd like to bring a team to Nassau Coliseum,' our answer would be, 'Are you kidding?

Like all fans, we're thrilled that we're back and that the game is doing as well on the ice in terms of entertainment, excitement, speed and skill. And that our fans have been receptive.

We know this was a terrible time for everyone associated with our game, ... We pledge to our fans that we will do everything we can to make it up to you.

Clearly, our league and our game have undergone tremendous change. The 2005-06 season is still young, but everyone from casual fans to expert commentators like many of you here today concurs that NHL hockey has been reinvigorated,

We will return this game to our fans with a promise - we will do everything in our power to be the best we can be and to earn your continued devotion. This was a terrible time for everyone associated with the game. We will do everything we can to make it up to you.

This multifaceted partnership will create exciting opportunities for our fans and us.

Our clubs, our players and our fans want to take action, and they will do so together through their collections, through their donations and through the contributions generated by this special auction.

It will allow hockey fans to see a whole new game and get closer to hockey than ever before. This is so cool. We're really looking forward to it.

We're delighted to have XM as our newest satellite radio partner. At this exciting time in the league's history, a new partnership with XM allows us to offer hockey fans unprecedented NHL coverage on the nation's largest satellite radio service.

We're delighted to have XM as our newest satellite radio partner, ... At this exciting time in the league's history, a new partnership with XM allows us to offer hockey fans unprecedented NHL coverage on the nation's largest satellite radio service.

This is yet another way for our fans to connect even more closely with our games,

In places where there still are some empty seats, there are fewer empty seats than there were in the past. I didn't expect we'd come back from the work stoppage to 100 per cent of capacity overnight, but the fact that we're up 5 per cent is spectacular. I knew that when we got everything put to bed and fixed the right way, the result would be compelling enough that our fans would respond.