“Diverse representation within inclusive environments is proven to advance innovation, creativity, and decision-making – all of which are critically important to the growth of the sport and our business,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman wrote in his introduction to the NHL’s first – and only, so far – diversity and inclusion report, which it released in 2022. “Recognizing these facts, we are working to better understand and accelerate our engagement across all layers of diversity – including nationality, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and religion – and their nuances and intersections,” Bettman continued.
Last week, Bettman was named alongside NHL legend Wayne Gretzky, Florida Panthers’ captain Matthew Tkachuk and various representatives of other sports as a member of Donald Trump’s sports council. The council will be responsible for – among other things – playing an “important role in restoring tradition to college athletics, including … keeping men out of women’s sports.” Not what you’d call an opportunity for Bettman et al to gain a better understanding of the nuances of gender identity, by the sounds of it.
This is not the first time Bettman has given mixed messages around social issues. In 2023, for example, the NHL tried to host a career fair aimed at recruiting a more diverse workforce (its inclusivity report noted that the league’s employees were roughly 84% white and 93% straight). The event, attached to that year’s All Star Game in Florida, quickly caught the attention of the governor’s office, which accused the NHL of discrimination – against white people. The league cancelled the career fair.
A few weeks later, the NHL again had the opportunity to stand for its diversity values when a handful of players refused to wear their team’s Pride-themed warmup jerseys. Instead, the NHL retreated meekly, encouraging “voices and perspectives on social and cultural issues.” That June – Pride month, no less – Bettman cancelled the Pride jerseys altogether, calling the furor around them “a distraction” from the intended message.
One wonders what he will call his own foray directly into the culture wars or, for that matter, how the NHL may characterize this particular moment of self-expression from the commissioner. It’s likely that Bettman’s participation in Trump’s sports council will fall into the “voices and perspectives on social and cultural issues” category the…