Hmmm…. maybe Bettman’s not the bad guy after all

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/06/2009 (6294 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was one of the most traumatic events in the modern history of this city. And it has been studied to death ever since, hashed and rehashed a billion times as everyone from sports fans to academics tried to figure out how a hockey hotbed like Winnipeg came to lose our NHL team back in the mid-1990s.

And yet for all the forests of paper that have been lost to the topic, it has remained a little-known fact that one of the principals involved at the time on behalf of the NHL — which has long been vilified by locals as the bad guy in the affair — was pulling for us more than anyone knew at the time.

Jeff Pash was the senior legal and policy adviser to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in the mid-1990s and he was a central figure — and frequent visitor to Winnipeg — during those heady days in 1994 when the fate of the Jets hung in the balance as men in expensive suits met behind closed doors of the city’s office towers.

“I remember we had a meeting once with the premier (Gary Filmon),” says Pash, “and I made some comment about knowing something about the community. And when the meeting was over, he said: ‘What do you mean when you say you know something about this community.” And I said, ” My father’s from Winnipeg.” And he said, ‘what’s your name again?’ “

“And I told him and he said, “Are you related to Betty Pash?” And I said, “Sure, she’s my aunt.” He said, ‘You’re kidding, I’ve known her for years. She lives down the street from me.”

Welcome to Winnipeg, a small city of 700,000.

Pash says local lore which has panned the NHL generally and Bettman in particular for the Jets leaving was simply wrong.

“If the Jets could have been in Winnipeg, Gary Bettman’s heart was to keep them right there,” he insists. “I know this isn’t about Gary Bettman but I’d like to say this. One of the most unfair perceptions of Gary Bettman is that he doesn’t appreciate or care about Canada’s role in hockey. He has a profound appreciation for it and a profound respect for it.

“And if anyone had been prepared to say, ‘Commissioner, I’m prepared to buy the Winnipeg Jets and operate them in Winnipeg and work with the community and the government to build a new arena’ — Gary Bettman would have done that in a heartbeat.”

The good news, Pash says, is times have changed — and for the better if your interest is bringing the NHL back to Winnipeg.

“I can’t speak to what the corporate community is like in Winnipeg today, but in some ways I think Winnipeg could afford a team much more easily today than 10 or 15 years ago. And that’s simply because of the closer parity between the two currencies and the labour agreement and the salary cap they have in the NHL.

“Just look at how Calgary and Edmonton and Ottawa are doing, in terms of their revenue base, their tickets sold and how well they’ve done on the ice. They’re all playing quite well and that tells you something.

“So yeah, I think Winnipeg could support a team today better than it could before.”

But there remains a catch — and it’s the same one Pash says cost us our team in the first place — a firmly committed owner with the money to back it up.

“People tend to diminish the significance of ownership. It’s not an accident that teams in our league (Pash is the executive vice-president of the NFL) — teams like Pittsburgh and New England — do so well consistently.

“It’s not a question of deep pockets. It’s a commitment issue. Fans respect when they know the owner is committed and has put his capital and time and reputation at risk.”