MANALAPAN, Fla. — There are years when you arrive at the NHL’s Board of Governors meeting thinking it’s going to be rather quiet on the news front.
And then commissioner Gary Bettman walks into the media room after Day 1 and announces a market-gauging ticket drive for the city of Las Vegas and everyone’s jaw drops.
That was the scene 10 years ago, on Dec. 8, 2014, when Bettman tried his best to downplay the significance of what he was surprising everyone with.
“Please do not make more out of this than it is,” Bettman stressed to the assembled media.
And, to be fair, he really wasn’t 100 percent sure at the time how Bill Foley’s ticket drive to feel out the Las Vegas market would go. But the rest is history, as they say.
The point is you never know what can come out of the annual meeting, which goes Monday and Tuesday here at a posh Palm Beach resort.
Having made a few inquiries regarding the agenda, here are some of the topics that are expected to be discussed.
CBA update
The league is expected to update owners on where things stand as far as the desired hope to begin collective bargaining talks with the NHL Players’ Association sometime in the New Year. The league actually delivered that news to owners on Oct. 1 when the Board of Governors last met for a quick, preseason get-together in New York.
At which time Bettman raised eyebrows by telling media regarding a potential CBA extension: “I don’t want to speculate, but if we had it done by my media avail at the Stanley Cup Final, everybody would be very happy.”
The current CBA doesn’t expire until September 2026, but there seems to be a mutual desire from the league and NHLPA to get an extension done way earlier.
So there’s a CBA update on the agenda this week, although I suspect it won’t be as much about specifics but rather about the process. The league can’t really have a more meaningful update until CBA talks get underway.
Salary cap projection
This is the meeting where the league gives owners a projected cap number for next season. Bettman already said back on Oct. 1 that the preliminary cap number for next season looked to be around $92.5 million (up from the current $88 million), which is the basic 5 percent increase as stipulated by the current CBA formula.
It could get more interesting in the coming months, though, if the league and NHLPA decide in CBA talks there’s mutual interest in building in a “phase-in” to a higher cap over time and what would be involved in that exactly. Because hockey-related revenue is expected to jump aggressively over the next few years, the idea of the phase-in cap jump is to mitigate against one massive jump all at once in two years’ time. The phase-in would be a higher jump than the current formula calls for, which could potentially be on the table when the league and NHLPA start CBA talks.
I suspect that will be explained to some degree to a very intrigued audience of owners this week.
No expansion
There is no formal expansion discussion on the official agenda. But to the extent there may be questions from governors about it, the expectation is that the league would reiterate what it has said for the past year or so, that there have been expressions of interest from a number of markets but that there is no current plan to expand.
That will change one day. It would be a shock if the league doesn’t expand again. One of the reasons it makes sense to delay the next shoe dropping on it is, from a practical point of view, the need to focus first on a CBA extension. Not that the league necessarily sees those two things firmly linked — they’re not, in the league’s eyes — but in terms of the league’s focus, it would want to get the CBA extension done first.
International play
The governors will get an update on Global Series plans for next season and, more importantly, there will be an international competition report with logistics and more details on the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off event and where things stand with the IOC and IIHF for the February 2026 Olympics in Milan. All sides (which includes the NHLPA) seem close to wrapping up an Olympic agreement for Milan, but there are still some details to iron out.
Just to be clear, neither the NHL nor the NHLPA sound worried at all that the Olympic agreement isn’t wrapped up yet.
Schedule tweak?
I’ve reported several times over the past year about the possibility of the NHL changing the schedule to start and end earlier, reducing the amount of preseason games and expanding the regular season to 84 games per team.
The NHL and NHLPA, as reported before, had very preliminary discussions about it last season, but it hasn’t really gone anywhere since. And I suspect it’s because that would be yet another item to be hashed out in CBA talks in the New Year.
The league may mention the possibility of this being part of talks with the NHLPA to owners this week. The idea is to have the Cup awarded about two weeks earlier in June. To which every single hockey fan should be saying, “Yes!”
Canadian TV deal
The league is expected to present a report to governors on the Canadian media national rights deal and where the NHL stands in that process. There will probably be some keen ears from owners on that one. Sportsnet’s 12-year NHL deal as sole national rights-holders expires after the 2025-26 season.
Governors will no doubt be interested to hear what the league thinks will play out there in this new world of streaming services potentially entering the fray — and whether Bell Media (and TSN, my other employer) could reenter the picture as a partner in one form or another. Amazon is expected to be another player.
Executive committee meeting
It doesn’t happen every year, but often the Board of Governors’ executive committee meets Monday morning before the full board meeting. That will be the case this year. The executive committee will get a preview of the agenda among other topics.
This is the smaller, more powerful group that consists of chairman Jeremy Jacobs (Boston Bruins), along with owners Murray Edwards (Calgary Flames), Mark Chipman (Winnipeg Jets), Craig Leipold (Minnesota Wild), Ted Leonsis (Washington Capitals), Geoff Molson (Montreal Canadiens), Henry Samueli (Anaheim Ducks), Larry Tanenbaum (Toronto Maple Leafs), Jeff Vinik (Tampa Bay Lightning) and David Blitzer (New Jersey Devils).
(Photo of Gary Bettman: Chris Tanouye / Getty Images)
