Gary Bettman has been the National Hockey League commissioner for just over 30 years and in that time, he's helped grow the league as a business, but not the audience. In fact on recent years because of him, the growth of the game and trying to attract new people have virtually stopped. Something that is no secret, but still he continues to be in charge, torpedoing the on-ice product. In doing that among other things are a list of failed deals, whether that be TV, jersey or otherwise.
This is further proof that Bettman is bad for the sport, he's only still in charge because he makes the owners a boat load of money, but at this point, the question has to be asked: does losing the vast majority of your audience mean nothing? Because it's certainly looking that way.
To have a parent company like Disney actively searching for a strategic partner sends the message that Bettman can make deals, sure, but he cannot keep them. Something you would expect a business man of his acclaim to be able to do.
