Since before the second Trump administration even began, the NHL has occasionally found itself at the whims of U.S. foreign policy decisions being the American sports league with the largest presence in Canada.
But amid the tensions spurred on by restrictive U.S. trade policy from President Donald Trump, the league pulled off its enormously successful 4 Nations Face-Off and struck a new TV deal in Canada.
During a recent appearance on The Varsity podcast, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman expressed optimism that these tensions were just “a moment in time” and said new U.S. tariffs on imports from Canada did not hurt the $7.7 billion deal his league recently struck with Rogers Communications.
“This is a 12-year deal, and we’re looking at this from the long [term],” the commissioner said.
However, Bettman did not shy away from the two countries’ current economic and political realities. The Toronto Stock Exchange was down 2,500 points as of Monday afternoon, and the Canadian dollar was down around 1.3 percent.
Bettman said he wants to keep the league out of the political realm, but acknowledged that if the Canadian economy was hurt by a trade war, NHL franchises based there would suffer.
“From our standpoint, we believe our fans want, and we should, stay out of the geopolitical debates and arena,” Bettman said.
“But when asked, the impact on all of this is, from my standpoint, twofold. For one, Canada and the U.S. are longtime, great allies. Two great countries. And I hope this is just a moment in time that we get through quickly. Two, being realistic, if this has an impact on the Canadian economy and it affects the relationship with the Canadian dollar and the U.S. dollar, that may pose some difficulties for our Canadian franchises, because our players, whether they play in the United States or Canada, get paid in U.S. dollars. So that’s something that we’re going to have to focus on if it becomes a problem. But my sense is it [won’t].”
In the long-term, Bettman has guaranteed more than $1 billion in media rights revenue through 2028. Coming off an historic seven-game Stanley Cup Final featuring league MVP Connor McDavid in 2024 and the 4 Nations Face-Off this winter, the NHL is in a great place.
But in the short-term, Bettman clearly understands he is facing difficult headwinds.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.