NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman thinks the NHL is perfectly positioned should a gay player ever want to come out, or should an openly gay player ever join the league.
"For a few reasons ... if a player wants to come out, he can feel comfortable doing it knowing he has support," he said. "Players are role models, sports are role models. We want to make a statement to people that your orientation doesn't matter."
After the NFL's experience with Michael Sam, and the NBA's with Jason Collins, it's only a matter of time before gay athletes abound in every sport and every league.
Bettman believes that diversity is one of the many engines that are helping drive the NHL's recent success.
"We believe a number of our initiatives - whether it's hockey fights cancer or others - we pride ourselves on being diverse and knowing we have a platform that can get people's attention. The number of women attending our games is higher than any other sport, the number of stories I hear about first dates at a hockey game is overwhelming - we want to be diverse, whether it's sexual orientation or gender."
Bettman and the NHL are receiving favorable marks these days after years of being derided for their backward facing agenda and seeming inability to keep up with the times - not to mention three CBA work stoppages in 20 years.
It helps that the NFL, the biggest sport in the U.S. for decades, with revenues that dwarf those of the NHL, is continually mired in scandals pertaining to drug use and, most recently, domestic violence.
"I'm not going to reply on the NFL's situation, and I don't think any of us know enough about it from the inside," said Bettman. "From my standpoint, I'm very proud with how our players conduct themselves. We've been involved in education and counseling, which is more important on things such as substance abuse, domestic violence, and that's something we reinforce to the players on a regular basis."
Bettman is a pretty happy guy these days. The NHL isn't mired in CBA negotiations like last offseason, and the Phoenix (now Arizona) Coyotes aren't searching desperately for an owner.
With the start of a new regular season only days away, Bettman is sitting pretty and optimistic about the future of hockey - for everyone.
"We want everyone to believe hockey is for everyone."
They should put that on a bumper sticker.
