73-Year-Old NHL Commissioner Reveals His Reaction to Hit Gay Romance 'Heated Rivalry'
The newest romance novel to be turned into a steamy television series, Heated Rivalry, took both Canada and the U.S. by storm over the last few months. Now, the Crave original series has found an unlikely fan in 73-year-old NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
The Canadian-produced drama, which airs on HBO Max stateside under a licensing deal with Crave, tells the story of two professional hockey players, Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, who fall in love over the span of 10 years. In a pre-game interview prior to the San Jose Sharks and Washington Capitals match on Thursday, January 15, Bettman told reporters that the "spicy" show, he thought, is "a wonderful story."
Bettman Binged Series, Says It's Good for the League
"I've watched all six episodes," the longtime NHL lead said, "I binged it all in one night." He told reporters at the Capital One Arena that the league as a whole is aware of the queer romance series and the positive impact it has had on the NHL in a short span of time. He credits the show with introducing new fans of the fantasy series to real-world hockey.
"I could see where they were... picking at things that we had done in the past," he said, naming Heated Rivalry plot points borrowed from real life like the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the Tampa Bay NHL All-Star Game. "It was very well done."
The six-episode series became a massive hit after it premiered in late November and became the most-watched series on Crave and HBO Max before the season's end. But hockey fans found it both humorous and surprising that Bettman was one of the popular show's viewers due to its sexually explicit nature. The commissioner got ahead of it himself, saying, "the content, particularly for young people, may be a little spicy," which earned a laugh from the crowd of reporters.
NHL Has Rocky History With LGBTQ Acceptance
The NHL's embracement of the trendy series comes just two years after the league indefinitely banned all LGBTQ pride-themed jerseys and stick tape during games and warm-ups. The ban on rainbow stick tape was later rescinded. Bettman himself called them "a distraction" to some players who "don't embrace the cause." The commissioner told reporters on Thursday that all 32 NHL teams have scheduled a Pride Night this year, though there are at least three teams that do not yet have one on their publicly available schedule.
Bettman has also drawn criticism from the LGBTQ community for sitting on the White House Fitness Council, which President Trump has said will "play an important role in restoring tradition to college athletics, including reforming the broken transfer portal and keeping men out of women’s sports." Hockey icons Wayne Gretzky and Matthew Tkachuk also sit on the council.
Related: NHL Bans Pride Gear From Games Through 2023–24 Season