NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is doubling down on deputy commissioner Bill Daly's recent comments that the league has no plans to address state tax rules in the next collective bargaining agreement.
"It's a ridiculous issue," Bettman said on NHL on TNT on Monday prior to Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.
"When the Florida teams weren't good, which was for about 17 years, nobody said anything about it. For those of you who played, were you sitting there at the tax table? No, you wanted to go to a good organization and a place where you wanted to live, where you wanted to raise your kids and send them to school. You wanted to play in a first-class arena with a first-class training facility, with an owner, an organization, a GM, and a coach you were comfortable with."
State income tax has become a hot-button issue in recent years, as four of the past five Stanley Cup champions have come from tax-free states. The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning have represented the Eastern Conference in the final six years in a row.
The Vegas Golden Knights, Nashville Predators, Dallas Stars, and Seattle Kraken also play in tax-free states.
"Could it be a little bit of a factor if everything else were equal? I suppose, but that's not it," Bettman said. "By the way, state taxes, they're high in New York, high in Los Angeles. What are we going to do? Subsidize those teams?"
The NHL's current CBA is set to expire in September 2026, but Bettman has previously noted the league and players' union are in a good place with negotiations.
