Gary Bettman Quotes

I always tell people that our sports aren't that dangerous.

If you look at the top 100 players, you would see that the great majority of them have had at least a couple of surgeries. That tells me that we have to protect the players.

You're never going to go through a season with no injuries.

But the equipment to protect the players hasn't developed along with that, so now you have more players out with worse injuries, for longer periods of time.

I'm an athlete, so I'm very interested in making the sport as safe as possible - just for my own career longevity.

Look at this, scabs and cuts all over me, I get these every night, every game. They can't tell you that you're not at risk, and you can't tell me there's one guy in the N.B.A. who hasn't thought about it.

It's lucky I haven't been in a bad tackle. I could be prepared, but if my body gets wrenched in the wrong way, I can't help that.

It's impossible for one player to play the whole year. I've learnt that myself, and you're always bound to get injuries.

To be honest with you, it really doesn't get me excited to see anybody get injured.

In soccer, you don't want to see anybody get hurt.

We've made a lot of strides over the years in making the game better for players to be able to stay healthy and showcase talent.

There's been a lot talk about football and safety issues. My big thing is the benefits far outweigh the risks.

You always want to see the NFL try to protect the players.

I don't think the sport is any more dangerous than it's ever been.

Player safety has been an essential focus for us for a number of years.

Sometimes, it's just unfortunate you get injured in the game. But you can definitely take strides to prevent those things.

Since 2000, it's been a privilege and honor for me to be on the competition committee. And our main focus... is player safety.

It's funny because everybody has injuries, and different teams handle them differently.

Most of the players can get injured, small ones and big ones. But when you get the small ones, you have to fight against them and play, play, play.

I'd hate to see the game I love go away because it is considered too dangerous and parents are scared to allow their kids to play.

No matter how badly you play, you want to come out healthy.

Always protecting the players is not good.

I think injuries happen. You can prevent a lot of them, but some of them you can't.

I mean, every player is hurt every year, so that's not really an excuse for everything.

I am rarely injured.