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James Dolan’s use of facial recognition not a league issue

SUNRISE, Fla. — NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is staying far away from the issue surrounding James Dolan’s use of facial recognition to police who attends games at Madison Square Garden.

He’s keeping so far away that instead of answering a question about the situation himself during his state of the league address on Saturday, Bettman punted to Deputy Commissioner Bill Daley.

“It really is a franchise issue,” Daley said. “Obviously if what was being done — and it’s done for security reasons — if what was being done there offended some kind of league policy or some law, it might be a different issue. But as far as we know, it doesn’t. At this stage, it’s not anything that concerns us.”

Dolan — who owns the Rangers, Knicks and the Garden — went on a media tour last week in which he strenuously defended his use of facial recognition technology to ban lawyers who work for firms suing the Garden. He also bizarrely threatened to bar alcohol sales during an upcoming Rangers game in protest of the New York State Liquor Authority, which is investigating the practice.


Commissioner Gary Bettman said Rangers owner James Dolan's decision to use facial recognition is "a franchise issue," not an NHL one.
Commissioner Gary Bettman said Rangers owner James Dolan’s decision to use facial recognition is “a franchise issue,” not an NHL one.
NHLI via Getty Images

“They’re being extremely aggressive and saying, ‘We’re gonna take away your liquor license,’ ” Dolan told Fox 5 regarding the SLA. “So I have a little surprise for ’em. They’re basically doing this for publicity, so we’re gonna give ’em some publicity. What we’re gonna do, right, is we’re gonna pick a night, maybe a Rangers game, and we’re gonna shut down all the liquor and alcohol in the building. This isn’t gonna bother me because I’ve been sober 29 years. I don’t need the liquor.”


Asked about the fallout of the NHL’s Pride Night snafus, which included the Rangers not wearing rainbow warmup jerseys after the franchise publicly committed to do so, Bettman stuck to his previously delivered talking points on the issue.

“The Rangers as an organization didn’t opt out of Pride Night,” he said. “They activated across the board. Other than a couple of players not wearing the Pride jersey, we had a very significant Pride Night presence and activation. You know what our goals and values and our intentions are across the league … but we also have to respect some individual choice.”

It was not a couple of Rangers who did not wear the jersey, but the entire team, though the decision was made without the players’ knowledge, according to reporting by The Post’s Larry Brooks and Mollie Walker.


Bettman said that “15 or more” groups have filed applications in the bidding process for the Senators franchise, with an expectation that there will be a preliminary cut within the next few weeks.

“I want to be clear that whoever buys this club is doing so to keep it in Ottawa,” Bettman said.


The 2024 All-Star weekend will be held in Toronto. … The Atlantic Division beat the Central Division 7-5 to win the All-Star tournament with Matthew Tkachuk of the Panthers being named MVP.

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