from Michael Russo of The Athletic,

What’s next in the Arizona Coyotes arena saga? What should we expect the NHL’s relationship to be with pro women’s hockey? What are teams’ options for broadcasts as the Bally Sports drama continues?

Those were just a few of the topics The Athletic addressed by NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly recently in a one-on-one in Stockholm at the European NHL Player Media Tour.

I know I ask you about this a lot, but obviously it’s a huge thing in many markets about what’s going on with Diamond Sports and the Bally’s regional sports networks. I know that a lot of teams did get their payments recently, but you also have Diamond Sports that’s trying to negotiate deals with Comcast, with DirecTV, and obviously teams need to have their games distributed. What is the latest here and is there a timeline on when this needs to be figured out so these teams know that they’re 100 percent going to be on these regionals this year?

Obviously the sooner, the better, but the whole landscape is really muddied by the bankruptcy in the sense that you can’t establish firm timelines. Obviously we’ll know a lot more a month from now with how those carriage negotiations end up playing out. (Those are) the lifeblood of Bally’s (regional sports networks) and Diamond Sports Group in terms of their ability to be successful in the marketplaces. It won’t surprise you, and it’s probably consistent with the last answer I gave you: The leagues themselves understand the importance of having games distributed or having fans have access to their team’s games, and we’re prepared to do what needs to be done to make sure that happens, regardless of an interruption of service from Diamond Sports Group.

At least in the report that I saw the other day, it said that in bankruptcy court the league basically said there needs to be, probably by the end of September, a resolution so the league and teams can put in place potential contingencies.

Yeah, I mean that’s exactly what we told the court at the last hearing, which I think may have been the start of last week. Having said that, an entity in bankruptcy can make certain promises and commitments and representations that if the facts don’t play out the way they want them to play out, they have to renege on. And that’s what the protection of the bankruptcy court allows to a certain extent. So you got to play by the rules, and we aren’t making or writing the rules. So we’ll see how it proceeds, how it plays out, and we’ll be prepared for every contingency.

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