June 2 (Reuters) - Gary Bettman, the longest-serving active commissioner in professional sports, said on Tuesday that succession planning for his role as head of the National Hockey League was under way but that there were no imminent plans for him to step down.
Bettman, who turned 74 on Tuesday, has been NHL Commissioner since February 1993, helping the league expand to 32 teams from 24 and increase its global footprint.
Bettman said reports of his retirement were "greatly exaggerated" at a press
conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, ahead of the opening game of the Stanley Cup final between the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes.
"I do acknowledge the fact that I can't do this forever," Bettman said about his future in the role. "We have been in discussions, over the last couple of years at least, as to what a succession plan might look like.
"It hasn't been fully implemented, the (NHL) executive committee is fully on board, the board (of governors) has been briefed in terms of the direction we may go. But beyond that, there's nothing happening imminently and reports of my demise or retirement are greatly exaggerated."
Under Bettman's more than three decades of leadership, the NHL has grown greatly, with annual revenues for the 2025-26 season projected to be between $7.5 billion and $8 billion, the commissioner said on Tuesday. Last December, Forbes magazine estimated NHL clubs were worth an average of $2.2 billion.
The league has also expanded its footprint worldwide, bringing exhibition and regular-season contests to countries such as Austria, China, Czech Republic, England, Finland, Germany and Japan.
Bettman also led the NHL to its first Olympics in 1998 as players from the league stocked the rosters of the marquee men's ice hockey event at the Nagano Games.
The league has also evolved in countless ways under his watch, from rewriting the rule book in a bid to boost overall offense to playing annual outdoor games that have proven hugely popular.
(Reporting by Nicole Fernandes in Toronto; additional reporting by Frank PingueEditing by Toby Davis)
