NHL commissioner Gary Bettman shared his bold Heated Rivalry review after binging all six episodes of the spicy, gay hockey show.
Ahead of the January 15 game between the San Jose Sharks and Washington Capitals, Bettman, 73, spoke to reporters about the smash-hit HBO Max series based on the books by Rachel Reid.
“I’ve watched all six episodes. I binged it in one night,” the commissioner admitted. “I thought the storyline was very compelling and a lot of fun, because I could see where they were picking at things that we had in the past, whether or not it was [the Olympics] being in Sochi or the All-Star Game in Tampa. It was very well done.”
During the Q&A, Bettman said that the NHL has “meaningfully embrace[d]” the LGBTQ+ community, pointing to Pride Nights and the league’s collaboration with the LGBTQ+ nonprofit You Can Play.
“I think it’s a wonderful story. The content, particularly for young people, may be a little spicy. And so you have to balance that out in terms of how you embrace it,” Bettman said.
In response to a reporter bringing up Stub Hub’s 40% increase in hockey ticket interest since the show came out, Bettman said, “There are a lot of things about the game that we think are driving more and more people to the game, and I do believe Heated Rivalry is one of those things.”
Heat Rivalry follows the story of Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), hockey rivals who share a hidden romance and eventual secret love through many years of their careers. It also stars François Arnaud as Scott Hunter, another gay hockey player, who falls in love with a smoothie shop worker, Kip (Robbie Graham-Kuntz), and comes out in the show by kissing him on the ice after winning the Stanley Cup.
After watching the series, one real-life hockey player (although he never played in the NHL), Jesse Kortuem, even came out publicly.
Since its November 28 premiere, Heated Rivalry became the most-watched original series ever on Bell Media’s Crave streaming platform, per Variety. It is also the top-rated, non-animated acquired series on HBO Max in the U.S.
Heated Rivalry Season 1, streaming on HBO Max
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Originally published on tvinsider.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
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