ANAHEIM While acknowledging ongoing issues with the league's television contracts in the United States, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman suggested Monday a focus on the TV ratings is not the best way to measure the league's popularity.

"We are what we are," said Bettman during a state-of-the-league news conference prior to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. "This is a business that will do close to $2.4 billion in revenue. The research indicates there are about 50 million fans, some casual, some passionate.

"People who follow this game, who are passionate about the game, don't watch it on TV in the United States as much as we would like.

"We don't have to apologize to anybody for what we are. We think we will continue to grow. I think it's a little unfair to define us based on traditional television ratings."

As he has since the deal was signed, Bettman once again emphasized the positives of the league's cable TV deal with Versus, even though that network is far less available than the former partner, ESPN.

"For the most part, their coverage has been long, detailed and outstanding," he said. "There's no question of our importance to them in what they're doing."

Beyond the television issue, questions about the future of the Nashville Predators and the possibility of additional franchises in Canada dominated Bettman's 45-minute session.

The topics are related, with the Predators having announced a preliminary agreement to sell the team to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie, and a widespread belief Balsillie would like to move the team to Ontario.

"I'm hoping to dispel that perception," said Bettman. "If the attendance clause is satisfied" average paid attendance of 14,000 is required to keep the existing lease in effect "this team is not going anywhere."

Bettman was asked if Nashville 23rd in attendance this year with an average of 15,259, although paid attendance was 13,815 hadn't had sufficient time to demonstrate it wasn't interested in supporting a franchise. Bettman, though, said only part of the city had failed to be supportive.

"As a percentage of ticket holders, there are more individuals than corporate in Nashville than in our other markets," he said. " Every part of Nashville, I wouldn't suggest, has failed the team. I think the corporate community hasn't stepped up."

As for other possible Canadian franchises, Bettman said he was "intrigued" by the possibility particularly of returning to Winnipeg and Quebec City, which saw their NHL franchises move to Phoenix and Denver, respectively but that there was certainly nothing concrete in the works. The league has not done any formal studies of the markets, is not actively pursuing expansion and remains generally opposed to franchise relocation.

Still, he believes new Canadian franchises might be more viable in the past, thanks to the salary cap and revenue sharing resulting from the labor agreement following the 2004-05 lockout.

A number of questions were also asked about the recent Ottawa-Buffalo playoff game televised by NBC, but moved to Versus for its overtime to avoid conflict with NBC's telecast of the Preakness Stakes. While saying the issue would be studied in the offseason, Bettman said the league was aware of NBC's contractual obligations, but felt the risk of such a mid-game switch was outweighed by the ability to present the game to the largest possible audience.