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The Globe and Mail's annual list ranks the players with the influence, and the desire, to affect sport in Canada during 2012.

1. Don Fehr.

2. Gary Bettman.

3. Concussion experts. (Charles Tator, Paul Echln, Robert Cantu, Karen Johnson, Brian Benson, Michael Cusimano, Chris Nowinski, et al.)

4. Ken Dryden.

5. Marcel Aubut.

6. Stacey Allaster.

7. Brendan Shanahan.

8. Phil King/George Cope.

9. Keith Pelley/Nadir Mohamed.

10. Pierre-Karl Péladeau.

11. Murray Edwards.

12. Sidney Crosby.

13. Christiane Ayotte.

14. Geoff Molson.

15. Francesco Aquilini.

16. David Braley.

17. Mark Cohon.

18. B2ten.

19. Clara Hughes.

20. Scott Simmons.

21. Jeremy Jacobs, Bill Daly.

22. Michael Downey.

23. Paul Beeston, Alex Anthopoulos.

24. Hayley Wickenheiser.

25. Daryl Katz.

26. Anne Merklinger.

27. Mark Tewksbury.

28. Jeff Orridge.

29. Don Cherry.

30. Jim Little.

31. Jarome Iginla.

32. Brian Burke.

33. Francois Dumontier.

34. Joey Saputo/Jeff Mallett.

35. Mark Chipman.

36. Blaine Hoshizaki.

37. Nick Eaves.

38. Brian Day/Jack Taunton/Alex McKechnie.

39. Anthony Calvillo.

40. Bob Nicholson.

41. David Branch.

42. Bryan Colangelo.

43. Georges St-Pierre.

44. Doug Mitchell.

45. Mary Spencer.

46. Senator Nancy Greene-Raine.

47. Ken Shields.

48. Steve Nash.

49. Larry Tanenbaum.

50. Theo Fleury.

Consultants coast-to-coast: Sports Editor Tom Maloney; Jeff Blair; Roy MacGregor; Allan Maki; Robert MacLeod; Beverley Smith; Sean Gordon; James Mirtle; David Shoalts; Rachel Brady; Jeff Brooke; Paul Waldie; David Ebner; James Christie; Eric Duhatschek; David Leeder; Darren Yourk; John Marchesan: Bruce Dowbiggin; Lorne Rubenstein; Dale Henwood; Dr. Karl Moore; Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport.

Methodology:

Globe and Mail sportswriters across the country nominate people within their coverage regions and fields of expertise. To help ensure wider scope, volunteer advisers also participated this year. They included Dave Cobb, managing director, corporate development, The Jim Pattison Group, Vancouver; Dale Henwood, president, Canadian Sport Centre, Calgary; Karl Moore, associate professor, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal; Ken Bagnell, president, Canadian Sport Centre Atlantic. We also sourced the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport.



Senior staff writer James Christie (Olympics) cobbled together the initial list of more than 100 names, and a committee of five whittled it down to the 50. Three years ago we eliminated broadcasters and sportswriters from the list save for Don Cherry, whose influence extends beyond TV and radio. Agents are also absent because, while they exert influence, at the end of the day the clients give the marching orders.



Staff writers and editors participating included David Ebner (Vancouver bureau), Allan Maki (Calgary bureau), Sean Gordon (Montreal bureau), Roy MacGregor (hockey, Ottawa bureau), Eric Duhatschek (hockey), Bruce Dowbiggin (sports media), Rachel Brady (football, tennis), David Shoalts (hockey), James Mirtle (hockey), Robert MacLeod (basketball, baseball), Jeff Blair (general, baseball), Lorne Rubenstein (golf), Jeff Brooke (golf), Beverley Smith (Olympics, horse racing), deputy sports editor Dave Leeder, golfcanada.ca editor John Marchesan, globesports.com web editor Darren Yourk.



- Tom Maloney, sports editor



tmaloney@globeandmail.com

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