[News] NHL will not participate in 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by sharkov

The party that deserves the most blame for the NHL not going to the Olympics is South Korea. If the Koreans wanted high level hockey for their olympics, they would have paid the insurance themselves like Russia did in Sochi and therefore would have made their olympics less of a disaster

The IOC backed off its threat to not pay for the insurance and travel. The problem is that the NHL felt the original deal that already included those things was terrible, so for the IOC to take something away and then give it back did not change the equation.

It would be like if, after Don Fehr triggers a lockout in 2019, the NHL took away guaranteed contracts, let the players stew, and then agreed to give them back without offering a single other compromise. Don Fehr would not stand for that. And yet, here he is whining about how the NHL refused to do something he would not.

[Matty81]

Bettman is short sighted and greedy. Squeeze every dollar from fans reducing the ability of normal families to attend games and now cut off any potential growth in new markets by killing its biggest showcase in new markets. At the same time as playing hockey for kids is becoming exorbitantly expensive.

Hockey is a great game but the future outlook is pretty poor. Think long term and this decision should have been about more than money

[JiriHrdina]

I think it's easy to talk about how the Olympics are important to growing new markets but is that actually the case? In what way would participation in this particular Olympics actually help? It's a great sound bite but in reality I fear nothing more than that

[FireGilbert]

Too bad, I was hoping for some best on best hockey in a good time zone for me. I definitely see where the NHL is coming from however and hope this results in a proper World Cup at some point.

I will still watch the Winter Olympic hockey but won't be into it that much. It will be interesting to cheer for an underdog Canada though.

[Frequitude]

Sucks for Canadians, but that's about it. Hockey's not even a top 5 viewed Winter Olympic sport.

Nielsen 2010 data from Vancouver:

1. Freestyle skiing
2. Downhill skiing
3. Luge
4. Snowboarding
5. Figure skating

http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insight...es-online.html

Still though, I'm not sure if this is the end game yet. Still lots of time to strike a deal. This smells of a negotiating tactic.

[Fire]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

That is not bargaining in good faith and even supporting that notion is completely greasy in its own right. I hope the players all defect and leave for the Olympics anyway. Would be hilarious to watch the league squirm. I know I certainly won't be watching crappy NHL hockey game #65 of a worn out season in favour of the Olympics next year.

The players were not smart enough to have guaranteed Olympic participation in the CBA. Therefore it was up for bargaining. The NHLPA didn't care enough about the Olympics to make a deal with the NHL. That was their decision. Nothing greasy about it. In the end I doubt any NHL players will play in Olympics. If a player did go it would portray them as selfish by putting themselves ahead of their teammates, their club and most importantly their fans.

[Resolute 14]

That's actually bad data, Frequitude, as the date stamp says that data included only the first four days of the Olympics. The men's tournament hadn't even started by that point, and the women's tournament had played only one game per team.

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

That's actually bad data, Frequitude, as the date stamp says that data included only the first four days of the Olympics. The men's tournament hadn't even started by that point, and the women's tournament had played only one game per team.

Good call. Missed that. It was the most reputable name of the google so I ran with it. Still though, the first 5 pages of a search pretty much reveal the same 5 sports. Sometimes bobsledding is thrown in.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by GGG

If Bettmens request really was just to be able to use the Olympic Rings in advertising and use footage as promotional material to be the Proud supplier of players for the Olympic Games and the IOC rejected it I am on team Bettmen.

I think NBC might be the last hope. If this is a big deal for them then it will get done. If not then it won't and it's over.

It just doesn't really register on NBC. Figure Skating is the marquee event. Next year they have bought all the figure skating competitions to start at 10am Korean time. Primetime here.

[CliffFletcher]

People are vastly over-estimating how many Americans would watch an Olympic hockey game with NHLers vs non-NHLers. Half the Americans watching Olympic hockey probably couldn't even name five NHLers. That's true for most Europeans too. How many North Americans would care whether the Olympic rugby teams were made up of amateurs or professionals?

The only fans this will alienate is some Canadians. And once there's a team in the Olympics wearing the maple leaf, even most of those fans will get behind them. It'll be refreshing to be the plucky underdogs in hockey for once, rather than the swaggering favourites.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

People are vastly over-estimating how many Americans would watch an Olympic hockey game with NHLers vs non-NHLers. Half the Americans watching Olympic hockey probably couldn't even name five NHLers. That's true for most Europeans too. How many North Americans would care whether the Olympic rugby teams were made up of amateurs or professionals?

The only fans this will alienate is some Canadians. And once there's a team in the Olympics wearing the maple leaf, even most of those fans will get behind them. It'll be refreshing to be the plucky underdogs in hockey for once, rather than the swaggering favourites.

It would actually be really interesting to see a Canadian team made up of free agents, retired players, college players, minor leaguers, and even perhaps the odd junior play.

[David Struch]

The BIG names for Team Canada could include the likes of Mason Raymond, Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Brandon Gormley, and Shaone Morrisonn.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

Maybe 20 years down the road, some UK channel pays a decent penny for the NHL rights.

We already are 20 years down the road.

They've gone to 5 straight Winter Games, one in Asia, one in Western Europe, one in Eastern Europe, and two in North America. There's no reason to think that 2018 is suddenly going to be the year they break through into some unknown untapped market.

[calgaryred]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

People are vastly over-estimating how many Americans would watch an Olympic hockey game with NHLers vs non-NHLers. Half the Americans watching Olympic hockey probably couldn't even name five NHLers. That's true for most Europeans too. How many North Americans would care whether the Olympic rugby teams were made up of amateurs or professionals?

The only fans this will alienate is some Canadians. And once there's a team in the Olympics wearing the maple leaf, even most of those fans will get behind them. It'll be refreshing to be the plucky underdogs in hockey for once, rather than the swaggering favourites.

It's like watching Calgary Flames in 2013 it's very frustrating

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[calgaryblood]

Honestly don't care about the olympics aside from watching Flames players playing in it. Was looking forward to watch Gaudreau in the olympics but oh well, glad Bettman is standing up against the IOC and I don't think it's over yet.

[killer_carlson]

I think we'll hear an offer from the IOC before too long to resolve this impasse. There will be some big name sponsors of the Olympics who will be very unhappy to hear this result. I suspect there will be a number of phone calls which express their desire for the IOC to fix it.

[RougeUnderoos]

I'm interested to see how they fill out the rosters of these teams.

Do most AHL players have two-way contracts? Seems like that'd be a commitment to an NHL team.

It would be kind of cool if every four years the WJC was skipped and they played in the Olympics instead. Amateurs and all that! I know I'd be a hell of a lot more interested in that than Canada fielding another Spengler Cup kind of team.

Those darn Russians, with a roster full of KHL players, seem like they would be the early favourite if it wasn't a junior tournament (which is a pipe dream anyway).

[Gaudfather]

Behind closed doors China may end up being the real arbiter here. We know the NHL wants to drive its business in China with the first exhibition games in Sept/Oct 2017 in Shanghai and Beijing. But the real carrot is broadcasting revenue and rights initially, and maybe some form of franchise expansion down the road.

If there is a connection between NHL participation in the Pyongyang Winter Olympics in 2018 and the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, you can bet that Chinese officials will be implementing some back door diplomacy with the NHL and with the IOC.

The case for NHL participation in the 2018 Olympics may be far from closed.

[Manhattanboy]

Good for Bettman giving the finger to the IOC, the most corrupt regime on the planet since Idi Amin.

And if we must go I love the idea of sending the World Junior team.

[activeStick]

I've always been a little nervous about Flames players getting injured in the Olympics or World Cup, so from a purely selfish, Flames fan point of view, I like the decision.

I do love the fervour though around Olympic hockey, so will miss that and will miss cheering for another country simply because they have a Calgary Flame on their roster.

One aspect that would be neat is if they gather the best amateur hockey players to participate and watching them perform. I could see the best of these players even getting amateur try out contracts with NHL / AHL teams after a strong Olympics which would also be pretty cool.