Quote:
Originally Posted by undercoverbrother
I am sure we have had this dance before, but gowing hockey is good business for the top league in the world (NHL). There is a reason that round ball fans in NA follow European leagues. Fans of a sport will always seek out the top level to follow.
As more people get access/exposed to hockey they will seek out the top players/league, which in turn will increase the NHL revenue.
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That is flowery and nice, but the NHL has five Olympics' worth of data, two of which were held in North America, that tells them what kind of financial impact the games have had for the NHL. The fact that the NHL has made no bones of the fact it wants the hell out of them should tell you what the result of its analysis is. Notable as well that the league hasn't gone back to Europe to start the season the last two years.
Tavares' injury in the Olympics, plus Paul George's ugly broken leg in a national team basketball match is also going to be things that weigh heavily on the NHL's mind.