Quote:
Originally Posted by Finger Cookin
For a true World Cup of Hockey to work, you would need something that has the sponsorship and blessing of both the NHL and the IIHF. Possibly the KHL as well. If the NHL and its ownership continues to try and promote and champion its own "World Cup" that it alone organizes and gets revenues (split with the NHLPA) from, it will always be undermined by the World Championships and Olympics.
This is the same reason the World Championships run annually by the IIHF doesn't have more prestige and significance. The IIHF keeps this event scheduled at the same time as the Stanley Cup playoffs, which will always prevent the best NHL players from participating and relegate them as an afterthought to North American hockey fans.
I don't like the chances of the NHL and IIHF setting aside politics and egos to get a true best-on-best tournament to replace the Olympics together. And we know the chances of the IOC, IIHF and NHL working together to find a suitable Olympic agreement in terms of timing, revenue benefit, and so on working for all three parties.
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Why do you think this will be more of a problem today than it was 20 years ago?