Quote:
Originally Posted by Locke
Yes, but I'd like to point out a couple issues.
Soccer's World Cup has a significant National Identity element and decades of International Prestige despite being operated by easily....EASILY, the most corrupt Sporting Organization on the face of the Earth.
But furthermore? Because of money and lack of guardrails in terms of spending, often Club teams are better than most National Teams and as such the Champion's League has stolen a lot of Thunder.
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Well, the first World Cup was 1930, so decades is a bit light here considering it is almost 100 years old. Secondly, the Champions League has not stolen any thunder from the World Cup in the slightest - that's completely different. Half the world watches the Champion's league, but the entire world watches the World cup. If there is another tournament that has arguably stolen some of the thunder, it would be the European Championship, which you can make an argument for as being a more difficult tournament to win. However, the World Cup remains as the gold standard of international tournaments, with no other tournament even within Soccer coming close. Heck, there is a lot more money to be made, that they brought the Nations Leauge as yet another tournament to be excited for.
There are only 2 problems with the 4 Nations tournament:
1) No history of international tournaments outside of the Olympics. Even then, how many people cared at all about Olympic Hockey until the NHL started sending players?
2) This is a one-time international event that will not be remembered.
If the NHL was smart, they would continue blocking the Olympics (and they should), and instead continue with the World Cup every 4 years period. They should have started it after the '72 or '74 Summit series and continued on with it. They had the Canada Cups, and it turned into a World Cup, and then... nothing.
The World Juniors is a much watch. Why? Because it is almost best on best (some players don't get released), but even more importantly because it has become a time-honored event. Ditto for the Spengler. World Hockey Championships are huge for Europe, probably because of its' continuity. The Stanley Cup finals are huge because it has been going on since 1893.
Hopefully the NHL has FINALLY woken up to the notion that there are BILLIONS of dollars to be made by organizing AND maintaining a best on best international tournament. They should own it and control it.