[News] No 2020 World Cup of Hockey -- joint statements from NHL/NHLPA

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Tyler

I think it's a negotiation tactic for Beijing 2022

Olympic participation will be in a new CBA almost certainly.

[Roughneck]

Here I was really hoping for an Under-22/Over-35 team to play The Baltic States to crown the champions of the world. What a missed opportunity.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by dwd5150

This is all part of a larger dance between the NHL, NHLPA, and the IOC on Beijing 2022.

The players want to go. The owners will only let them go if the league can get a significant cut of the money out of the Olympics from the IOC, something Bettman and the owners have been very clear on for a long time.

This isn't going to happen and the NHL are fools if they think otherwise. The simple reason being, it would open up the pandoras box for everyone else also wanting a cut.

This goes double for IOC paying for player insurance. While not every sport has a league that could build a case for a cut of the profit, all athletes have a legitimate claim for insurance.

[dwd5150]

Originally Posted by Itse

This isn't going to happen and the NHL are fools if they think otherwise. The simple reason being, it would open up the pandoras box for everyone else also wanting a cut.

This goes double for IOC paying for player insurance. While not every sport has a league that could build a case for a cut of the profit, all athletes have a legitimate claim for insurance.

If you were talking about just about any other sport than men's hockey, I'd agree. Men's hockey is at least one of the top 5 draws at the Winter Olympics, and the Gold Medal game is generally the premier event - the 100m Men's Sprint Final of the Winter Games. Make no mistake, the IOC wants the NHL there as the prestige (and related advertising revenue potential) of Olympic men's hockey is diminished when the best players in the world are not participating.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Itse

This isn't going to happen and the NHL are fools if they think otherwise. The simple reason being, it would open up the pandoras box for everyone else also wanting a cut.

This goes double for IOC paying for player insurance. While not every sport has a league that could build a case for a cut of the profit, all athletes have a legitimate claim for insurance.

No they aren't, as it is a perfectly reasonable request.

No other sport/business shuts down its operation for 3 weeks to allow its athletes to compete. They should share in the revenue for that reason alone. Add on the injury risk to a bunch of athletes that have guaranteed multi-million dollar contracts that have to be paid regardless of there physical abilities/limitations...and the insurance issue becomes pretty obvious as well.

[Philly06Cup]

So much world cup bashing. I want the world cup of hockey to succeed. Everyone who enjoys best on best international hockey should also want the world cup of hockey to succeed. Better that the NHL/NHLPA are in control of the premier best on best tourney than the IIHF / IOC tools.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by Philly06Cup

So much world cup bashing. I want the world cup of hockey to succeed. Everyone who enjoys best on best international hockey should also want the world cup of hockey to succeed. Better that the NHL/NHLPA are in control of the premier best on best tourney than the IIHF / IOC tools.

Personally I share the same philosophy. I want the World Cup to succeed, but the NHL can't get their #### together in making it so.

If the NHL can have it working on regular intervals, and make it a true nation versus nation tournament (none of the NA/Euro teams), then it will fill the role of a global best on best tournament every four years, and you don't have to deal with the uncertainty of whether the NHL will participate in the next olympics or not. Not to mention the NHL doesn't have to worry about it interrupting the middle of the season, and all the issues/risks that come with that.

Hockey at the olympics will still be interesting, and would be fun to see relatively unknown players from each country try to make a dream come true. I enjoyed the non-NHL olympics this past year.

[agulati]

I actually enjoyed the World Cup last time, and I am disappointed it won't be happening next year.

Maybe moving it away slightly form being a pure "NHL" thing will lend to it having more credibility internationally.

[GirlySports]

I don't get why

a) the players want to play in the Olympics
b) the players would give up money in the CBA to play in the Olympics

Concentrate on NHL hockey and make money there.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by transplant99

No they aren't, as it is a perfectly reasonable request.

No other sport/business shuts down its operation for 3 weeks to allow its athletes to compete. They should share in the revenue for that reason alone. Add on the injury risk to a bunch of athletes that have guaranteed multi-million dollar contracts that have to be paid regardless of there physical abilities/limitations...and the insurance issue becomes pretty obvious as well.

You missed the point here.

Yes, it's a reasonable request, but it's not something the IOC can do, because that would open the door to every other sport starting to make similar demands, and that would be massively more disrupting and potentially expensive than any possible gains from a deal with the NHL.

Let's also remember that hockey is just one of the big draws of the much smaller winter Olympics. Any such decision made for hockey would also set a precedent for the summer Olympics.

That's why I don't think the IOC could give in even if they wanted to.

It's not completely impossible, but it think it's too unlikely to bet anything on.

I also think not having the World Cup weakens NHLs bargaining position. If the threat of World Cup becoming a comparable tournament for hockey was in any way real, the Olympics might be worried a bit.

[shutout]

This statement has zero to do with the Olympics.
It has everything to do with the players association wanting to keep its option open to not extend the CBA and to put the 2020-21 season in jeopardy.
As long as the players can potentially strike that season, the NHL will lock them out, and they don't want to hold a world cup right before a lockout season.
Essentially the world cup was cancelled because of escrow concerns.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I don't get why

a) the players want to play in the Olympics
b) the players would give up money in the CBA to play in the Olympics

Concentrate on NHL hockey and make money there.

This may come as a surprise to you, but not everyone is motivated by slightly larger buckets of money. I'm sure many of them appreciate the opportunity to play the game they love, represent their home country on the world stage and have an opportunity to be the best in the world. An incremental few hundred thousand dollars probably doesn't mean as much as that to them.

[Boreal]

Originally Posted by Itse

You missed the point here.

Yes, it's a reasonable request, but it's not something the IOC can do, because that would open the door to every other sport starting to make similar demands, and that would be massively more disrupting and potentially expensive than any possible gains from a deal with the NHL.

Let's also remember that hockey is just one of the big draws of the much smaller winter Olympics. Any such decision made for hockey would also set a precedent for the summer Olympics.

That's why I don't think the IOC could give in even if they wanted to.

It's not completely impossible, but it think it's too unlikely to bet anything on.

I also think not having the World Cup weakens NHLs bargaining position. If the threat of World Cup becoming a comparable tournament for hockey was in any way real, the Olympics might be worried a bit.

I actually think it does the opposite.

Not having a World Cup in 2020 enables them the option of shutting down the league for 2 weeks in 2022 & running a World Cup in North America parallel to the Olympics.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by nobles_point

I actually think it does the opposite.

Not having a World Cup in 2020 enables them the option of shutting down the league for 2 weeks in 2022 & running a World Cup in North America parallel to the Olympics.

Interesting idea.

Competing for sports audiences with the Olympics seems incredibly risky though.

[Boreal]

That’s true. I think it’s a way for the NHL to offer more options to NBC to extract what they both want from the IOC. I think it’s probably unlikely & an idle threat. The World Cup in 2016 wasn’t the monolith money maker the NHL thought it could be.

I lived in Toronto at the time and snagged tickets on StubHub for Us/Europe & Europe/Czech for like $40 Canadian a piece.

They forced people to buy packages to get Team Canada games and no one cared about the other games.

But at the end of the day, the TV audience is the only thing that really matters.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by nobles_point

I actually think it does the opposite.

Not having a World Cup in 2020 enables them the option of shutting down the league for 2 weeks in 2022 & running a World Cup in North America parallel to the Olympics.

As Shutout mentioned before this has nothing to do with the Olympics and world cup and everything to do with the pending work stoppage.

[Moneyhands23]

Originally Posted by Itse

Interesting idea.

Competing for sports audiences with the Olympics seems incredibly risky though.

Honestly I bet the world cup would get great ratings and really tilt the Olympics. I'd probably start the world cup a few days before the Olympics and really get a following going.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Weitz

As Shutout mentioned before this has nothing to do with the Olympics and world cup and everything to do with the pending work stoppage.

All reports suggest that there is a much higher incentive for both side to avoid another work stoppage, and are motivated to get a new deal done.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by nobles_point

I actually think it does the opposite.

Not having a World Cup in 2020 enables them the option of shutting down the league for 2 weeks in 2022 & running a World Cup in North America parallel to the Olympics.

Why do this? Just make a deal with the IOC; after South Korea, it's pretty clear the winter Olympics needs the crown jewel of best on best hockey to remain viable.

The World Cup and the Olympics should alternate every two years. They should shut the league for two weeks for the Olympics, and they should shut the league for two weeks for the World Cup.

Your country lost the Olympics? They can atone at the World Cup in two years. Your country did unexpectedly well at the World Cup? Can you replicate it again at the Olympics. They feed each other.

The only World Cup that was any good was the one in 1996. The 2004 one was a joke because who has a tournament eight years apart, and who also shutters their sport for a year immediately afterwards?

2016 had two teams that weren't countries, and mandated that nobody under 23 be allowed to play for Canada or the US. Oh and everyone knew they were using this to help decide to go to South Korea. So everyone who likes Olympic hockey was predisposed to not liking the World Cup.

They need to do both. It's inexcusable that they don't do both. The 550 players who don't go to the Olympics benefit from the 2 weeks off. The fans get to watch phenomenal hockey without getting bogged down in nonsense about salaries and contracts and the cap. The stars get to be in showcase events that are designed to immortalize them.

Soccer has Euro and the World Cup. Why don't we? Figure it out.

[_Q_]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I don't get why

a) the players want to play in the Olympics
b) the players would give up money in the CBA to play in the Olympics

Concentrate on NHL hockey and make money there.

Because they get to fly to a foreign city, represent their country, party with a bunch of other athletes and bang random figure skaters from Slovenia.