Lard_Lad said:
From the story: Even if a deal gets the NHL back on the ice this year, the league might decide that too much time was lost to stop play again next season - even for the Olympics.
Because the last thing the NHL should want to do after alienating the public with a long work stoppage is get hockey back in the media spotlight in a positive way.
The Olympics are a bigger world Stage, so for the time being, the NHL needs to take part...simple as that, ever more now as Lard_Lad noted, it will get hockey back in the media spotlight....
Also, here is a bigger (and in my mind much underrated) reason to go to Italy in 2006: The fact that NBC now has both the NHL rights and the Olympic TV rights. This factor has been underplayed, and here is why:
The fact that the NHL right's holders and the Olympics right's holder have not coincided during the '98 and '02 game is a
major reason why the exposure in the US has been less than expected...
* In 1998 in Nagano, the Olympics were on CBS, whereas FOX then had the NHL's rights.
* In 2002 in Salt-Lake, the Olympics were on NBC whereas ABC owned the NHL's rights at the time.
The reason this mis-match is a problem is in terms of cross-promotion. With NBC now owning both the 2006 Olympic and now the NHL rights, there is vast potential for NBC to use TV spots to promote both properties (the Winter Games and the NHL). During '98 one CBS official stated point blank: "Why should we promote FOX's property??" I'm sure NBC had the same thinking 2 years ago in SLC when the NHL was on ABC. The NHL needs as many opportunities to get into the American public eye and the potential for this to happen with the NHL going to Turino should not be missed.
This could be just another casualty if the CBA is not signed in time (i.e. them not going to the 2006 Olympics).....