Bettman Floats The Idea Of Ice Hockey At Summer Olympics?

[Soundwave]

Anyone else read this? Seems like Bettman is still wary of the idea of disrupting the NHL season for Olympics and his alternative is ...

Gary Bettman on 2022 Olympics: 'I don't know that we want to go to China' - Sportsnet.ca

While it appears Bettman and the league are still hesitant to allow their players to take time away from the NHL to participate in the international tournament, the commissioner did present one alternate option for the IOC.

“I’ve asked the IOC, I said ‘Why don’t you put us in the summer?’” Bettman said. “You know, just for you history buffs, that the first participation of hockey in the Olympics was in 1920 in Antwerp in the Summer Games. We’d be happy to go in the summer.

“I’m sure the players would be thrilled to go in the summer.”

Uhhhhh .... I'd watch it ... but wouldn't that be really weird? Seems like interrupting the NHL season has become a growing non-starter for Bettman and co.

Click to read more...

 

[Yarborough]

Well it is played indoors, not sure host countries would be interested though.

If it means seeing the best play against the best again then I’m all for it.

Not to mention it would be a good place for the game to be promoted as more people tune into the summer Olympics.

 

[JetsHomer]

Bettman is a joke

 

[JustaFinnishGuy]

Hockey totally is a summer sport
Yeah, totally.

 

[Soundwave]

Well it is played indoors, not sure host countries would be interested though.

If it means seeing the best play against the best again then I’m all for it.

Not to mention it would be a good place for the game to be promoted as more people tune into the summer Olympics.

Yeah I could see it causing problems for non North American countries that host ... asking a country to create an ice rink for a summer Olympics is completely silly/strange.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

So why China and not Korea?

 

[Yarborough]

Yeah I could see it causing problems for non North American countries that host ... asking a country to create an ice rink for a summer Olympics is completely silly/strange.

Yeah, not to mention the next summer Olympics and it’s venues have already been planned and budgets set, this would throw things off.

I wonder if a compromise of the NHL going in 2022 then having hockey be in the summer the rest of the time could be made?

 

[dahrougem2]

It's not like every single sport at the Summer Olympics is a "Summer" or outdoor sport exclusively.

Badminton, basketball, boxing, diving, fencing, judo, swimming, taekwondo, weightlifting, and wrestling all take place indoors. I know hockey technically has "ice", but I'd argue it is much better served being at the Summer Olympics if the IOC wants NHL participation.

However, I don't know how willing NHL players would be to have their offseason cut short due to the Olympics. They only get to spend so much time with their families as is.

 

[Yarborough]

So why China and not Korea?

Because the NHL sees China as a bigger potential hockey market, and is already having games there.

 

[Soundwave]

It sounds like from the interview, Bettman is now hedging against going to even China in 2022:

“I don’t know that we want to go to China,” Bettman said Friday of the 2022 Games in Beijing while speaking on a panel at the 2018 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. “I think going to the Olympics is incredibly disruptive on a season.”

Bettman also acts very much like a little brother to the NBA's big brother and he brought this up:

“I was on a panel about a year and a half ago with (NBA commissioner) Adam Silver, and I said to him ‘Would the NBA shut down in the middle of the season to go to the Olympics?’ and he said ‘Absolutely not.’ He didn’t even let me finish the sentence.”

This doesn't sound good even for China 2022 which everyone assumed was a slam dunk. Seems like the NHL owners are digging in their heels and saying no.

We might be stuck with just World Cups from now on.

 

[Bounces R Way]

He knows it's played on ice right? Get real Gary.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

I would argue the reverse. I think basketball should be part of Winter Olympics.

 

[Oddbob]

Ummmmm, so we don't send the players in the winter, but now we go in the HOT summer. Now that makes sense, give this man a prize!

Maybe we should do the first ever NHL involved ice hockey in the pool, the ratings will go through the roof!

 

[Eternal Leaf]

Sure, if we get to see best vs. best.

 

[RageQuit77]

How it would be somehow bad thing to play hockey olympics during summers of northern hemisphere?

The other half of the globe is in a mid winter then.

References:
Year - Wikipedia
Season - Wikipedia
Hemispheres of Earth - Wikipedia

 

[RageQuit77]

Best idea from The Commissioner for a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time!

Could be integrated intimately also to the drafting cycles of a leagues.

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

I really dont see an issue. Would be a good thing for the league. Would get more eyeballs and countries into the sport. Imagine a national team from fiji.

 

[Beville]

The guys missing something up there I’m sure or he’s just in the world of the fairies

Bring it back to the winter, showcase the best of the best, and don’t be a joke of a league.

 

[PG Canuck]

Players would love to go play during the summer? Yeah, not so sure about that.

 

[AKL]

How it would be somehow bad thing to play hockey olympics during summers of northern hemisphere?

The other half of the globe is in a mid winter then.

References:
Year - Wikipedia
Season - Wikipedia
Hemispheres of Earth - Wikipedia

Name one country in the southern hemisphere that has any kind of ice hockey presence anywhere ever.

 

[Albatros]

 

[RageQuit77]

There would be enough time between ends of post-seasons and olympics to recover for players, whole summer wouldn't be just about playing golf, and there would be good reasons for training and stay fit for the olympics. Internal competition for roster spots between players would be healthy...

There would be new audiences for the awesome game of hockey, thus aspect of "growing the sport" would be automaticly part of it. We could get best-on-best tournaments back without gimmicks, and everyone would be happy. Weather would be likely more "fan-friendly" too at the site.

A cost of olympic rinks is the obvious deficit here that requires resources but when they are built in new olympic cities lacking them they are there for the needs of local hockey teams... option of multipurpose arenas is there even their usage would be limited only to the olympics, you know. Considering how much olympic games cost these days, the price of hockey infrastructure is diminishing part of the sum.

IOC shouldn't turn this idea down!

 

[Harry Waters]

I'm honestly wondering how the NHL (and especially the owners, who seem to be involved in thoughts like that) got the idea that the olympic community has to cater to them? Do they think hockey fans and hockey organizations around the world are blaming the IOC for games without NHL players? Let me give you a hint: no, not at all. Either they blame the NHL or they don't care, which is understandable as suddenly the playing field is more even. In the near future I don't see why the IOC would reach out to the NHL in any form. And, as others have said, the next games are already planned, and usually there are no ice rinks involved.

Don't get me wrong: The IOC is an even more dubious organization than the NHL, but that doesn't give the NHL any right to demand stuff like that. Hockey is an integral part of the winter olympics, and it would hurt the winter games a lot more than it would benefit the summer games, if there would be a benefit at all. In summer, hockey would just be one minor sport with huge costs, in winter, it's one of the highlights. Why would the IOC change that?

 

[RageQuit77]

If two mafia-syndicates can reach to mutually beneficial agreement and end their gang war, bringing both peace and Best-on-best tournaments back, I'm all in!

 

[Cyclones Rock]

Regular season. Long playoff run. Olympic games. Training camp.

For some of the players, it could be brutal.