Bettman: NHL wants to make another world cup, players Association seems to have no interest

[Nino33]

The whole break argument is moot now seeing as the owners agreed to provide the players with two weeks off in the season. So now the vast majority wouldn't get anything our of it.

And they don't really get a "break" in the sense that it's still the same number of games they play, just fewer days of between games (making for an increased grind for most of the season)

 

[Jon Riley]

I asked about TV money, not ratings (I was wondering if a disproportionate amount of the money the IOC gets for the winter Olympics is from the US)

Oh, sorry, then I do not know. The only thing I found is that NBC is the largest singular tv income for the olympics but I do not know how much is it compared to all the rest. It seems that the NBC deal is signed up to the 2032 edition.

My understanding is Stockholm's bid is the first ever that is completely privately funded (amazing they can do this given every other time it's costed billions in public money...makes me think it's not a realistic bid) & the Milan-Cortina bid has no money from the Italian government (apparently the local governments are so rich they're going to fund an Olympics...doesn't sound very realistic either) - these bids reek of desperation, the IOC bending/breaking bidding rules as it goes to save the Olympics

Both are realistic actually but the IOC had to drop a lot of the ludicrous requests they had regarding new structures, and proximity to a single olympic village. I do not know much about the Stockholm candidature, the Milan/Cortina one involves a lot of already existent (and regularly used) structures, but they are spread on several hundreds of km of Alps.
The founds would come 925M from the IOC and the government 328M. That said, this government is not exactly reliable, to use an euphemism, so if they pull out, those money would have to come from the three regions involved, Lombardia, Veneto and Trentino Alto Adige. Kinda doable.
Anyways if the olympics want to survive they have to go cheap and sustainable, that is a good thing.

 

[Nino33]

Both are realistic actually

I still find it hard to believe (all the bids before proclaimed great things/no debt, and yet almost all were completely wrong, even with government dollars)

 

[Nino33]

The only thing I found is that NBC is the largest singular tv income for the olympics

That seems odd given the alleged love/passion for the Olympics elsewhere in the world (maybe it's like the European/Russian love for their hockey...they love it, but they won't pay anywhere near market value for it)

And given the huge Chinese market I would have thought the IOC would get more from China than the US (if your info is for summer/winter than it's even worse that the US would be at the top).


Thanks much for the replies!

 

[member 305909]

I don't blame the players. The season is long enough even without a soulless plastic tournament which even fans don't get excited about.

 

[Jon Riley]

That seems odd given the alleged love/passion for the Olympics elsewhere in the world (maybe it's like the European/Russian love for their hockey...they love it, but they won't pay anywhere near market value for it)

And given the huge Chinese market I would have thought the IOC would get more from China than the US (if your info is for summer/winter than it's even worse that the US would be at the top).


Thanks much for the replies!

It seems there is only one country whose absence from the Olympics would be ruinous for the I.O.C.: the United States. NBC paid $963 million to broadcast these Games, far more than any other broadcaster. More than half of the Olympic committee’s global sponsors are American companies.

Fewer Russians Could Be a Windfall for U.S. Olympic Business

I guess I have to revise a little my opinion regarding the importance of the NHL players for the IOC...


Just out of curiosity, how famous are in the US people like Lindsay Vonn, Bode Miller, Shani Davies or Shaun White (yeah I think he is popular, but no idea about the others)

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

I don't blame the players. The season is long enough even without a soulless plastic tournament which even fans don't get excited about.

Agree on the "soulless plastic tournament".

With that said - what's the players #1 complaint with the CBA? It has to be escrow - right? If that is true - the WC is an opportunity the players have to reduce the amount they lose to escrow. And, for 80% of the NHLPA who aren't actually playing in the Olympics - would they rather have reduced escrow or let the star players compete in the Olympics and the resulting compressed schedule?

 

[Nino33]

Just out of curiosity, how famous are in the US people like Lindsay Vonn, Bode Miller, Shani Davies or Shaun White (yeah I think he is popular, but no idea about the others)

I'm not from the US, I like to read, I haven't had cable TV for many years (I follow the NHL watching all the condensed games via YouTube + I get HNIC on Saturdays and playoff games via CBC online), and I don't care about the Olympics (I'll watch if my wife wants to, but beyond the hockey I don't follow any of the sports at all; I don't recall watching any of the 2018 Olympics)...having said that, for what it's worth HaHa

• I know who Lindsay Von is, knew she was a skier
• I've heard the name Bode Miller, would have guessed "American Olympic athlete" but didn't know until just now Bode was a male, or that he was a skier
• I'd never heard of Shani Davies before
  
• I know who Shaun White is, knew he was a snowboarder

 

[blood gin]

Just go play the Olympics. NHL players give Olympic Gold true weight and meaning. Last Olympics the hockey was wretched and it devalued it.

World Cup is not the same without the big bad USSR around. Also it was idiotic in 2016. "Team Europe" yea ok. Doesn't work that way

 

[Edenjung]

Last Olympics the hockey was wretched and it devalued it.

oh are you pissed, because the US did not win anything?
i think it was awsome to see teams that where on the same level as the others.
it is no fun, if only Canada, Sweden, US and russia win. but if it's a nice an thight competition where everything can happen it's so much better.
And the olympics if any devaluation took place then because the nhl said no to participate.

in my opinion it can stay like this for a while

 

[blood gin]

oh are you pissed, because the US did not win anything?
i think it was awsome to see teams that where on the same level as the others.
it is no fun, if only Canada, Sweden, US and russia win. but if it's a nice an thight competition where everything can happen it's so much better.
And the olympics if any devaluation took place then because the nhl said no to participate.

in my opinion it can stay like this for a while

No I didn't watch because it was boring and meaningless

 

[Volica]

A tournament I didn't care about anyway.
I won't lose sleep.

 

[DJJones]

Agree on the "soulless plastic tournament".

With that said - what's the players #1 complaint with the CBA? It has to be escrow - right? If that is true - the WC is an opportunity the players have to reduce the amount they lose to escrow. And, for 80% of the NHLPA who aren't actually playing in the Olympics - would they rather have reduced escrow or let the star players compete in the Olympics and the resulting compressed schedule?

How much did the last World cup bring in?

Enough to even make a dent on Escrow? And wouldn't it go towards the cap calculation? If so, the players will increase it even more and still get hit with escrow

 

[Nino33]

And the olympics if any devaluation took place then because the nhl said no to participate.

I think it was more the massive corruption, massive debt, and drug cheats that devalued the Olympics...having the NHL players was one of the few things the Olympics had going for it

 

[Edenjung]

No I didn't watch because it was boring and meaningless

Why was it meaningless? because the US and Canada was not around?
It had meaning, because it was the olympics.
if your best playeers cannot attend than that does not deminish the importance of the medal in any way.

 

[Edenjung]

I think it was more the massive corruption, massive debt, and drug cheats that devalued the Olympics...having the NHL players was one of the few things the Olympics had going for it

Now that is a solid explanation.
And understandable.

 

[blood gin]

Why was it meaningless? because the US and Canada was not around?
It had meaning, because it was the olympics.
if your best playeers cannot attend than that does not deminish the importance of the medal in any way.

That is completely wrong. It absolutely diminishes the importance of the hockey medal

Hey how about we have the two worst teams in college football play a game and call it The Super Bowl. It's the Super Bowl right? It's importance won't be diminished right?

Yes it will

 

[Nino33]

Now that is a solid explanation.
And understandable.

Thank you.

FYI I can totally relate to blood gin too, as I find big ice hockey really boring (even if it's best-on-best), I don't think the Olympics has any significant meaning or special place (for reasons noted already, and more), and I too care about best-on-best and not about the results otherwise (the same way the football/soccer world cares about the World Cup because it's best-on-best, and they don't care about the Olympics because Olympic soccer isn't best-on-best)

Of course OAR's victory over Germany matters to those who love the Olympics themselves, but in terms of hockey relevancy the medal is diminished to the point of meaninglessness. Your saying "because the US and Canada was not around" doesn't make sense to me, as they were around (I know this despite not watching, and that I couldn't name a player on other team).....it wasn't that Canada and the US didn't have their best, no one did

What diminishes Olympics hockey this year (and before 1998) is it wasn't best-on-best.
A competition to determine the best in the world is irrelevant/meaningless if the best in the world isn't participating.

 

[Eisen]

This is what happens when a sport is ruined by making it a business.

 

[um]

This is what happens when a sport is ruined by making it a business.

only when people can't do business.

 

[Nino33]

This is what happens when a sport is ruined by making it a business.

The Olympics certainly are a business...what sport are you following that isn't a business?

 

[pt_mck]

NHL owners want a World Cup in 2020 but the players dont care about it. NHLPA wants to go to the Olympics in 2022 but the Owners dont care about it.

...oh if only there was an incredibly obvious middle ground that could be reached... something that both sides could get what they want...oh I wonder...

Hockey in the summer Olympics? Yeah yeah logistics, snow/ice, arenas yadda yadda yadda

With a world cup NHL/NHLPA control all the revenues. Not so much with Olympics

 

[Faterson]

what sport are you following that isn't a business?

No sport is a business unless you artificially make it so.

Bettman should go to hell with his ridiculous Gimmick Cup, that pre-season exhibition disgrace of 2016. It must never be repeated.

Bettman, the top saboteur of international hockey, should also resign and spend the rest of his days tottering about in the hall of fame, where they enshrined him for treating hockey as business first, sport remote second.

 

[Eisen]

The Olympics certainly are a business...what sport are you following that isn't a business?

The sport is a sport. Business is way behind on the priorities. It's when you push for business as an equal or more important than the sport.

 

[Nino33]

No sport is a business unless you artificially make it so.

Bettman should go to hell with his ridiculous Gimmick Cup, that pre-season exhibition disgrace of 2016. It must never be repeated.

Bettman, the top saboteur of international hockey, should also resign and spend the rest of his days tottering about in the hall of fame, where they enshrined him for treating hockey as business first, sport remote second.

The sport is a sport. Business is way behind on the priorities. It's when you push for business as an equal or more important than the sport.

The NHL players are businessmen (the best European/Russian hockey players in the world among them!), as are the owners and the NHL (and the IOC, etc)

Thinking of adults and saying "no sport is a business" is like saying unicorns exist, it's just not accepting reality. I don't like that it is the way it is either, but wishing something is true doesn't make it true; the players are businessmen, they're not in it for sport


I recommend watching very young children play sports for what you're describing as sport