Olympics vs World Cup

[cg98]

Olympics by far and away, but if the World Cup was organized in such a way that it would actually be..you know..decent, the World Cup would have more prestige to hockey fans and the players.

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Olympics. World Cup is just a gimmicky money grab for the NHL.

 

[Rubi]

Olympics and AINEC.

That being said, the Olympics is the biggest con job in the history of mankind.

Imagine organizing a huge music event where you invite hundreds of world class musicians from all different genres and and you tell each individual musician or each band that they're going to play and compete against other musicians in their genre and at the end the event organizers will award gold, silver, and bronze medals to the best musicians in each event.
This event will be held over 10 days and millions of $$ will be made from paid attendance, tv contracts, and event sponsorship.

The kicker is that none of the musicians will be paid $$$ for their performances. The organizers get to keep all the profits. Another kicker is that the musicians can't even record and sell their performances after the event is over. The event organizer owns your performance during the event.

How do you think that will fly?

NHL hockey players and team owners are fools if they agree to participate in the Olympics without getting a piece of the pie.

 

[Rob Bowen]

Olympics and AINEC.

That being said, the Olympics is the biggest con job in the history of mankind.

Imagine organizing a huge music event where you invite hundreds of world class musicians from all different genres and and you tell each individual musician or each band that they're going to play and compete against other musicians in their genre and at the end the event organizers will award gold, silver, and bronze medals to the best musicians in each event.
This event will be held over 10 days and millions of $$ will be made from paid attendance, tv contracts, and event sponsorship.

The kicker is that none of the musicians will be paid $$$ for their performances. The organizers get to keep all the profits. Another kicker is that the musicians can't even record and sell their performances after the event is over. The event organizer owns your performance during the event.

How do you think that will fly?

NHL hockey players and team owners are fools if they agree to participate in the Olympics without getting a piece of the pie.

I understand the fact that owners of teams want a reward for their players to compete in the Olympics but originally only amateur athletes were permitted to participate in the Olympics.
Other sports such as the NBA take part in the Olympics without getting paid. Players' expenses are met and they are rewarded for their performance if they medal but no one takes home anything else.
The NHL and PA and IOC need to come to some sort of agreement because only the fans are losing out on the NHL not being in the Olympics.

 

[Rubi]

I understand the fact that owners of teams want a reward for their players to compete in the Olympics but originally only amateur athletes were permitted to participate in the Olympics.
Other sports such as the NBA take part in the Olympics without getting paid. Players' expenses are met and they are rewarded for their performance if they medal but no one takes home anything else.
The NHL and PA and IOC need to come to some sort of agreement because only the fans are losing out on the NHL not being in the Olympics.

When the Olympics began with amateur athletes it was not the money making machine that it is now. In some ways the IOC, now with today's Olympic extravaganza, is just being greedy. The NHL isn't looking to take money out of the IOC's pocket. They're just looking to being able to participate in the perks of being a major Olympic sponsor (although I'm not sure how those perks would benefit the players themselves... so again the actual games participants get screwed again). It just seems to me that when the organizers are leaving with millions of $$ in their pockets its only fair that the people who are actually providing the entertainment should go home with something too.... whether you medal or not.

 

[cleveland408]

Olympics of course.

 

[moosemeister]

If the World Cup actually featured nations instead of the bull shit Team NA and Europe, I'd vote for that. I don't like the Olympics shutting down the season for a few weeks. I just prefer to see players represent their nation top to bottom.

 

[sandysan]

the olympics needs the nhl, the world cup IS the nhl.

if you care about the level of play, it has to include NHL players. Thankfully, this wont happen in the olympics any time soon because the owners are no longer rubes willing to take all of the risk for precisely 0.0% of the reward

Personaally I am getting just twitchty wondering if brian gionta is gonna play again in china!

 

[angusyoung]

Has to be the Olympics,the WC is a joke,like an all star game.

 

[Seanaconda]

That is certainly the biggest issue. The league will definitely want to receive concessions from the IOC in order to make it worth their while.

But in terms of growing the game, if they can pull it off like soccer does with two major tournaments alternating similarly, I think it would only help the league gain inroads internationally.

They should do it like soccer and make the Olympics an u23 event.

Make the world cup without the gimmick teams people can't get over .

That or make it so the u23 / best of the rest teams are picked after the national teams are already decided .

 

[garbageteam]

Olympics. Way more eyeballs and international attention/recognition.

 

[kmart]

i can watch highlights of wc on youtube right after the game
i cant watch highlights of olympics on youtbe ever because they block everything

wc wins... the attention it gets is maybe smaller but therefore all of the fans are actual hockey fans.

 

[jetsforever]

Obviously the Olympics

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Olympics. Pro players don't play hard for country at the WC for fear of injury. Back in the day they did, but not anymore. We will never see exhibition hockey like we did in the 70's and 80's again outside of the Olympics. The Olympics is still good best on best hockey, though.

 

[Gold Standard]

In a sane world there's no reason why we can't have both. but alas, we live in crappy time for humanity. I'd like to have at least one true best on best no gimmick tournament, whether its a World Cup or Olympics, preferably Olympics, but for the love of sweet baby jesus, give me at least one.

 

[member 305909]

If there is ever going to be a permanent World Cup the decisive matches will always be played in North-America. There could be some group-games in Europe but the semi-finals and the finals always in NA.

That's perfectly right too.

 

[ZEBROA]

Olympic , NHL dont own hockey it is for everyone. Olympic gains attention all over the world. World Cup is more NorthAmerican cup with players that happen to be from other countrys. So for the hockeyworld outside Us Canada, WC sucks. Would be more fun watching all the NHL mascots go against each other.

 

[Jussi]

Olympics and AINEC.

That being said, the Olympics is the biggest con job in the history of mankind.

Imagine organizing a huge music event where you invite hundreds of world class musicians from all different genres and and you tell each individual musician or each band that they're going to play and compete against other musicians in their genre and at the end the event organizers will award gold, silver, and bronze medals to the best musicians in each event.
This event will be held over 10 days and millions of $$ will be made from paid attendance, tv contracts, and event sponsorship.

The kicker is that none of the musicians will be paid $$$ for their performances. The organizers get to keep all the profits. Another kicker is that the musicians can't even record and sell their performances after the event is over. The event organizer owns your performance during the event.

How do you think that will fly?

NHL hockey players and team owners are fools if they agree to participate in the Olympics without getting a piece of the pie.

When it comes to Olympics that premise is false. IOC keeps 10% of the revenue to run their operations and while 90% is shared to the host, national Olympic committees(including paralympic), WADA and all the sports federations taking part. The athletes are compensated via their national Olympic committees/sports federations/governments/sponsors depending on their success. An Olympic gold medal can make you rich.

 

[JackSlater]

It all depends. The 2016 World Cup and the 2018 Olympic hockey tournament were pretty much equal jokes but for completely different reasons. If done right then I don't really have a preference, though I suppose that the World Cup has the potential to be superior given that it could ensure that the tournament is held in a country where there are actually hockey fans. I will support either tournament provided that it features national teams with their best players competing against other national teams with their own best.

Also enjoying the horrible takes defending the NHL and the IOC thus far, looking forward to reading more!

 

[Jussi]

It all depends. The 2016 World Cup and the 2018 Olympic hockey tournament were pretty much equal jokes but for completely different reasons. If done right then I don't really have a preference, though I suppose that the World Cup has the potential to be superior given that it could ensure that the tournament is held in a country where there are actually hockey fans. I will support either tournament provided that it features national teams with their best players competing against other national teams with their own best.

Also enjoying the horrible takes defending the NHL and the IOC thus far, looking forward to reading more!

The only joke about the 2018 Olympic hockey tournament was Team Finland's play and coaching. It still got more worldwide coverage than the 2016 Joke Cup.

 

[JackSlater]

The only joke about the 2018 Olympic hockey tournament was Team Finland's play and coaching. It still got more worldwide coverage than the 2016 Joke Cup.

The low level of the players involved made that tournament a joke given what it once was. I think that given what the media tends to focus on in recent times it goes without saying that worldwide coverage doesn't make something any less of a joke.

 

[ForumNamePending]

As I have said a hundred times before in a hundred different threads (so I have no idea why I feel compelled to say it again) I am all for hockey's big/important international tournament being something other than the Olympics. In fact, done right, I think it is the preferable option. A "properly" run tournament outside of the Olympics could easily be built into something that matters anywhere hockey has some relevance, and ultimately would be more beneficial to the sport than the Olympics (and all of the issues/baggage that come with it).

With that said, I think I have seen enough over the past 2+ decades to pretty confidently say that the WCup isn't the answer, and the NHL/PA is incapable of building a tournament that is.

 

[jj cale]

The only joke about the 2018 Olympic hockey tournament was Team Finland's play and coaching. It still got more worldwide coverage than the 2016 Joke Cup.

Who cares what coverage it got? the level of the players is what counts, those big numbers of people watching hockey during the olympics are only watching it that one time and then the sport is forgotten for 95% of them. It is way more important to get the best players playing for serious fans like us then to piddle around with 2nd and 3rd tier guys so to please some guy in Indonesia who will never watch another game again until next olympics.

The focus should be on having the best players whether it be at the olympics or at a proper world cup and run by the IIHF.

 

[Jussi]

Who cares what coverage it got? the level of the players is what counts, those big numbers of people watching hockey during the olympics are only watching it that one time and then the sport is forgotten for 95% of them. It is way more important to get the best players playing for serious fans like us then to piddle around with 2nd and 3rd tier guys so to please some guy in Indonesia who will never watch another game again until next olympics.

The focus should be on having the best players whether it be at the olympics or at a proper world cup and run by the IIHF.

Uhm, tv networks?

 

[Jussi]

The low level of the players involved made that tournament a joke given what it once was. I think that given what the media tends to focus on in recent times it goes without saying that worldwide coverage doesn't make something any less of a joke.

I think you're doing a great disservice to the whole idea of sports by saying it diminishes the value of competition if the best are not playing. That is the equivalent of saying the SC finals don't count because team X isn't playing there. Do you really not understand that people might actually want to see athletes competing for an Olympic Gold, no matter their names, no matter the sport? If I was an athlete, I'd slap you silly for undervaluing the nature of sports.