Terrible world cup ideas

[UsernameWasTaken]

It is a TV product first a foremost.

Look at how many people watched the Olympics in Canada or the US. They didn't watch because of the name value of the Olympics, they watched because it is the peak of international competition where they know all the best names will be playing. Take NHL players out of the Olympics, and significantly less people will care.

The reason significantly fewer people care about the IIHF World Championship is because of the perception that it is a B-level tournament with leftover players.

NHL's version of the world cup may not draw ratings comparable to the Olympics the first few times around, but if they do it for long enough, pull out of the Olympics, and educate fans to the concept that the World Cup is the peak of competition (similar to how the Olympics has been since 1998) it will draw the same TV ratings as the Olympics and become a big money maker for the NHL.

I think that's simplistic. The Olympics themselves are associated with sporting excellence and national pride. The Canada/Sweden game in Lillehammer was widely watched in Canada despite the fact that there were no NHL players there.

Hockey in the Olympics will get extremely high ratings in Canada, whether or not NHL players are in it - although, less than if the NHL was there.

I do not think there will be much interest in the World Cup at all.

 

[ForumNamePending]

The players can take the position that so long as no one else gets paid, they will play for free. The owners reject this position on its face = no participation.

If the owners get a cut to release their players, the likelihood that the players allow the owners and the IOC to completely split the profits is exactly zero. So in this case, the players will only participate if they get paid.

So the motivations for it are unimportant, if the players are to play, they are going to be compensated, regardless of what they want.

The motion you support that the ioc cuts the owners in but demands the players play for free is a non starter for obvious reasons.

This is all speculation, feasible speculation, but still speculation. The only thing we can say for sure is the players not seeing any of the IOC's money has so far never been a sticking point.

But agree to disagree I guess.

Good point. According to Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars and Team Canada, the reason so many big names turned out for Canada this year is that the players wanted to boost their candidacy for the World Cup. If that is true, expect the same turnout in Moscow in 2016.

Except for the fact rosters need to be named several months before next year's WC takes place.

I think that's simplistic. The Olympics themselves are associated with sporting excellence and national pride. The Canada/Sweden game in Lillehammer was widely watched in Canada despite the fact that there were no NHL players there.

Hockey in the Olympics will get extremely high ratings in Canada, whether or not NHL players are in it - although, less than if the NHL was there.

Agreed... The hockey tournament will have a smaller profile in Canada, especially when it comes to the hype in the days/weeks/months prior, but once it starts plenty of people will still take an interest. Even if everyone did ignore the hockey tournament the IOC would manage. NHL'ers or no NHL'ers, for two weeks, interest in the Olympics (the whole thing) will dwarth just about everything else, including the NHL itself.

Failing a "real" WCup being established I would like to see NHL players continue to play in the Olympics but if it doesn't happen both the IOC and the NHL will survive just fine.

I do not think there will be much interest in the World Cup at all.

I think the WCup will do fine in Canada (and as a result it will do fine in general) and fail to gain any significant traction everywhere else. So really it won't make it all that different from any previous CC or WCup. I guess the only concern is some (majority?), even in Canada, really dislike the format, but is it a small vocal minority or a significant chunk of people?

IMHO the Olympics are far from perfect but still better than the mish mash of tournaments we could end up being stuck with.

 

[1Gold Standard]

This is all speculation, feasible speculation, but still speculation. The only thing we can say for sure is the players not seeing any of the IOC's money has so far never been a sticking point.

But agree to disagree I guess.



Except for the fact rosters need to be named several months before next year's WC takes place.



Agreed... The hockey tournament will have a smaller profile in Canada, especially when it comes to the hype in the days/weeks/months prior, but once it starts plenty of people will still take an interest. Even if everyone did ignore the hockey tournament the IOC would manage. NHL'ers or no NHL'ers, for two weeks, interest in the Olympics (the whole thing) will dwarth just about everything else, including the NHL itself.

Failing a "real" WCup being established I would like to see NHL players continue to play in the Olympics but if it doesn't happen both the IOC and the NHL will survive just fine.



I think the WCup will do fine in Canada (and as a result it will do fine in general) and fail to gain any significant traction everywhere else. So really it won't make it all that different from any previous CC or WCup. I guess the only concern is some (majority?), even in Canada, really dislike the format, but is it a small vocal minority or a significant chunk of people?

IMHO the Olympics are far from perfect but still better than the mish mash of tournaments we could end up being stuck with.

Not full rosters. I believe 16 players have to be named, leaving 9 spots TBD at a later date. I guess they'll be naming 25 players just like an Olympic roster.

 

[Doshell Propivo]

Not full rosters. I believe 16 players have to be named, leaving 9 spots TBD at a later date. I guess they'll be naming 25 players just like an Olympic roster.

They should do a draft where any team can take any player not yet selected to a team to round out their roster. Mixed national teams! AWESOME! Hold the draft in Vegas and make it an event. Another money maker! Genius! Just think of how many people will tune in for the sheer novelty of it.

 

[1Gold Standard]

They should do a draft where any team can take any player not yet selected to a team to round out their roster. Mixed national teams! AWESOME! Hold the draft in Vegas and make it an event. Another money maker! Genius! Just think of how many people will tune in for the sheer novelty of it.

Sounds like a plan. but whatever they decide, I won't be tuning in. I'll be spending September 2016 on my deck, enjoying the final days of summer and grilling up the world's best fish tacos.

 

[Nakawick]

Sounds like a plan. but whatever they decide, I won't be tuning in. I'll be spending September 2016 on my deck, enjoying the final days of summer and grilling up the world's best fish tacos.

I can multi task easily enough. I will watch it just like I would the Olympics. And you will be watching too, so will all of the haters.

 

[Nakawick]

I wanted to youtube the highlights from the 1996 World Cup semi finals of Sweden vs Canada but the video doesn't work.

 

[Nakawick]

video doesn't work

 

[1Gold Standard]

I can multi task easily enough. I will watch it just like I would the Olympics. And you will be watching too, so will all of the haters.

If that is what you need to buy into this gimmicky tournament, then by all means, run with that.

And another year of SN broadcasts and then a World Cup with Kypreos, Cox, Maclean and Co? Ya, no thanks. I'll be taking a pass on that. But if the NHL wants to revert back to a more traditional NT competition in 2020 minus the gimmicky teams, then I'm onboard.

 

[roto]

I think the WCup will do fine in Canada (and as a result it will do fine in general) and fail to gain any significant traction everywhere else. So really it won't make it all that different from any previous CC or WCup.

There are strong rumours that World Cup will be broadcasted by Viasat (pay-tv) in Finland. In 2004 Finland's games were shown on free channel visible basically in every household, but still it didn't get traction when compared to WHC or Olympics. In Finland there's law that main events of sports like ice hockey must be shown for free, at least Finland's games. This means that even though WHC is shown on pay-tv, the masses are still able to see the matches of Team Finland for free.

One problem with World Cup is that it's not considered as an event which should be shown for free. So there are no traditions (12 years since last tournament), most games are played in the middle of night and you need pay to watch it. In Olympics and WHC ratings for Finland's games against big countries are ~1.3-2M (of 5,5M) but it's hard to see that World Cup would be watched by others than more enthusiastic fans, so ratings could be like 200-300k.

World Cup isn't targeted for people on this side of the sea anyway. It's clearly targeted for North Americans by maximizing the exposure of NHL and its players. So I guess Bettman & co doesn't care if Europeans don't watch it.

 

[Jussi]

There are strong rumours that World Cup will be broadcasted by Viasat (pay-tv) in Finland. In 2004 Finland's games were shown on free channel visible basically in every household, but still it didn't get traction when compared to WHC or Olympics. In Finland there's law that main events of sports like ice hockey must be shown for free, at least Finland's games. This means that even though WHC is shown on pay-tv, the masses are still able to see the matches of Team Finland for free.

One problem with World Cup is that it's not considered as an event which should be shown for free. So there are no traditions (12 years since last tournament), most games are played in the middle of night and you need pay to watch it. In Olympics and WHC ratings for Finland's games against big countries are ~1.3-2M (of 5,5M) but it's hard to see that World Cup would be watched by others than more enthusiastic fans, so ratings could be like 200-300k.

World Cup isn't targeted for people on this side of the sea anyway. It's clearly targeted for North Americans by maximizing the exposure of NHL and its players. So I guess Bettman & co doesn't care if Europeans don't watch it.

More like "It's clearly targeted for Canadians who are more likely to pay for it in order to mximize profits". A cynick might say, that it would require that the league insure Canada succeeds as best as possible in the tournament.

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

World Cup isn't targeted for people on this side of the sea anyway. It's clearly targeted for North Americans by maximizing the exposure of NHL and its players. So I guess Bettman & co doesn't care if Europeans don't watch it.

Same can be said about the IIHF and its WC catering only to Europeans. Bettman did more earlier in his career to try and build a European fan base but I think of late he has realized that he's much better off focusing on growing the game in the USA.

 

[JackSlater]

Same can be said about the IIHF and its WC catering only to Europeans. Bettman did more earlier in his career to try and build a European fan base but I think of late he has realized that he's much better off focusing on growing the game in the USA.

Oh don't worry, I'm confident that the cynic who might think that this tournament would favour Canada, even though it limits Canada's selection to players 24 and over, would never allow the very same reasoning to extent to the IIHF and European countries.

 

[mjlee]

I think the discussion regarding the popularity and impact of the coming World Cup is skewed here in part because the majority of posters are Canadian or cheer for Canada. Of course the World Cup will be big in Canada and draw both crowds, media attention and television ratings. However, outside of Canada the impact will be far, far less than the Olympics. It's obvious that in Europe, apart for some hard core NHL fans, no one will really care, much less think it the equal of the Olympics. Possibly the US will at least pay it some attention, but again, I doubt there will be viewing parties in bars and US games being shown in public places, even if they make the finals Unlike the rather unimportant round robin against Russia played at the most inconvenient time for US viewers, much less will the US President tweet about a national hero, even if his name is TJ Oshie

Canada is a special case, I remember a couple of years back they even had a special commemoration of the Summit Series, which no one else frankly cares about, and that includes the Russians, albeit they might be indifferent to any Soviet hockey history. Ask any American or European casual hockey fan about the World Cup, the Canada Cup or the Summit Series and they will look blank. As them about the Miracle on Ice in 1980 and they will know, even if only for the Ken Russel movie

In all honesty you don't really watch the Olympics to watch superior hockey, lets be honest about that. You watch it for the gladiatorial combat between national teams, the national pride and passion of the players and the ever present chance of an inferior team somehow prevailing (Latvia almost over Canada, Belorussia over Sweden, ). And that includes the players themselves. I doubt that Datsyuk would have gone to the World Cup on pretty much one leg, or Stamkos fought like a madman to recover, if the end goal is the World Cup. Playing in an all star game with hits for the enrichment of their employers will never create the same passion as Olympic hockey.

 

[Jussi]

I think the discussion regarding the popularity and impact of the coming World Cup is skewed here in part because the majority of posters are Canadian or cheer for Canada. Of course the World Cup will be big in Canada and draw both crowds, media attention and television ratings. However, outside of Canada the impact will be far, far less than the Olympics. It's obvious that in Europe, apart for some hard core NHL fans, no one will really care, much less think it the equal of the Olympics. Possibly the US will at least pay it some attention, but again, I doubt there will be viewing parties in bars and US games being shown in public places, even if they make the finals Unlike the rather unimportant round robin against Russia played at the most inconvenient time for US viewers, much less will the US President tweet about a national hero, even if his name is TJ Oshie

Canada is a special case, I remember a couple of years back they even had a special commemoration of the Summit Series, which no one else frankly cares about, and that includes the Russians, albeit they might be indifferent to any Soviet hockey history. Ask any American or European casual hockey fan about the World Cup, the Canada Cup or the Summit Series and they will look blank. As them about the Miracle on Ice in 1980 and they will know, even if only for the Ken Russel movie

In all honesty you don't really watch the Olympics to watch superior hockey, lets be honest about that. You watch it for the gladiatorial combat between national teams, the national pride and passion of the players and the ever present chance of an inferior team somehow prevailing (Latvia almost over Canada, Belorussia over Sweden, ). And that includes the players themselves. I doubt that Datsyuk would have gone to the World Cup on pretty much one leg, or Stamkos fought like a madman to recover, if the end goal is the World Cup. Playing in an all star game with hits for the enrichment of their employers will never create the same passion as Olympic hockey.

Kurt Russell!

 

[Rob]

I've defended the integrity of the tournament in the past. I can no longer do that. The new format has turned it into an all star game spectacle. The NHL is truly a detriment to international hockey.

 

[Ralph Spoilsport]

To include two all-star teams at the expense of two deserving nations is unsportsmanlike and tarnishes the credibility of the tournament. The NHL seems to forget (or maybe they remember too well) that the gold at Nagano, the first NHL-Olympics, was won by the team with the fewest NHLers (of the big six, that is). Or the times the Swiss or Slovaks pulled upsets or near-upsets over the superpowers. I admit I`ll probably watch anyway but I don`t think we`ll see much passion, players will be just going through the motions as they would for a pre-season exhibition.

So what will be the national anthems of the two bogus teams? I'm saying Stompin' Tom's "The Hockey Song" and Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express". That might save the tournament for me.

 

[Berglund1313]

Kurt Russell!

It will be Big Trouble in little China now

 

[Gormo]

I think that for this tournament, they should do away with the national teams all together and just make 8 corporately sponsored all star teams with the best NHLers with a sprinkle of KHLers too. That way you actually end up with the top 160 or so ranked players in the world, therefore, making it the BEST 8 TEAMS that could ever be assembled PERIOD.
Call it the 2016 NHL ALL STAR TOURNAMENT (not the world cup), do away with an all star game every year. The NHL gets their cashgrab, best on best olympic hockey doesnt get ruined, and the fans only have to tolerate the all star crap one late august every 4 years. win win win

You forgot to mention the random and meaningless parameters for each team to abide!

A team of players whose last names begin with a vowel for example!

 

[MikeBabchuk]

This tournament is simply a limp and tasteless joke. There should be some ban on allowing them to use the word "world" in the name considering it includes fewer teams than the Olympics and does not allow counties of the world to qualify on their own merits; rather, the countries that were given the privilege of automatic inclusion are the countries that have a "sufficient" number of NHL players.

The star players whose respective nations and hockey teams were totally disregarded should absolutely boycott this pointless NHL showcase. It is certainly equivalent to telling the Swiss or the Slovaks: "your country does not have a chance and you do not matter... but those of you who play in the NHL should show up to represent your continent anyway, since it benefits us. Suckers!" The young stars who are being disallowed to play for their countries should boycott this farce as well.

In fact everyone should boycott it. Who would even take pride in winning such a tournament? I certainly hope "Team Europe" of the "Young Stars" "win" (but win what, really?) just to show how senseless, pointless, and limp this tournament is.

Unfortunately all this tournament does is demonstrate how far behind hockey is on a world level. It will potentially hurt the development of the sport in other nations if anything since they clearly don't matter on the world stage.

This tournament is a capitalist, racist, ageist showcase of NHL drones and nothing more.

 

[stars33]

This tournament is simply a limp and tasteless joke. There should be some ban on allowing them to use the word "world" in the name considering it includes fewer teams than the Olympics and does not allow counties of the world to qualify on their own merits; rather, the countries that were given the privilege of automatic inclusion are the countries that have a "sufficient" number of NHL players.

The star players whose respective nations and hockey teams were totally disregarded should absolutely boycott this pointless NHL showcase. It is certainly equivalent to telling the Swiss or the Slovaks: "your country does not have a chance and you do not matter... but those of you who play in the NHL should show up to represent your continent anyway, since it benefits us. Suckers!" The young stars who are being disallowed to play for their countries should boycott this farce as well.

In fact everyone should boycott it. Who would even take pride in winning such a tournament? I certainly hope "Team Europe" of the "Young Stars" "win" (but win what, really?) just to show how senseless, pointless, and limp this tournament is.

Unfortunately all this tournament does is demonstrate how far behind hockey is on a world level. It will potentially hurt the development of the sport in other nations if anything since they clearly don't matter on the world stage.

This tournament is a capitalist, racist, ageist showcase of NHL drones and nothing more.

I hope capitalism takes effect with this tournament. People/consumers do not show up and the NHL loses money off this farce. Then the NHL will correct there idiotic international plan to please the demands of there consumers. I believe the majority of NHL fans would like the NHL either to commit to the Olympics or create a true world cup. The city of Toronto must vote with there wallet and not buy tickets.

 

[stars33]

Fans who are interested in International hockey should check out the champions hockey league and the KHL. They play a high level of hockey and there is one element that makes these leagues better than watching canadian Junior, NCAA, or the AHL. The fans from Europe and Russia are passionate about their teams. The games have great atomspheres. Flag wavings and fans singing songs like soccer fans. This emotion make the games more entertaining. I am hoping these two new start up leagues (KHL 8th season and CHL 2nd season) begin to become real top flight leagues.

If these leagues become a major force in the hockey world than the NHL would have to deal with them to create international tournaments. And not run over these leagues by going in this alone.

KHL begins Aug.24th and the CHL will begin on August 20th. In the United States the games are shown on ONE WORLD Sports.

 

[Doshell Propivo]

I still think a USA vs Canada series would be best. But if they want to market all of their stars, then do a North America vs Europe tournament.

Two North Americans play a best of 3 series and two Euro teams play a best of 3. Winners play in a best of 5 final.

 

[Epsilon]

Looks like the NHL and NHLPA are going to be selling ad space on the jerseys. And not a shoulder patch like on practice jerseys, they are apparently looking for a "title sponsor" whose advertising/logo will be meshed into the World Cup logo in some symbiotic fashion.

 

[Deutschland Dangler]

Looks like the NHL and NHLPA are going to be selling ad space on the jerseys. And not a shoulder patch like on practice jerseys, they are apparently looking for a "title sponsor" whose advertising/logo will be meshed into the World Cup logo in some symbiotic fashion.

You just know that it's only a matter of time until they announce that this will be the return of the glow puck.