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.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 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 $$ in their pockets its only fair that the people who are actually providing the entertainment should go home with something too.... whether you medal or not.I understand the fact that owners of teams want a reward for their players to compete in the Olympics but originally only amateur athletes were permitted to participate in the Olympics.
Other sports such as the NBA take part in the Olympics without getting paid. Players' expenses are met and they are rewarded for their performance if they medal but no one takes home anything else.
The NHL and PA and IOC need to come to some sort of agreement because only the fans are losing out on the NHL not being in the Olympics.
They should do it like soccer and make the Olympics an u23 event.That is certainly the biggest issue. The league will definitely want to receive concessions from the IOC in order to make it worth their while.
But in terms of growing the game, if they can pull it off like soccer does with two major tournaments alternating similarly, I think it would only help the league gain inroads internationally.
Olympics and AINEC.
That being said, the Olympics is the biggest con job in the history of mankind.
Imagine organizing a huge music event where you invite hundreds of world class musicians from all different genres and and you tell each individual musician or each band that they're going to play and compete against other musicians in their genre and at the end the event organizers will award gold, silver, and bronze medals to the best musicians in each event.
This event will be held over 10 days and millions of $$ 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.
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.
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 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.
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.