One of the lingering side issues that were outside the confines of this new CBA, yet still require negotiations with multiple parties, is the NHL’s participation at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
The players overwhelmingly want to go, regardless of the awful time differences. The NHL has a number of issues facing it, not the least of which is shutting the league down here in North America for a couple weeks one season after a lockout.
That’s nothing, however, compared to the more prickly issues between IIHF president Rene Fasel — who wants the NHL’s presence — and league commissioner Gary Bettman.
For one, Bettman wants the league’s participation to be a “front and center†kind of deal, rather than a mere afterthought.
Given the league’s international exposure in recent years, the Olympics should be seen as a “natural†event for the NHL to market its product in Europe.
And that the crux of Bettman’s objections.
The NHL gets very little financially out of the Olympics for the privilege of shutting itself down in the dead of winter when hockey means so much to so many in certain parts of North America that lack other sports.
Chris Johnston of Canadian Press wrote a detailed story this past week that spelled out the difference of opinion between how the IOC and the NHL see this venture.
In an ever-expanding world of digital media, in which the NHL has invested millions, it gets shut out on the international stage at the Olympics.
And that’s bad for business and bad for the NHL’s ability to market itself at the world’s most prestigious, international event.
NBC wants the NHL at the Olympics. And why not? After all, the network has the television contract in the U.S. for hockey and the Olympics.
In fairness to Bettman, after participating in the past several Winter Games, it should no longer be about “the good of the game†but about realizing financial goals that are both necessary and fair to all sides, especially the side that is providing the key element to the Games — its players.
“As I have always pointed [out] whenever asked questions about NHL players’ participation, our doors are always open,†Fasel told Canadian Press.
“I am confident that we will find ways — like we did in Nagano, Salt Lake City, Turin and Vancouver — to stage this evnt on the biggest sporting stage there is.â€
We’ll see.
and signs a new contract in Boston.
