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Will NHLers be at Chinese Olympics?

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Kshahdoo

Registered User
Mar 23, 2008
20,921
11,091
Moscow, Russia
What do you think? To me, it's hard to say. On one hand, the league's bosses admit, that Chinese market is very important for them. On the other hand, teams' owners seem like don't care about anything, but money earned right now, and see Olympics as a damage to their business.
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I have become pessimistic so sadly I don't believe we'll see NHL at Beijing. The only difference to South Korea 2018 is the difference the Chinese market might make. The exhibition games and eventually regular season games held in China will probably achieve more in this sense, so I don't see how the market makes any difference really.

I just wish NHL would cut the BS and be honest from the beginning. It seems like the last time the decision was actually made a long time ago but then they just kept delaying the announcement to the last possible moment.

Also the players are two-faced when they pretend to care about the Olympics so much yet don't have balls to tell NHLPA to bring up the Olympics in the CBA negotations, not in the past negotiations and unlikely in the future negotiations.
 
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wirelessflyingcord said:
I have become pessimistic so sadly I don't believe we'll see NHL at Beijing. The only difference to South Korea 2018 is the difference the Chinese market might make. The exhibition games and eventually regular season games held in China will probably achieve more in this sense, so I don't see how the market makes any difference really.
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I doubt that the NHL can achieve anything much until they have decent Chinese players, of course it is a huge market and even a small slice would be worth a lot but NHL games in China would not get much attention at all as things are now. The Olympics won't miraculously change this, but participation would be at least a modest contribution.

Also the players are two-faced when they pretend to care about the Olympics so much yet don't have balls to tell NHLPA to bring up the Olympics in the CBA negotations, not in the past negotiations and unlikely in the future negotiations.
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You're not wrong, but one factor to remember is that most NHL players do not have any real chances of making it to the Olympics anyway and thus it is not in their interest to pay (even if indirectly) for the right to participate.
 
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Yes.

Imagine you're China in this respect. Imagine you're a guy throwing a huge party, spending billions, sparing no expense. You invite some performers to your party, they turn you down. But they say, "we wouldn't mind performing in your club sometime, just not during this party for which you have sunk billions of dollars and clearly care about the most."

Bettman is deluding himself if he thinks China will take him seriously without respecting the hard work they put into the Olympics. There is no market in China for hockey right now. The Chinese government decides who gets to be on the waves. If you cooperate, they might put the next NHL in China event on CCTV 5, prime time. If you don't cooperate, you might pour millions into hosting events in China only get shoved to some back channel where no one sees your sport that no one was a fan of before anyways.

Let's be clear. Bettman may not be serious about growing a market in China. A lot of business people these days talk about the pros and cons of trying to break into China. Many business experts don't think it's worth it. Maybe Bettman doesn't want China. That's fair. If he does, he will go to Beijing.
 
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Considering no one in North America cared about Olympic hockey this past year because of no NHLers it'd be smart of them to send NHLers again.
 
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I'd lean toward yes, maybe 70/30. Reading what the league says and looking at the context, I think that for the most part the league will want to go. We know that the players want to go but the NHL turned this into a negotiation issue, and I don't trust the NHL and the NHLPA to agree to do something even if both sides actually want to do it.
 
RED ARMY EAST said:
How is it better??
From a Canadian hockey perspective, I'm sure that the majority of the population would like to see Olympic participation.
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Because they'd be better off doing an international tournament without the involvement of the IOC.
 
I am gonna say no, and that’s because Bettman has already voiced a strong opinion against it ... thus very unlikely.

The Ice Hockey exists as a sport without NHL too.
 
Sentinel said:
Sure, Sweden was missing its top three centers and Russia was missing a coach. But it was still better than the gimmick.
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The games were boring.

Did not even come close to the 70's and 80's Canada Cups. They had the best players and the best format, and no IOC necessary.
 
Bear12Good said:
Agree. Good international hockey almost dead.
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If in the next World Cup they get rid of gimmick teams it might be better.

International hockey > NHL.

Bobby Orr said winning the 1976 Canada Cup was more important to him than the Stanley Cup.
 
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