If it means the top players in the world return to Olympic participation, the International Olympic Committee and International Ice Hockey Federation are open to changing their relationship with the NHL. In a new and potentially game-changing shift in the status quo, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the IOC and IIHF have decided that they would be willing to meet many of the demands previously made by the NHL in order to ensure the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing feature NHL talent.
Friedman reports that the two global organizations met in New York earlier this week and came to the conclusion that NHL participation would be worth ceding promotional rights and contributing greater financial assistance to the league. This would include paying injury insurance costs and travel costs, as well as allowing the NHL to market its stars’ participation in the Winter Games, including the use of Olympic footage and marks. This checks all the boxes for the league’s previous demands for returning to the Olympics. As for their final complaint, that the Games are disruptive to the season, that argument has been considerably weakened by the league’s bye week format, which reduces game play by 50 percent in the weeks on either side of the All-Star break. If the league is comfortable with that break every year, it stands to reason that a slightly longer break once every four years is not “incredibly disruptive.”
Originally posted on Pro Hockey Rumors | By Zach Leach | Last updated 2/9/20
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