‘Assume we are not going,’ Bettman says of Games

TORONTO • The window of hope regarding the participation of NHLers at the 2018 Winter Olympics has now closed a little more, due in part to the most gloom-and-doom statement to date delivered by commissioner Gary Bettman.

But is it officially shut? No, there still remains a crack of opportunity, even with the Commish painting such a bleak picture.

“As things stand now, people should assume we are not going,” Bettman told Reuters on Tuesday, citing the fact that no negotiations are ongoing with the International Olympic Committee.

Bettman wasn’t just giving a reporter the business while he was delivering that pessimistic message at the Sport Business Summit in New York. The league has been clear that it wants to have a form of IOC Top Sponsor Status for handing over US$ 3.5 billion in player contracts to participate, which would allow its platforms such as nhl. com and The NHL Network to have preferred priority when it comes to content from the Winter Games.

Because it is forced to shut down its operations for two weeks if its players take part, the NHL also has made it clear that it wants the IOC to cover all incremental costs such as travel and insurance, something the Olympic governing body says it will no longer do after taking care of those expenses for NHLers in the past five Winter Games.

“From our standpoint, there may not be any next steps,” Bettman said.

The NHL did not finalize its plans to send its players to the 2014 Olympics until July 2013. To that end, the league already has two schedules ready for the 201718 season: one that takes into account NHL Olympic participation, one that doesn’t.