‘Strong negative sentiment’ to Olympics from NHL owners
KIJHL
PALM BEACH, Fla. — The NHL has yet to decide whether it will take part in the 2018 Olympics, but the owners don’t seem keen on it.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said there was “strong negative sentiment” among owners toward players attending a sixth consecutive Olympic Games in PyeongChang. While no formal vote was taken on the first day of the board of governors meetings on Thursday, feedback leaned against another Olympics.
“I think after doing five of these, I don’t know, fatigue might be a word (to describe it),” Bettman said of the owners’ reaction.
“I think our constituents have become increasingly negative toward the Olympic experience,” deputy commissioner Bill Daly added. “I think that’s fair to say.”
Bettman said owners remain con- cerned about the impact of shutting down the season for 2 1/2 weeks to attend the Olympics. A compressed schedule poses potentially greater injury risks, plus the all-too-obvious risk of players getting hurt while representing their countries at the Games.
It also wasn’t clear to the clubs what tangible benefit the league was getting from the Olympics.
Bettman said the NHL did get a boost when the Games took place in North America (Salt Lake City in 2002 and Vancouver in 2010), far less so in more distant locales.
Beyond Olympics, the governors discussed the cap for next season as well the state of the Las Vegas franchise. Bettman wouldn’t provide a firm number for the 2017-18 cap, but hinted at it remaining at $73 million or jumping up a couple million.