NHL at the Olympics? ‘Assume we’re not going’: Bettman
CHICAGO — The International Olympic Committee and hockey’s governing body will have to make concessions before the NHL sends the world’s best players to the Winter Games in South Korea next year, commissioner Gary Bettman said on Friday.
“As things stand today, you should assume we’re not going,” he said.
Bettman made it clear at a breakfast with Chicago business leaders that league owners don’t want to stop their season for three weeks again and put their stars at risk of injury without what they consider a tangible return. The reluctance is not new, but the NHL has participated in every Winter Olympics since 1998.
“If nothing changes, I don’t see anybody participating,” Bettman said. “If somebody proposes something that’s pragmatic, that’s radically different, that gets the attention of the clubs where they say, ‘You know what, we don’t like going, but on balance it’s worth it because of this,’ we’ll have to look at it again.”
He said the league has no timetable to resolve the dispute. The head of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Rene Fasel, said Thursday he needs to know by the end of April.
Asked exactly what the league would need, Bettman said: “I don’t know. It’s something I would have to go back to the clubs on because the clubs are overwhelmingly negative on the subject.”
Besides the three-week layoff and the possible injuries stemming from a condensed schedule, Bettman mentioned the expense of sending players to the Olympics. The IIHF came up with the $10 million necessary after the IOC indicated it would not cover the cost as it did in the past, including $14 million for the 2014 Winter Games.
“The league isn’t anti-Olympics,” Bettman said. “We’ve been to five of them. The problem is the clubs are anti-disruption to the season. To disappear for almost three weeks in February when there’s no football, no baseball, there’s only basketball and us. To do it where there’s no programming for the NHL Network, for NHL.com, for all of our social media platforms — we just disappear.”
He added: “I can’t tell you that there’s been any tangible benefit, particularly here in North America, of doing it. We are shut out by the Olympics.”