Bettman: Concessions needed for NHL to go to Olympics

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.”