Does the NHL Win Too?

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Does the NHL Win Too?

Posted On : Feb-25-2010 | seen (920) times | Article Word Count : 755 |

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman speaks to reporters in Vancouver.

When NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman talks about his league's reluctance to commit to the next Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the root problem is trying to weigh what is lost and what is gained by halting the NHL season to accommodate the Games. "We have a multibillion-dollar business we're responsible to," he told reporters at the Olympic hockey arena in Vancouver. "This costs us money. This disrupts our season and we're here [only] because we think it helps our game."

The NHL obviously has some legitimate concerns. In some of its weaker markets, the teams feel like they have to almost start from scratch to woo fans back after the two-week Olympic hiatus. The league also has to ditch its all-star game—which, while missed by absolutely no fans, is regarded as a valuable corporate schmoozefest. And then there's the worry that NHL stars with salaries totaling more than $2.1 million are playing here in Vancouver—and playing with absolute abandon. Any hockey fan had to be enthralled by the Canada-Russia showdown tonight, with the matchup of the NHL's two premier superstars. But Bettman was inevitably having nightmares about the impact if Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin—or, the ultimate horror, both—were seriously injured.

The "good for the game" concession by Bettman is meaningless, being pretty much inarguable. Since the NHL debut at the 1998 Nagano Games, the Olympic hockey tournament has been absolutely compelling—with three different champions and six different finalists in the three Games before Vancouver. And Vancouver has already produced some stunning contests, with Slovakia upsetting Russia, the U.S. stunning Canada, and Switzerland first taking Canada into overtime and then the U.S. down to the wire, trailing just 1–0 until the final seconds before losing 2–0. And even Canada’s 7–3 rout of Russia was extraordinary, with two freewheeling offenses producing 33 shots in the first period alone.

What Bettman would, of course, never admit is that perhaps the hockey is, in fact, too good and too thrilling. The atmosphere is electric, the skating is fast, the checking unbridled (absent mindless thuggery), and players are diving all over the ice to block shots or deflect passes. There are a lot fewer whistles and no stoppages in plays for advertisements, and the U.S.-Switzerland game, for example, finished in a brisk 2:15. If fans are turned on by what they see here, they are unlikely to see it in the average NHL regular-season game, and would be best advised to tune back in for the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs.

Of course, "what they see" is also another sort of problem. Not all Olympics are equal when it comes to attracting audiences. The Olympics works best for the NHL when Team U.S.A. is winning (Canadian fans adore the game and don't really need any wooing) and American audiences find themselves in the strange position of reordering their lives to catch a hockey game. "Who knew I'd play hooky for hockey?" a woman friend from Indiana wrote me today just before the U.S.-Switzerland clash.

And best of all is when that America success comes in places like Salt Lake City or Vancouver, allowing Americans to watch the games in during normal viewing hours. A Sunday-afternoon rematch between the United States and Canada for the gold medal is Bettman's unspoken dream. On the other hand, 4 a.m. or even early-afternoon games broadcast from Russia are not exactly designed to deliver big ratings back in the States.

Of course, since we're talking hockey, we know Bettman must be on a power play. In fact, two of them simultaneously. One is aimed at the players who are anxious to represent their countries in the Olympics. (Ovechkin and some other Russian NHLers have already said they will play in Sochi, regardless of any league decision.) With the collective bargaining agreement expiring after next season, the NHL commissioner would love to extract some concessions from the players in return for their coveted Olympic engagement.

The other power play is aimed at the International Ice Hockey Federation, which governs the game in its international incarnation. The NHL would naturally like to share in the marketing opportunities and pry away some of those Olympic licensing dollars in a kind of shared arrangement. You know: the Olympic hockey tournament as presented by the National Hockey League and its sponsors. Make the league those few minor concessions, and in four years Bettman will be there on Black Sea extolling the great Olympic hockey tradition.

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<h1> Does the NHL Win Too?</h1> Author: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/profile_zinsser.aspx'>zinsser</a> When NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman talks about his league's reluctance to commit to the next Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the root problem is trying to weigh what is lost and what is gained by halting the NHL season to accommodate the Games. "We have a multibillion-dollar business we're responsible to," he told reporters at the Olympic hockey arena in Vancouver. "This costs us money. This disrupts our season and we're here [only] because we think it helps our game."

The NHL obviously has some legitimate concerns. In some of its weaker markets, the teams feel like they have to almost start from scratch to woo fans back after the two-week Olympic hiatus. The league also has to ditch its all-star game—which, while missed by absolutely no fans, is regarded as a valuable corporate schmoozefest. And then there's the worry that NHL stars with salaries totaling more than $2.1 million are playing here in Vancouver—and playing with absolute abandon. Any hockey fan had to be enthralled by the Canada-Russia showdown tonight, with the matchup of the NHL's two premier superstars. But Bettman was inevitably having nightmares about the impact if Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin—or, the ultimate horror, both—were seriously injured.

The "good for the game" concession by Bettman is meaningless, being pretty much inarguable. Since the NHL debut at the 1998 Nagano Games, the Olympic hockey tournament has been absolutely compelling—with three different champions and six different finalists in the three Games before Vancouver. And Vancouver has already produced some stunning contests, with Slovakia upsetting Russia, the U.S. stunning Canada, and Switzerland first taking Canada into overtime and then the U.S. down to the wire, trailing just 1–0 until the final seconds before losing 2–0. And even Canada’s 7–3 rout of Russia was extraordinary, with two freewheeling offenses producing 33 shots in the first period alone.

What Bettman would, of course, never admit is that perhaps the hockey is, in fact, too good and too thrilling. The atmosphere is electric, the skating is fast, the checking unbridled (absent mindless thuggery), and players are diving all over the ice to block shots or deflect passes. There are a lot fewer whistles and no stoppages in plays for advertisements, and the U.S.-Switzerland game, for example, finished in a brisk 2:15. If fans are turned on by what they see here, they are unlikely to see it in the average NHL regular-season game, and would be best advised to tune back in for the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs.

Of course, "what they see" is also another sort of problem. Not all Olympics are equal when it comes to attracting audiences. The Olympics works best for the NHL when Team U.S.A. is winning (Canadian fans adore the game and don't really need any wooing) and American audiences find themselves in the strange position of reordering their lives to catch a hockey game. "Who knew I'd play hooky for hockey?" a woman friend from Indiana wrote me today just before the U.S.-Switzerland clash.

And best of all is when that America success comes in places like Salt Lake City or Vancouver, allowing Americans to watch the games in during normal viewing hours. A Sunday-afternoon rematch between the United States and Canada for the gold medal is Bettman's unspoken dream. On the other hand, 4 a.m. or even early-afternoon games broadcast from Russia are not exactly designed to deliver big ratings back in the States.

Of course, since we're talking hockey, we know Bettman must be on a power play. In fact, two of them simultaneously. One is aimed at the players who are anxious to represent their countries in the Olympics. (Ovechkin and some other Russian NHLers have already said they will play in Sochi, regardless of any league decision.) With the collective bargaining agreement expiring after next season, the NHL commissioner would love to extract some concessions from the players in return for their coveted Olympic engagement.

The other power play is aimed at the International Ice Hockey Federation, which governs the game in its international incarnation. The NHL would naturally like to share in the marketing opportunities and pry away some of those Olympic licensing dollars in a kind of shared arrangement. You know: the Olympic hockey tournament as presented by the National Hockey League and its sponsors. Make the league those few minor concessions, and in four years Bettman will be there on Black Sea extolling the great Olympic hockey tradition.

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