As NHL Lockout 2.0 drags on into its third week, it appears inevitable that the start of the regular season will at the very least be delayed. The NHL is going to voluntarily lose games because of a lockout (which, this time was avoidable) once again. Yet Gary Bettman ("Mr. Lockout" himself) won't commit to sending NHL players to the 2014 Olympics because he doesn't want to "shut the league down for two weeks." But shutting it down for an indeterminate amount of time to fight over money is evidently completely OK. That makes complete sense!
Where do I begin with how stupid Mr. Lockout coming out and saying that is? For starters, it completely contradicts the current actions of the NHL owners. You don't want to shut down the league? I kinda get that. Except that's exactly what you're doing right now! It also makes him look like the two-faced hypocrite he is. However, seeing as the only way Mr. Lockout knows how to "negotiate" is by not letting the players play, he's probably fine with that. (Or just completely oblivious.)
For his part, the head of the IIHF has said that he expects to see the NHL players in Sochi, and they've arranged the schedule as such. They're not starting the men's hockey tournament until Wednesday, the fifth day of the Olympics, which would give the players plenty of time to get to Russia after their weekend NHL games. Furthermore, the players want to go to Sochi and represent their countries. The only people who don't want this, not surprisingly, are the owners. But why would Mr. Lockout and the owners take what the fans want into account?
The owners' argument is that they don't want to condense the schedule (which, again, is the best-case-scenario for what's going to happen this year) and give up the revenue from lost games (which, again, they're voluntarily doing right now) for an Olympics on the other side of the world. For their part, they don't think the fan interest will be there, especially since the time difference between New York and Sochi is eight hours. That means games being played in the early morning and afternoon instead of primetime in North America. (I can guarantee that, no matter what time the games are, Olympic hockey ratings will likely be on par with, if not better than, the ratings for a regular season NHL game.)
To me, that's a weak argument. I have no doubt that NBC Sports Network, which is the NHL's TV partner already, will be the "hockey channel" (probably exclusively) during the 2014 Olympics. I guarantee that they'll show every men's game live (NBCSN's live coverage started at 4 a.m. Eastern in London), while also replaying the U.S. or Canada in primetime. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if NBC applies pressure to the NHL to send the players to the Olympics. They want Doc Emrick and Eddie Olczyk in Sochi. Just like they don't want to have to split their hockey production teams between Russia and whatever NHL city they're doing a game from that week. Or having to broadcast NHL games on NBCSN at the same time as their Olympic coverage on NBC.
Something else that the NHL owners need to consider is how much the players want to go. Alexander Ovechkin has said that he's going no matter what. Other Russian NHLers are likely to join him, owners' wishes be damned. Playing for an Olympic gold in their home country means that much to these guys. The owners have to take that into consideration. Why stubbornly insist on playing NHL games without the top players? The quality of those games would obviously be substandard, which wouldn't be fair to either the players or the fans.
Likewise, every other top professional hockey league in the world will be sending its players to Sochi. The KHL, obviously, will take a break during the 2014 Games. But the NHL is the world's best hockey league. Something would be missing if NHL players weren't in the tournament. The quality would certainly suffer, and some teams (namely, Canada and the U.S.) would have no chance of winning. Talk about a tournament nobody in North America would be interested in!
Furthermore, now that the World Cup of Hockey is dead, the Olympics is the one real opportunity NHL players have to represent their national teams. The World Championships are held during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, so only guys on teams that are already out of it are able to play, which obviously limits the talent pool. Besides, the Olympics are the biggest sporting event in the world, and the NHL players are by far the biggest names at the Winter Games. The Olympics are a chance for the NHL to showcase its incredible international talent for the world to see. You would think that's something the owners would want to take advantage of.
Ultimately, I do think we'll see NHL players in Sochi. And Pyeongchang. And 2022. And beyond. The players want it, the fans want it, and, in the grand scheme of things, it's for the good of the game. Even Mr. Lockout and the owners have to realize that the pros far outweigh the cons. After depriving fans of hockey yet again, not going would do even more damage to the game than Lockout 2.0 will.
No comments:
Post a Comment