Unless the NHL Gets a Better TV Deal, 2014 Olympic Participation Futile

In January, I posted this piece arguing that the 2010 Winter Olympics should be the last time the NHL participates.

Now, this generated a fair amount of debate.

For the most part, the consensus was that, due to the huge exposure hockey, and by extension NHL hockey players, receive from participating in the Olympics, it is too important a marketing opportunity to pass up.

This made sense to me.

After all, as an NHL fan, I'd love nothing more than to have NHL hockey grow in popularity and exposure.

Perhaps Olympic participation can raise the profile of NHL hockey, but it won't this year, and, unless the NHL can get a better TV deal than the putrid one they now have with NBC, the NHL should not participate in the 2014 Olympics for reasons of exposure.

In June of 2009, the NHL's current deal with NBC was extended, on NBC's option, for another two years.

So, it is possible that the NHL will have found a new broadcasting partner by the time the 2014 games are here.

However, until that time, fans will be forced to deal with their beloved game being treated like the proverbial red-headed stepchild (my apologies to red-headed stepchildren everywhere) in NBC's family of sports.

We've already suffered the indignities of having a Stanley Cup playoff overtime game being pulled in favor of two hours of coverage about a two minute horse race.

And let's not forget NBC's brilliant move to pull Jay Leno off the tonight show in favor of Conan O'Brien causing last year's Stanley Cup Finals begin with a back-to-back weekend match-up, for fear that a game on Monday night would hurt Conan's ratings.

Yes, that move worked out well all around.

Now, instead of seeing the NHL's most electrifying player, Alex Ovechkin, and his Russian national team take on their bitter rivals, the Czech Republic, we are watching hours of downhill skiing coverage.

But, they do have Mike Milbury and Al Michaels talking about the game in front of a cozy fire during intermission.

That's nice.

Now, why the ice dancing picture at the top you ask?

Well, though the US and Canadian hockey teams will be facing each other at 4:30 pm on Sunday afternoon, this epic match-up between these North American rivals (and, if I'm not mistaken, NBC's largest audience is in North America) will not air on NBC, but MSNBC.

You know, "the place for politics" and, well, Olympic ice hockey, but not in HD.

Apparently, ice dancing is much more worthy of being aired on NBC's home network than a game featuring the best players in the world, playing the United States fourth most popular major sport.

Now, I'm no broadcasting executive, and, though I'm certain I (or most of you reading this) could do a better job of being commissioner of the NHL, I'm not one of those either.

But, I do know that when you're commissioner of a league and you allow a broadcaster to air your sport for free, and only if and when they want to, you're not doing your job.

As for the executives at NBC who have made these idiotic decisions, I'm sure you're getting paid handsomely by advertisers as well as your employer and are only doing what you're getting bribed or paid to do.

As such, your only motivation is making money, not seeing that the interests of the NHL are best served. So, you're stupid, but not at fault.

No, just like his decision to put an indoor game on the Outdoor Life Network that eventually became Versus, that, eventually pulled its channel from millions of DirecTV subscribers, most of whom only subscribe to DirecTV because of sports coverage, the blame for the horrendous coverage of hockey and the NHL on NBC is Gary Bettman's.

The NHL should participate in the Olympics because it is huge for NHL exposure?

That's a perfectly valid argument.

But, when no one can watch it, where exactly does the exposure come in?