Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics: Let the Players Play
The 2010 Winter Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament in Vancouver was exactly what the sport needed. In a landscape where professional hockey has lacked popularity in America even before a year-long labor stoppage in late 2004, the National Hockey League has been looking for more and more ways to broaden its fan base in the United States while it seems to be much less of an issue in Canada, where pond hockey players are printed on its paper currency. The gold medal game where Canada defeated the United States in overtime was the high point of a very compelling tournament, with a massive U.S. audience of 27.6 million viewers. With NHL players having so much exposure representing their countries, it seems ridiculous that the league would consider barring them from competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Could the NHL honestly sacrifice such great exposure of its talent in the U.S. just to keep its league schedule intact? The answer is a resounding no.
The NHL was forced to make some changes to its normal operating schedule due to the 2010 Winter Olympics, where the league had to stop playing games for almost all of last February. This forced the league to start the 2009-10 season one week earlier in October and to let the Stanley Cup Finals end later in June as well. The All-Star Game was also eliminated from the schedule, which would have taken place in late January. The NHL’s problem with these changes was that all 30 teams would lose out on almost a month’s revenue from ticket sales and fan’s purchases of merchandise and concessions at games. These are all valid concerns, however none of them come without a reasonable fix. These small problems surely do not provide enough reasoning to keep players out of the Olympics in order to keep the schedule running as usual. In today’s day and age, hockey ratings need to be what is most important to the NHL.
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A three-week break from playing will not hurt the NHL as the Olympics showcase the league’s stars and will bring more fans to the sport. The league has become more and more popular and the Olympics will only help bring in more fans, and in turn, more money. The All-Star Game on Versus has seen increased ratings in recent years, although it severely pales in comparison to the NHL’s premiere regular season event, the Winter Classic (0.8 and 2.9 overnight, respectively). Why would the league keep its players out of the Olympics when they have seen the disparity in ratings of cable versus broadcast network games as NBC airs both the Winter Classic and the Olympics? Let alone that the Olympic tournament comprises several competitive games and that the All-Star Game is just one exhibition game with an unrealistic amount of goals. In fact, the NHL could have decided to keep the All-Star Game in 2010 considering that next year’s game is scheduled to be on January 30, 2011. Having an earlier start and a later finish should be a non-factor in the decision to let NHL players go to Sochi in 2014. There is no reason good enough to keep NHL players out of the Olympics.
NHL players need to be in the Olympics to help the league’s popularity going forward and it is ridiculous that the league itself would not allow this increased rating potential. Hockey needs more games like the 2010 Vancouver gold medal game, a contest with an American audience larger than the 2009 Masters, the Daytona 500, NBA Finals, NCAA basketball final, World Series, and the 2010 Rose Bowl. Games and ratings like that will bring the NHL to new heights of popularity in America and let’s face it, the league needs it.
TV Ratings and Dates were found at:
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