NHL to announce World Cup of Hockey at All Star Break
By Cory Buck
The NHL will reportedly announce the return of its World Cup of Hockey during All Star Weekend.
Rick Westhead from TSN reports that the NHL plans to announce the return of its World Cup of Hockey during the All Star break in Columbus, Ohio. The event first took place in 1996 and was last held in 2004, but had since been somewhat cannibalized by the Winter Olympics hockey tournament. Now, with speculation growing that the NHL is looking to get out of the Olympics, fans could still be treated to some international hockey played between professionals.
NHL and NHLPA will announce return of World Cup of Hockey during All Star break. Most compelling new tweak? Final is best-of- three.
— Rick Westhead (@rwesthead) January 17, 2015
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If and when Gary Bettman announces the move, he’ll likely say it’s because ‘the fans deserve another tournament’ or some such statement, but let’s be honest, this is about money. The NHL owners and players will stand to make millions from an international tournament that offers the league sponsorship control over the surrounding events, as opposed to the Olympics, where the league makes nothing.
While the NHL has ceased operations and sent its best players to participate in the Olympics since 1998, the move has clearly irked owners who watch their most precious commodities risk injury for something that brings no profit. The World Cup of Hockey is their compromise to such. Fans can still watch their favorite players skate for their home countries while the NHL can do what it does best: make millions off those fans.
Additionally, the location of the next two Winter Olympics games — South Korea in 2018 and Kazakhstan or Beijing in 2022 — offered an impetus for the NHL to fully explore a World Cup. The locations reportedly have little appeal for the league to throw weight behind.
Instead, the NHL hopes to create a marketing opportunity of its own possibly starting in the fall of 2016. There they could control the sponsors and the participants without dealing with an IOC that pinches them for access to footage of their own players in a tournament.
The World Cup of Hockey has previously been held twice before. The United States won the first tournament in 1996 while Canada won the most recent in 2004. All Star Weekend runs from January 22 to January 26 in Columbus, and once again it will feature teams selected by All Star captains.
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