If this happens, then the same thing that heppened to baseball in the olympics will happen to hockey in the olympics, no one will care about it if the big name players aren't there. The IIHF World Cup in past years has been nothing short of awesome and spectacular to say the least, it's just never received the level of popularity here in America that it did in other countries and unless you're a true hockey fan in America you probably didn't watch it, the level of play in the World Cup is essentially the same as what you guys are seeing in the Olympics because pretty much every team is the same and stacked with NHL allstars.

 

World Cup? Olympics? Both, one or neither?

 

Those are the questions facing the NHL and its players union. The sides have differing views on which international tournament works best.

 

NHL Players Association Executive Director Ted Saskin said Friday it was "doubtful" that the World Cup of Hockey would be held in 2008. Contesting major international tournaments every two years is "frankly too much" and puts too much of a demand on NHL players, he said.

 

The NHL is committed to participating in the 2010 Olympics, which will be in Vancouver. But after that, it's very possible the NHL will withdraw its participation from the Games.

 

Though playing in the Olympics is popular with the union, both for the players who play in the games and the ones who get a couple of weeks off during the season, it hasn't been much of a commercial boon for the NHL.

 

The original goal behind shutting down the league and sending its players to the world stage was to create new NHL fans after the Olympics.

 

But the league received bad publicity after the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, because of the boorish behavior of the American team and the fact that regular-season NHL games bore little resemblance to Olympic hockey. The league tried it again in 2002 in Salt Lake City. Despite a U.S.-Canada final, the NHL faced questions of why the run-of-the-mill Columbus-Atlanta NHL game in February wasn't as exciting as Sweden against the Czech Republic.

 

The NHL may have to face the same reality that Major League Soccer is facing: There are no "casual" hockey fans, as there are for baseball, basketball and football. You're either a hockey fan, and thus willing to travel the variety of NBC channels to watch the games on weekdays, or you're not and never will be.

 

Hockey has yet to make an appearance on prime time on NBC and won't hit the main network until Saturday afternoon.

 

And the worst fears of NHL general managers were realized nine minutes into the Czech Republic's first game when goaltender Dominik Hasek went down with a leg injury.

 

Hasek has backstopped the Ottawa Senators to one of the best records in the NHL this season, but if he's out for a significant period of time, it could hinder the Senators' playoff hopes.

 

The Philadelphia Flyers also will be holding their breath in the next week now that Peter Forsberg, who has battled groin injuries all season, has decided to play for Sweden. The Flyers need a healthy Forsberg to bolster their Stanley Cup hopes.

 

The NHL would rather organize the World Cup, which is played before NHL training camps begin, allowing players who might get hurt more time to recover. The NHL also may realize more of a financial gain as well.

 

But participating in the World Cup cuts into players' off-seasons. Players are being paid by NHL clubs either for doing nothing or participating on national teams.

 

"I like both events, but what I like of the Olympics is that guys have been playing all year and they're at the top of their games," said Jarome Iginla, a Calgary Flames and Team Canada forward.

 

For his part, International Ice Hockey Federation President Rene Fasel is unwilling to concede the NHL might pull out after 2010. Without NHL players, hockey would likely lose most of its media coverage at the Games.

 

"It will be my goal to work day and night [to] keep the NHL and NHL players happy [so] they come and use that great opportunity to show up in front of the rest of the world," Fasel said.

 

But until the rest of the world starts buying tickets for NHL games, the league may have to put its own best interests ahead of the Olympics.

 

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...ack=1&cset=true

Well that would suck! I like the NHL in the oly.

Olympics > World Cup

 

When could you see the Hockey World Cup on TV like the Olympic Hockey games are.

When could you see the Hockey World Cup on TV like the Olympic Hockey games are.

 

 

Cape, for being such a media guru you really have no idea what you're talking about.

 

The past 3 IIHF World Cup of Hockey tournaments (1996, 2000, 2004) have been broadcast live on ESPN during primetime, sure as hell beats Olympic hockey games at 5:30AM on some obscure channel like the USA Network which nobody even knows about.

 

The 2008 WCH will be on whoever holds the American NHL broadcast rights, so I guess it would be broadcast by NBC just like the Olympics have been; the preliminary rounds will be on CNBC, MSNBC, USA, etc. with the championship game being on NBC.

It's going to be unpopular, but to see how Rutuu almost ended the Rangers' playoff hopes with one cheapshot kind of illustrates the NHL owners reasoning. I tend to disagree with the decision, but they have a valid reason.

When could you see the Hockey World Cup on TV like the Olympic Hockey games are.

 

 

Cape, for being such a media guru you really have no idea what you're talking about.

 

The past 3 IIHF World Cup of Hockey tournaments (1996, 2000, 2004) have been broadcast live on ESPN during primetime, sure as hell beats Olympic hockey games at 5:30AM on some obscure channel like the USA Network which nobody even knows about.

 

The 2008 WCH will be on whoever holds the American NHL broadcast rights, so I guess it would be broadcast by NBC just like the Olympics have been; the preliminary rounds will be on CNBC, MSNBC, USA, etc. with the championship game being on NBC.

OLN holds NHL cable rights, but 2007 is the last year of this deal. Plus in 2010 the Olympics will be in Vancouver, so times will not be obscure. The Cup will have similar issues if the games are in an extremely different timezone.

 

Another thing is in the USA, Olympic Hockey has better ratings and more history than World Cup action. I think the NHL will keep both BTW.

Good.

 

This Olympic break stuff sucks. I'd rather watch the CBJ.

It really doesn't matter to me, I don't watch the NHL or Lympic hockey.

Good.

 

This Olympic break stuff sucks. I'd rather watch the CBJ.

 

The Olympic break is good for some teams and bad for others. Like the Panthers, it gives us a very much needed few weeks off. Hopefully Niewy and Roberts will be fresh for a late season playoff push.