LOS ANGELES — NHL President Gary Bettman suggested Saturday that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has some fence mending to do before club owners will support league players participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Bettman, who said he is growing weary of discussing the matter, said the Olympics was discussed only briefly during the board of governors meeting before Sunday’s NHL All-Star Game. “The issue of the Olympics got a 10-second discussion” Bettman said.
Since the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, the NHL has shut down its season in February every four years and allowed players to compete for their homelands, risking injury to top talent to grow the sport worldwide.
“The biggest hurdle is the concern about the disruption to the season, the compressed schedule, and a whole host of other things we have to talk about” said Bettman.
The NHL and IOC have been unable to come to terms on having the world’s best players competing in Pyeongchang, South Korea in just over 12 months.
Besides the logistics involved in shutting down operations in mid-season for a two-week period, the two sides have been unable to agree on costs of travel and insurance — bills the IOC has paid since the 1998 Winter Games.
The IOC spent about $14 million to cover travel and insurance for NHL players for the 2014 Sochi Olympics. “We said from the outset that if they are not going pay the expenses then we don’t even have to think about this” Bettman said.
“A bunch of clubs didn’t give it much thought until the IOC said they weren’t going to pay. Now they are saying, ‹If that is how they value our participation then why are we knocking ourselves out.’
“When the IOC said they didn’t think it was worth it, it opened a whole can of worms.”
Bettman also said Saturday there are no plans to get rid of the controversial instigator penalty.
The penalty is awarded to players who start fights with their opponents. But some current and former players say it works as against the league by allowing antagonists to take liberties with rival star players without having to face repercussions.
The recent documentary “Ice Guardians” made a strong case for keeping enforcers in the sport rather than try to eliminate fighting entirely. The documentary pointed out that star players like Sidney Crosby and Eric Lindros suffer more concussions than NHL enforcers.
Bettman said Saturday if you took out the instigator penalty, it would just encourage more fighting, which the NHL is trying to reduce. “There is no debate on it. We like the rules the way they are” Bettman said. “I inherited the instigator rule. I don’t see any problem with the way it has worked. We are not looking to encourage more fighting.”
Bettman also dismissed the idea the NHL might follow other pro sports leagues and allow advertisements on their jerseys. “It would take an unusual set of circumstances for us to even be able to think about it” he said. “We are not looking to put advertising on our sweaters.”
He defended the use of instant replay during games and said other sports are following their lead in thinking of ways they can help the officials make the correct calls. “We have the best instant replay system in the business” he said. “Other leagues have gone to school on us.” — AFP
