In Part 2, I am going to discuss some of the issues that are prevented NHL participation at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, and I’m going to make very very early predictions for qualifying, group stage, and playoff rounds.
Obviously, like many things in life, the main issue in this case is money. The NHL doesn’t want to cover the costs of travel, accommodations and insurance for their players. The amount of money the NHL would lose for a 2 week shut down would surpass the costs that would come with sending players to the Olympics. So it’s understandable on that front why the NHL is against covering the costs because when it boils down to it, they would lose money.
The cost for travel, accommodations, and insurance was around 20 million USD for the 2014 Olympics, which was covered by the International Olympic Committee.
The other main issue here has to do with the NHL wanting to have “top sponsor status” for the Olympics. A deal with the IOC would essentially give the NHL additional marketing considerations, and would allow for the use of certain Olympic content on it’s own platforms.
A deal like that is something the IOC is not interested in currently.
The IOC claims they’re a non-for-profit organization, but they bring in billions of dollars from sponsorship and media rights deals for every Olympics, and basically they want to have the world’s best hockey players preform on their stage, for free.
If the IOC brings in billions from each Olympics, why can they not cover the 20 million USD cost for travel, accommodations, and insurance if they want to have the best hockey players at their event? Something will have to budge on either side. With the rate of inflation considered, it would cost 21.6 million USD, up from the 20 million in 2018, and with the games a little under 20 months away, it’s safe to say that number could push anywhere from 22.5 to 23 million USD. I’m curious if they can come to some sort of agreement where the NHL pays 25%, IIHF pays 25% and IOC pays 50%.
The good news is that the IOC, IIHF, NHL, and NHLPA met in New York City back in February to discuss the NHL’s issues, but I cannot find any details on how those meetings went. But the fact that they were meeting alone is very good news.
Now it’s time for my predictions for the 2022 Winter Olympics, starting with the Final Qualifying round. The group winner (in bold) qualifies for the Olympics.
Group 1: Slovakia, Austria, Belarus, Poland.
Group 2: Latvia, France, Hungary, Italy.
Group 3: Denmark, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia.
If my qualifying round predictions become true, these are what the groups would look like for the 2022 Olympics (IIHF ranking in brackets):
Group A: Canada (1), USA (6), Germany (7), China (32).
Group B: Russia (2), Czech Republic (5), Switzerland (8), Denmark (12).
Group C: Finland (3), Sweden (4), Slovakia (9), Latvia (10).
My group stage predictions (playoff ranking in brackets):
Group A: Canada (1), USA (5), Germany (7), China (12).
Group B: Russia (2), Czech Republic (6), Switzerland (8), Denmark (11).
Group C: Finland (3), Sweden (4), Slovakia (9), Latvia (10).
Now here are my playoff predictions (game winners in italics)
Qualification Round
(5) USA vs (12) China.
(6) Czech Republic vs (11) Denmark.
(7) Germany vs (10) Latvia.
(8) Switzerland vs (9) Slovakia.
Quarter-finals
(1) Canada vs (8) Switzerland.
(2) Russia vs (7) Germany.
(3) Finland vs (6) Czech Republic.
(4) Sweden vs (5) USA.
Semi-finals
(1) Canada vs (5) USA.
(2) Russia vs (3) Finland.
Bronze Medal Game
(3) Finland vs (5) USA.
Gold Medal Game
(1) Canada vs (2) Russia.
Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, and Nathan Mackinnon are going to be too much for teams to handle as Canada will win their 3rd Olympic Gold medal in the last 4 tournaments.
Thank you to everyone who has read my blog, and shared my posts over the past month. I didn’t really expect much when planning and starting up this blog but the support has been great, so thanks again. Stay tuned for the final part of the 3 part Olympic series coming on Friday!
-Cooper.