Will Olympics hockey boost the NHL?

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The 2010 Vancouver Olympics hockey final, with the US losing in overtime to Canada, heightened the sport's profile. Will the NHL benefit?

The phenomenal showing of the US and Canadian teams in this year’s winter Olympics could give the struggling National Hockey League a much needed boost.

Canadian star Sidney Crosby, who scored the winning goal against the US during overtime of Sunday's gold-medal game, and US goalie Ryan Miller have become household names during the 13-day games. Each will return to his NHL team this week – Mr. Crosby to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Mr. Miller to the Buffalo Sabres – along with their 44 other teammates, all of whom are also NHL players.

“There’s a good chance that there’ll be some at least short-term positive effect,” says Andrew Zimbalist, an economist at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. “It could entice people to spend some more [time] with hockey.”

In Pictures: Top 12 inspiring Olympics moment

The league has been struggling with low viewership in recent years, especially after stalled negotiations over the league’s salary cap shut down the 2004 season.

Versus, the sports network that airs weekday NHL games in the US, has averaged about 278,000 viewers per game this season. In that respect, there is much room for improvement.

Despite the success of its players in Vancouver, the NHL remains undecided about whether to continue to allow players to participate in future Olympics. The league has to take a two-week hiatus in the middle of its season to accommodate Olympic scheduling and though players’ salaries are insured in case of injury, there’s no way to mitigate the losses a team might experience were one of its star players to suffer a serious injury during the Games.

"It's clear when you look at these Games from 30,000 feet, it's all good, but you do have to take a step back on ground level and look at the impact on our season," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters during the Games

"From an ownership standpoint, in the middle of the season, we would just as soon skip it," says Rocky Wirtz, owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, in an interview with the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. "It doesn't add any more to our sport."

If the NHL is able to capitalize on the success of the Olympics, it’s possible the gains would only be short term.

“It depends on how the league builds on [the Olympics],” says Mr. Zimbalist. Coming out of the close of the games, they have a “small opening” to attract new fans.

But hockey is a “second-class professional sport in the US,” says Zimbalist, suffering in comparison to the popularity of other sports like football, baseball, and basketball. And the success of 1980 US hockey team against Russia – the so-called "miracle on ice" – didn’t change that.

This Olympics benefited from stellar US and Canadian teams, as well as being able to air games live in prime time because of the little or no time difference for viewers in the US. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia will suffer from an 8- to 11-hour time difference for American viewers.

The decision on whether NHL players will travel to Sochi won’t be made until the league and the players sit down to negotiate the NHL's next collective bargaining agreement, which expires after next season.

Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/new-economy/2010/0301/Will-Olympics-hockey-boost-the-NHL

USA vs. Canada: Is this heaven? No, it's Olympic hockey

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USA's 5-3 upset of Canada showcased everything that is good about hockey – and made a case for why NHL players should come back for the Winter Olympics in 2014.

Vancouver, British Columbia

After this, can National Hockey League owners actually follow through on their threat to take players out of the 2014 Olympics?

Sunday, many Americans watched probably the most exciting game of hockey that they have – and perhaps will – ever see in their lives.

To those who were watching in 1980: You are, of course, excepted. But in the post-cold war world, this is about as good as it is bound to get.

True, no medal was at stake, and Canada will live to play the Germans Tuesday. But the United States’ 5-3 win over Canada Sunday, while no miracle, was miraculous hockey. And in the spirit of a growing rivalry between neighbors, it will surely count almost as much as a medal.

Back in America, do people understand the enormity of what just happened here?

Canada's Mardi Gras

Sunday, Beattie Street in Vancouver looked like the French Quarter, which could be the first time since the establishment of the New World that Canada could be mistaken for New Orleans.

Earlier this month in Miami, the Super Bowl had the feel of vacuum-sealed excitement, something pre-packaged and fed to the masses with Bud Light commercials. It was an excuse for a week-long party, with a football game at the end of it.

Sunday morning in Vancouver was a spontaneous national celebration emanating from Canada’s deep cultural connection to a single sport. The anticipation of this game flushed the streets of Vancouver Canada-red. Thousands upon thousands of hockey sweater-wearing partisans spread like an autumn maple leaf across the city.

What could be seen in Canada Hockey Place was but the minutest fraction of what animated the city and country beyond its walls.

This made Sunday’s game extraordinary. But so, too, did the hockey.

It was a game as advertised – a cross-border bout of Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots on ice. Canada, with its superior skill, pummeled the American net with pucks. But, built to do all the little things right – and to thank their stars and stripes that they have Ryan Miller in goal – America not only hung on but counterpunched. And hard.

Never, in 60 minutes of slugfest hockey, did Canada hold the lead.

The ultimate advertisement

Does the NHL inspire like this? In fact, as games near the moment when the steward of the Stanley Cup puts on those silly white gloves, it sometimes comes close.

Anyone who saw the showdown between Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin in last season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs will know that the Olympics do not hold a monopoly on hockey that stirs the soul.

But guess what? If Sidney Crosby and Canada beat a weak German team Tuesday, who will they face? Alexander Ovechkin and Russia.

The NHL should buy that three-hour time slot and promote it as the best possible advertisement for the game of hockey.

There is, of course, logic behind why NHL owners don’t want to shut down the league for two weeks every four years. The Olympics return their players worse for wear, and – with the exception of Salt Lake – the Olympics have done little to sell hockey in the US.

The Games in Nagano came and went well past beddy-by for most Americans, and Turin, well, was Turin. Inspiration came only in small drops.

But 2014 is in Sochi – that would be Russia. Do you think Russia won’t be excited by Olympic hockey?

The fact is, Olympic hockey, while perhaps not the best hockey (teams come together only a day before the tournament starts), is hockey in its purest form: passion, skill, and skating.

Is this hockey heaven? No, it’s the Olympics.

Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Olympics/Olympics-blog/2010/0222/USA-vs.-Canada-Is-this-heaven-No-it-s-Olympic-hockey