NHL commissioner: League not close to decision about participating in 2014 Sochi Olympics

Bettman: NHL not close to 2014 decision

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The NHL might not decide until at 2012 or later whether it’s going to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Thursday no decision is imminent about possibly shutting down for two weeks to accommodate an Olympics in which some games would be played in the middle of the night in North America, thus affecting TV viewership and interest.

Before the NHL makes up its mind, a collecting bargaining agreement between owners and players must be negotiated — the current deal expires after the 2010-11 season — and American TV rights must be awarded. Bettman said the decision could be several years off.

“There will come a point in time where we have to make a decision, but we went to Torino (in 2006) at the last second,” Bettman said.

The NHL didn’t sign off until those Olympics until about a month after a labor agreement reached in July 2005 ended a one-season shutdown.

The International Ice Hockey Federation dreads the thought of an Olympics without Alex Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby, with president Rene Fasel all but pleading with the NHL to take part. The NHL is appearing in its fourth consecutive Olympics, starting in 1998.

“This is the pinnacle,” Fasel said at a joint news conference with Bettman. “For our game, our fans, Gary, we need you, 100 percent. … I think we can play without the participation of the NHL players, the game of hockey is the game of hockey, but we need to have them here.”

Fasel argued that the league takes a five-day break for its All-Star game during non-Olympic years, and that adding another week or so every four years shouldn’t be a major handicap.

Bettman cautioned the decision can’t be made hastily, citing concerns about not playing games at a time when fan interest is peaking and playoff momentum is building.

“It’s clear from 30,000 feet, being here for two weeks as part of the Olympic experience, it’s all good,” said Bettman, who met Wednesday with Fasel and IOC president Jacques Rogge for general discussions about NHL participation. “You do have to take a step back at ground level and look at the impact on our season.”

Ovechkin, one of the NHL’s signature stars, is threatening to play in Sochi no matter what the NHL does. Bettman said it is much too early to talk about what the league might do about a player who abandoned his team at midseason.

“I don’t think I’m going to bother addressing what we would do in the event we make that decision until we actually make that decision,” Bettman said. “Let’s deal with the first issue first, and then we’ll worry about what flows from that.”

This Olympic tournament is being called the most talent-heavy in Olympic history, with an infusion of younger players such as Crosby and some of the sport’s aging stars — Jaromir Jagr, Peter Forsberg, Teemu Selanne — still competitive.

Bettman said the glow of Vancouver won’t necessarily affect any decision about Sochi, which offers far different logistics than a North American Olympics, including travel and television.

“Being in Vancouver, being in Canada, with Canada’s game, was always a no-brainer,” Bettman said.

NHL owners are concerned about turning over more $2.1 billion worth of players, the estimated contract values of those playing in Vancouver, to a governing body other than their own in the middle of the season. The NHL also doesn’t dictate when games are played and who televises them during the Olympics.

NBC, for example, farmed out nearly all of the men’s games in Vancouver to MSNBC and CNBC.

“When I point out these things, it’s not to say, ‘No, we’re not going to go,’ but we have a multibillion dollar business we’re responsible for,” Bettman said.

Moving hockey to the already crowded Summer Olympics isn’t a consideration, Fasel said, because the Winter Olympics are designed specifically for sports competed on snow and ice.

While Russia’s growing Kontinental Hockey League is luring some players away from the NHL, Bettman said that won’t play a role in whether the NHL goes to Sochi. Bettman also confirmed the NHL and the IIHF are discussing a possible World Cup involving as many as six to eight countries; the last was played in 2004.