NHL and IOC have “verbal agreement” for Olympic participation at Beijing 2022

Let's go! The 2018 Olympics were a joke!

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 2 years ago
NHL and IOC have “verbal agreement” for Olympic participation at Beijing 2022
Zuma Press

According to a report from NHL insider Frank Seravalli, the NHL, NHLPA and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) have made progress on Olympic participation for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.

Seravalli reports that the parties have a "verbal commitment" that would put the financial burden on the IOC to fund travel and insurance. These issues were reportedly a giant hurdle in getting the NHL and NHLPA to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeonchang, South Korea.

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A big stumbling block for the NHL in past Olympic negotiations has been the IOC's insistence on complete ownership and control of video footage of highlights. The IOC does not allow the NHL or any other entity to profit from footage from the Games or to use Olympic footage and trademarked material for self promotion. According to Seravalli, the IOC is much more open to negotiating these terms this time around.

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Frankly, the IOC needs to wake up and smell the coffee on this matter. By restricting access to video highlights, they're only hurting themselves more than helping themselves. I understand that the IOC has corporate partnerships that it needs to maintain, but the #1 objective of the IOC should be to get the athletes and the Games in front of as many eyeballs as is possible. If the NHL is going to be involved this time around and they're allowed to use Olympic broadcasts and trademarked material, they'll become the best partner that the IOC has ever had. Think about it: The NHL shuts down for two to three weeks every Olympics and what do they get from it? Nothing tangible, that's for sure. But if the IOC were to treat the NHL like a real partner, things suddenly open up a lot more. It then becomes a situation where it's in the NHL's best interest to promote the Olympics.

The truth is that it's time for the IOC to negotiate with the NHL and the NHLPA in good faith for the first time in history. If the 2018 Olympics showed us anything it's that the casual hockey fan, Hell even the hardcore hockey fan, simply doesn't care about the Olympics unless the best players are all represented. Here's hoping that the IOC and the NHL can finally hammer away at a legitimate partnership.