Insurance factoring heavily into decisions over NHL's 2018 Olympic participation
It’s hard to remember a time when the NHL did not let its players participate in the Winter Olympics. You’d have to go all the way back to 1994, at the Lillehammer, Norway games to see an Olympic ice hockey tournament that didn’t feature best-on-best competition.
The players love it. The fans love it. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) love it. The NHL? Not so much.
The league is currently in the middle of intensely deliberating its players’ availability for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. For NHL commissioner Gary Bettman there are a number of reasons to consider spurning international competition, but one of his biggest is a concern over insurance and travel costs.
Traditionally, the IOC and IIHF have joined forces to cover those bills for the NHL. Earlier his year though, the IOC announced that it would no longer be offering its finances to continue that arrangement. With the NHL not changing its stance and refusing to throw its hat in the rin(k)g, so to speak, the burden now falls squarely on the shoulders of the IIHF.
Thankfully that’s exactly what it has offered to do. It was announced this week that the IIHF has pledged to cover the full costs of NHL players’ insurance and travel, which will total between $10 and $20 million.
That development should have signaled the end of the participation debate, however, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is reportedly concerned about the IIHF’s ability to actually put up the money and to provide players with the standard of accommodation they are used to. The National Post has speculated that IIHF President Rene Fasel drew from funds that were designated for tournaments and player development.
There is no indication that any sort of resolution to this standoff is imminent. The deadline for the NHL to either agree or decline to participate in the Pyeongchang games is January 15, 2017.