Confirmation that NHL players will be competing in Olympic Hockey in Sochi, Russia next February eliminates at least one of the major questions surrounding the 2014 Winter Games. The other – who plays goal for Canada – remains a trickier question.
The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association confirmed on Friday that they had reached a deal with the International Ice Hockey Federation and International Olympic Committee (IOC) to bring the world’s best hockey players to the Olympics for a fifth time. Between 160 and 180 NHL players are expected to participate.
While most observers felt that the NHL’s participation in hockey-crazed Russia was a foregone conclusion, the official confirmation is welcome news for the CBC as it looks to sell Olympic sponsorship packages in advance of the February Games.
The absence of NHL players from Sochi would have likely had a profound negative impact on ratings for the Games. An average audience of 16.6 million people watched Canada defeat the U.S. in the gold medal game at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games, a game featuring many of the world’s best players.
“To have the NHL’s best players compete in Sochi is what everyone was hoping for, so today’s announcement is great news for CBC and, more specifically, hockey fans across the county,” said CBC spokesperson Chuck Thompson.
Outside of Russia – and perhaps Scandinavian nations like Sweden and Finland – the absence of the NHL from Olympic competition would have been felt most acutely in Canada.
“As far as the Winter Olympics goes for Canadians, men’s hockey is by far the marquee sport,” said Bob Stellick of Toronto-based sports marketing firm Stellick Marketing & Communications. “It has to be a huge relief for CBC – as a ratings driver – to have NHL players back into the Olympics equation.
“The idea of creating [what are] essentially NHL all-star teams with known combatants really works for Canadian hockey fans,” said Stellick. “And don’t discount the value of our teams’ great record at the tourney. If Canada was gold-less in the past three Olympics, the equation might change significantly.”
Kaan Yigit of Toronto-based Solutions Research Group called it a “money-in-the-bank” moment for the CBC, which has been reeling from recent crises such as the Radio-Canada rebranding fiasco and the departure of high-profile executives such as programming head Kirstine Stewart.
“All of a sudden their sales team will have a spring in their steps with increased advertiser interest,” he said. “A good property becomes gold from a viewing standpoint. There are very few sure things left on network TV these days, but this kind of event is one of them.”
Judy Davey, executive vice-president, activation for ZenithOptimedia in Toronto, said there was “no doubt” that NHLers would ultimately be permitted to compete in Sochi. “I’m a cautious person, but I would have bet my house on this,” she said.
“They’ve been talking for a long, long time,” she added. “It should have happened earlier, so that may have been cause for a little bit of stress… but it was nothing I didn’t expect.”
Davey said that while clients buy Olympic advertising across the entire two weeks (as opposed to cherry-picking marquee events like hockey and figure skating) the lack of NHL participation could have adversely impacted ad sales.
“For clients that have more of a male focus, it would not have been a great thing,” said Davey. “There are other great sports in the Olympics that attract a female audience, but hockey is the best thing about [the Games], so it could have had a negative impact.”
The big question for the IOC in the future, she said, is what happens if the 2018 Games are held outside of a hockey hotbed. “That gives the NHL more leverage with the IOC, to say ‘Pay us, or we’re not coming,’” she said.
