"I think it's important for the Olympic Games to have the NHL," the president of the International Olympic Committee said on Thursday said during a telephone conference call. "That goes without saying.
"But also I think it's important for the NHL to have their stars shine in the Olympic Games. If you look at the audience of the final of the Olympic ice hockey tournament, it matches the final of the Stanley Cup. That is a good promotion for hockey in North America."
Unsurprisingly, Bill Daly, the NHL Deputy Commissioner, disagrees.
"I understand that's Mr. Rogge's point of view," Daly said in an e-mail to The Canadian Press. "It doesn't mean that point of view is necessarily shared by our owners or the league."
The NHL and the owners are not big fans of the long break in the season, nor do they get that good feeling when their star players are off getting injured during a tournament that has no effect on their team or the season. Right now, the league has not committed to allowing their players to participate in the 2014 Winter Games, something that has many players claiming they'll play no matter what.
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Every four years I tune into the Winter Olympics and I must say the 2010 Vancouver games have been very impressive. I think Canada has done a fantastic job of holding the Olympic Games and despite some bad news, the Games should be a great success. I regularly watch online sports so I am very excited by the Olympics this year. A number of sports sites listed at www.dozensports.com are saying that this year is the perfect year for skiing wherever in the world you are. At least something good comes out of the Big Freeze.
by onlinesports1 on Feb 20, 2010 6:42 AM EST reply actions
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