NHL absent from the Winter Olympics "for money"?

[Global Times reporter Chen Xiang Xu Haike] The North American Professional Hockey League (NHL) officially announced on the 22nd that its players will give up participating in the Beijing Winter Olympics due to the new crown epidemic. This is the second time that the NHL will miss this event after the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. The withdrawal of star players has not only reduced the attention of the Winter Olympic hockey program a lot, but also caused controversy within the NHL league.

"Participating in the Winter Olympics does not bring economic benefits"

The Associated Press said the NHL league has informed the players' union that they will exercise their right to withdraw from the Winter Olympics as the epidemic that is spreading in North America is causing substantial damage to the season.

Such news is not unexpected. Two days ago, ESPN revealed that the NHL League would avoid a full regular season shutdown at all costs. In September, the NHL League, the NHL Players' Union and the International Olympic Committee reached an agreement to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics, but the epidemic in the United States worsened again this month, making efforts futile. A week ago, the NHL tried to re-implement a strict epidemic prevention system, including daily testing and restrictions on player gatherings, but as many as 50 games have been postponed so far. The NHL had to adjust its schedule to ensure that 82 regular season games were fully played, and the three-week suspension that was scheduled to make way for the Winter Olympics in February was ruined. The Associated Press said that keeping the regular season is the bottom line of the NHL, and participating in the Winter Olympics cannot directly bring economic benefits to the league or players.

The absence of the NHL will greatly reduce the viewing of the men's ice hockey game at the Beijing Winter Olympics, and the probability of the United States and Canada winning the championship will also drop a lot. The champions of the last Winter Olympics, Russia, are still the biggest favourites to win the championship, and they rely more on domestic leagues to cultivate local strength.

Player: It's very unfortunate

Can't come to Beijing to participate in the Winter Olympics, many NHL players are not happy. Winnipeg Jet goalkeeper Connor Hellebuck, who was expected to start the U.S. team, considered the NHL's extensive postponement of the game "overkill" and the result of delaying participation in the Winter Olympics. Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sydney Crosby, who won the Winter Olympic gold medal twice for Canada in 2010 and 2014, was expecting a final Olympic appearance next year to bring his national team career to a successful end, but now his wish has been disappointed, and he is sad, "Such opportunities are rare in a lifetime, but (exit) things happen." This is very unfortunate and I am extremely disappointed. ”

While there are still players who are lucky to think that the Beijing Winter Olympics may be postponed due to the epidemic, the IOC has made it clear that this will not happen. This means that NHL players will have to wait until 2026 if they want to participate in the Winter Olympics. That was especially brutal for Steven Stormus of the Tampa Bay Lightning. At the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, he bid farewell to the Canadian national team due to injury; at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, he was again missed due to the overall non-participation of the NHL. The greatest scorer in NHL history may not qualify for the Winter Olympics in his lifetime.

TELEVISION: Rebroadcast entertainment

After abandoning the Winter Olympics, there is still great uncertainty about whether the regular season that the NHL League is trying to keep will eventually be completed. At the moment, the epidemic is seriously affecting all professional sports leagues in North America, not just the NHL. NBA President Adam Xiaohua recently revealed in an interview with ESPN that at least 84 players from 20 teams in the NBA have been quarantined for triggering health and safety protocols, of which 90% of infection cases originate from the Olmikron variant strain. 97% of the NBA's players have completed full vaccinations, and 65% of players have received booster injections. Xiao Hua hopes that more players will play the reinforcement needle, and he also said that although the league has postponed 7 games so far due to the epidemic, the NBA does not plan to suspend the game.

In contrast to the major U.S. sports leagues that are comprehensively stepping up anti-epidemic measures, major league soccer (NFL) "does the opposite" - decided to reduce the frequency of testing for asymptomatic infected people who are vaccinated, and the NFL postponed three games last weekend. The NBA did not originally require vaccinated players to be tested, but will be tested every two weeks from Dec. 26. The NHL was previously tested every 3 days, but the latest requirement is to resume to once a day by January 17 next year.

The pandemic has also brought more blows. According to the Associated Press reported on the 21st, major league baseball (MLB) salaries this year are down 4% from the previous full season, and the total salary of $4.05 billion is a new low since 2015, which led to the first shutdown of MLB in nearly 25 years. In addition, frequent game postponements have also made the TV broadcaster miserable. TNT TV in the United States was originally scheduled to broadcast the NBA game between the Wizards and the Nets on the 21st local time, but had to temporarily rebroadcast other games due to game postponement. The station's broadcast of the NHL was even worse — too many games were postponed and had to be rebroadcast to entertainment. NBA officials said that this year's 5-game "Christmas War" is expected to be held on the same day, but the game time may change.