NHL postpones Ice Hockey World Cup from February 2024 to 2025
The brightest and loudest hockey tournament of national teams, in which the main stars of the planet abound, was postponed for a year. About the reasons for the foreseen decision of the NHL – in the material of RIA Novosti Sport.
The National Hockey League has decided to postpone the World Cup. The tournament, which was originally supposed to take place in February 2024, is expected to be held a year later. Currently this date has not been confirmed – the NHL World Cup project is only in the planning stages.
Why did the Americans decide to postpone the tournament?
The answer lies on the surface. It is clear that the NHL has difficulties in preparing an application for the participation of the Russian team. League commissioner Gary Bettmen and his deputy Bill Daly said this even before the matches between Colorado and Columbus at the NHL Global Series in Finland. The league brought up the same issue in its last game. Declaration About the transfer of the trophy.
National Hockey League Commissioner
The NHL officially announced its World Cup plans in August. Information about the leadership of the league and the first negotiations within the players’ association spread much earlier – at the beginning of the year. In connection with the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, the NHL broke off all diplomatic relations with Russia, and at the same time the invitation of the Russian team to the tournament aroused great suspicion. On the one hand, the NHL feared that if the Russians were accepted, other national federations would boycott, on the other hand, a commercial failure.
The league is well aware of the importance of Russia as a hockey power. The fact of the huge influence of Russian players in the NHL is indisputable – many of them are their main stars. No need to list their names, they all shine in the ratings of the best snipers, assistants, scorers and champions of the championship. Roughly speaking, refusing to use these stars simply because of their nationality would mean undermining the sporting value of the tournament and forfeiting most of the profits from the sale of TV rights and match tickets. The last adult World Ice Hockey Championships under the auspices of the IIHF clearly showed what Russia threatened to ban.
“Isn’t it possible to include the Russians in the European team or to create a team consisting only of Russian NHL players?” – This question comes up regularly among fans. Probably, the leadership of the NHL thought about this, but there is no development of the matter. Firstly, the Russian hockey players themselves, even if they have a great desire to play in the World Cup, in fact, will not leave their national team, and the league will somehow listen to the opinions of blocks like Alexander Ovechkin. The NHL already owes the Russian stars two Olympics.
Second, much of it is again based on commerce. The organizers of the World Cup are aware of how great the interest in the tournament will be among spectators from Russia. It is naturally profitable to sell the broadcasting rights of the league to our country. Now we recall that the NHL stopped the official broadcast of its matches on Russian channels.
Relations between Russia and North American hockey are not expected to warm up until 2025. The Russian side is open to dialogue and has a positive attitude, the stick is in the hands of the NHL.
Source: Ria
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