On Friday in Prague, the Chicago Blackhawks took on the Philadelphia Flyers in entrance of a sold-out crowd of 17,463. The sport was part of the NHL’s World Sequence initiative. With that success, the NHL is beginning to ponder the return of the World Cup of Hockey.
Initially, there was alleged to be a World Cup of Hockey held in 2020 however again in January, these plans had been slashed given the uncertainty of the Collective Bargaining Settlement (CBA). However with final month’s developments with each the NHL and the NHLPA declining to re-open the CBA, the World Cup of Hockey talks are again on the agenda.
World Cup of Hockey Defined
The World Cup of Hockey has formally been round since 1996 and is a global hockey event that has been performed on three events, 1996, 2006, and 2016. Eight groups initially made up the event with earlier winners being the USA (1996) and Canada (2006). In 2016 the NHL elected to go to a six-team format with Canada popping out because the winner.
Within the final World Cup of Hockey, 2016, tv rankings in the USA got here again favorably for the event with the USA-Canada recreation on ESPN drawing 766,000 viewers. On the time that might have been thought of above common for a regular-season recreation. From a income perspective, the estimated income of the final event was $40 million – a somewhat lackluster quantity for income and, general, the rankings weren’t that sturdy on tv, both. However, that is all part of the larger image.
With the CBA firmly closed till 2022, the NHL can now concentrate on its efforts to extend its world presence. The World Cup of Hockey goes to be simply a type of efforts.
Canada on the 2016 World Cup of Hockey (Bruce BennettPool Picture through USA TODAY Sports activities)
“I’ve talked in latest days about our ongoing discussions with the Gamers’ Affiliation on quite a lot of collective bargaining issues,” mentioned NHL Deputy Commissioner Invoice Daly on Friday. “Certainly one of them has been the worldwide calendar and sort of creating one, notably now that we have now some runway with a minimum of three years, and hopefully after we get to the tip of this course of doubtlessly longer, perhaps six or seven years, to construct out a global calendar. And (the) World Cup could be a part of that dialog.”
NHL Growth Check Runs
The NHL is seeking to push into new markets, and, with new markets in the USA and Canada turning into scarce, there’s a need to develop overseas. It is a matter that Daly has broached up to now as there’s solely a lot enlargement that may happen in North America.
The World Cup of Hockey and the opposite worldwide initiatives the NHL are placing on are check initiatives of kinds that might decide future league enlargement. Utilizing rankings, attendance, and different knowledge collected from the occasion and different world initiatives will enable the NHL to see precisely the place the product is hottest and hone in on these areas for future enlargement groups.
Canada and Group Europe face off within the 2016 World Cup of Hockey (Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports activities)
General the World Cup of Hockey had tough spots the final time round and was based mostly solely in Toronto, Canada. It’s unclear if the return of it additionally means a single base of operation state of affairs, or if the NHL will look to take a bit of little bit of threat and host it in a European market. Both approach bringing again the World Cup of Hockey is an effective way to see NHL gamers enjoying in a global format on condition that the Olympics have been off-limits for gamers within the league.
Both approach, the reintroduction of the World Cup of Hockey is nice information for followers. No timetable has been set but, and no official announcement has come out of the NHL, aside from the feedback made by Daly. With the earlier tournaments operating at 10-year intervals, this subsequent World Cup of Hockey shall be nicely in need of that earlier timing, however will assist fill the beforehand talked about Olympic void within the NHL.
