It puts the game on the biggest stage and gets the most viewers. You can't put a price on that
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The Winter Olympics - Nov. 9, 2015 - Vol. 69, Issue 06 - Ken Campbell
IN ANY SPORT THESE days, it’s all about the eyeballs. Whether you’re talking about high definition TV, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV stick, Apple TV or any of the other multiple variations on the boob tube, nothing makes a statement like having people’s retinas glued to your product.
And there is nothing that achieves that objective more effectively than having the best players in the world playing against one another in the Olympics. It is indisputable, in fact, that the five-ring circus has drawn the largest audiences in the history of the sport in Canada and the United States. The Canada/World Cup, World Championship, Stanley Cup final and World Junior Championship pale so much in comparison that none of them even registers.
So why are NHL owners so dead-set opposed to their players participating in the biggest showcase in the world? Well, it has something to do with the risk their players run of being injured playing for free while the owners are still stroking the checks (see Tavares, John). Much of it has to do with the fact the NHL has little control over the proceedings and gets none of the profits, but that’s the price you pay for putting your athletes on the biggest stage where the spotlight shines the brightest.
For example, do you have any idea what hockey game has attracted the most American viewers ever? Well, it’s the final at the 1980 Olympics, which featured the plucky American college kids beating Finland for gold on the heels of knocking off the Soviets – one of the greatest teams the game has ever known. The game averaged 32.8 million viewers, nearly double the number for the 2010 gold medal game between Canada and the U.S. in Vancouver 30 years later. In Canada, the final at the 2010 Olympics attracted an average of 16.6 million viewers, which accounted for almost half the country. The game topped out at 26.5 million, which represents roughly 80 percent of Canada.
Four years later, the T.J. Oshie shootout game against Russia attracted 4.1 million viewers on NBCSN, which set a record for a live stream of a hockey game, until a couple days later when 4.6 million watched the U.S.’s semifinal loss to Canada. More importantly, there were more than 2.1 million unique users on “TV Everywhere,” an on-demand live streaming service. That total represented the highest number ever to that point, including the Super Bowl.
When Oshie thrilled the hockey world by scoring four goals on six shootout attempts against Russia in Sochi, he got a shoutout from President Barack Obama and gained 129,000 Twitter followers overnight. Oshie was the toast of the games, and his performance was singled out as one of the most memorable hockey moments in his country’s history. None of that happens if not for the Olympics.
The NHL has always trumpeted its claim hockey fans are among the most tech savvy, best educated and most financially well off of any who follow the four major sports in North America. When you have that many people wanting your product on that many platforms, it makes sense to keep putting them on the world’s biggest stage, no?
But that’s not the only reason why the Olympics are the best hockey tournament. From the Miracle on Ice to the Peter Forsberg stamp goal to the 2010 gold medal game that is regarded as one of the best ever played, the Olympics have the ability to supply moments of drama more compelling than any other.
If not for the Olympics, the NHL would be devoid of European talent. That might please the xenophobic among us, but it would have also robbed the NHL of some of the most skilled players ever. If not for the Olympics, there would have been little motivation for the Russians to use hockey and Olympic glory as a testament to their supremacy. And there would have been little motivation for countries such as Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic to follow suit.
The Olympics remains the only unsullied best-onbest hockey tournament in the world. It gives us moments like the ones provided by Anze Kopitar and Slovenia, one where every country is put on equal footing instead of being marginalized into a hodge-podge of players who have no common purpose, as with two of the teams in the World Cup of Hockey. It provides the world with a glimpse of the greatest game on the planet. And it needs to stay.