The NHL is riding the high of the 4 Nations Face-off tournament, with the league’s best-of international tournament bringing in millions of viewers. But despite the competition’s success, it’s not a guarantee that the league will bring the tournament back in the near future.
On The Rich Eisen Show on Monday, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that the league had a lot of thinking to do about where 4 Nations would fit in to a busy schedule of international events.
“The success has been so quick and overwhelming. We’ve got a lot of things to consider and sort out, including what our All-Star game looks like going forward,” Bettman said of the tournament. “But, look, it was all good.”
Bettman said that the 4 Nations was “a quick appetizer” to the next several years of international hockey, where the sport will alternate the winter Olympics and World Cup of Hockey every two years, starting with the 2026 Olympics in Milano Cortina. The NHL announced earlier this month that the World Cup, last held in 2016, would return in 2028 and every four years afterwards.
“We’re looking to do a full World Cup, like you see in soccer,” Bettman said, adding that they will look to host the tournament in Europe as well as North America.
When asked by Eisen if the 4 Nations tournament was a one-off, Bettman said that he didn’t know, but that Eisen was asking “the absolute right question.”
“I don’t have all the right answers yet,” Bettman said.
In a time where interest in All-Star games is flagging, 4 Nations has been hailed as a highly successful edition of showcasing league talent without sacrificing the quality of the game. 9.3 million people — more than any NHL broadcast — watched the final between the U.S. and Canada after a passionate, fight-fueled group stage matchup brought eyes to the tournament.
Bettman said that his staff had heard from staff members in other leagues, mostly congratulating them on the tournament’s success.
“We’ve experimented over the years,” Bettman said of tweaking the All-Star format. “This just took things to a new level.”
For years, the NHL prohibited players from participating in international competitions, pulling the players out of the 2018 and 2022 winter Olympics. The 4 Nations tournament was the first time in a decade that the U.S. and Canada met with a full roster of NHL All-Stars.
Bettman pointed out that many of the players on both squads have represented their home countries as part of the annual World Juniors youth tournament, or during those previous winter Olympics, where the participating countries sent a number of youth players.
“When it comes to representing their countries, our players frankly have been doing that since they were teenagers,” Bettman said. “So we knew that they would all be up for this event.”
Add to that an international affairs standoff, a chorus of fans booing the national anthem and a handful of fights, and the tournament rose to become a resounding success.
“There wasn’t any doubt that the passions were high. People came to play. And while we try to stay out of those geopolitical issues, there was a little bit of an overlay on that between the great neighbors and allies of Canada and the U.S. And so, I think it all came together,” Bettman said.
#NHL #commissioner #unsure #Nations #return #success #Weve #lot
