The NHL’s recent decision to not shut down the league in order to make it possible for its players to play in the 2018 Olympics and represent their respective nations has generated quite the stir around the hockey world. Players have spoken out against it, and the NHLPA is threatening to have the decision come back to haunt the league in future labor negotiations. There is no shortage of opinions on the subject, it seems. But the decision has managed to fly under the radar in the United States.
A survey conducted by Mainstreet Research asked 1,000 Americans about the NHL’s recent stance against the Olympic hockey tournament and found that 62 percent of those surveyed either didn’t know about the decision or were not sure about it. That number should not be too surprising, considering where hockey falls in the pecking order of the main sports in the country. The NFL is a clear No. 1, followed by baseball and basketball, and hockey trailing in a somewhat distant fourth place (but still ahead of other sports like soccer).
Those who follow the NHL closely in the United States will clearly have a more definitive reaction to the league’s decision, and we know that has been the case already, but more than half of those 1,000 people surveyed having essentially no reaction to the decision tells you all you need to know about the NHL’s Olympic ruling in the USA.
“Americans are essentially split, with 18 percent saying it was a good decision and 20 percent saying it was a bad decision,” the survey said. “That may be the reason the NHL felt it could make this move in the first place. The American market is much larger than the Canadian one.”
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Hockey may be the top sport in Canada but over the years, the NHL has shown it has a much more vested interest in the game below the border in the United States. There is no other way to explain all of the expansion projects that have moved the game more south over time, with the lone exception being a move to Winnipeg after a failed run in Atlanta. Las Vegas? You’re up!
Naturally, the reaction has been much more informed and divided in Canada. The same survey asked 1,500 residents in Canada the same question. The responses showed 62 percent of Canadians answering questions thought the NHL was making the wrong decision regarding the Olympics.
