LCS Hockey - NHL aims to market game internationally in Olympics

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NHL aims to market game internationally in Olympics
by Chris Foreman, Correspondent

The NHL, a league which has had extreme difficulties promoting itself outside of Canada, hopes to market itself to the world when the 1998 Winter Olympic Games commence in Nagano, Japan. Showcasing one of its most attractive aspects, its international appeal, the NHL will suspend regular season games from February 8 through February 24 to allow players to participate.

With professional football and baseball out of season, hockey has the opportunity to use the world as its stage to exploit its game and draw interest to the remainder of its regular season and playoffs. But, perhaps more important, to be in the position to explode at the launch of the new millennium.

A strong showing in the ratings could quickly elevate the NHL into a more prominent status in the United States. In the fourth year of a five-year national television contract with Fox and ESPN, the league could borrow a technique from hundreds of its players and place itself in a tremendous position for a fat, new agreement.

Hockey in the 1990s is, in a word, diverse. Competition for Guy, Mario and Wayne comes from names like Petr, Sergei and Teppo. The NBA has become an international gold mine, despite countries having a relatively new exposure to the game. Slowly, basketball is catching up in popularity around the world like it is in the United States, but as the 1994 Summer Games elucidated, the rest of the world has miles to come to stand on equal ground.

Hockey already has well-developed ties to countries in the former Soviet Union and Europe. Many of the league’s top stars are foreign to North America, and therefore foreign to much of the nation. Reciprocally, many of the American and Canadian stars are foreign to the rest of the world. This is the NHL s chance to introduce hockey to the world and finally seize some of the national and international spotlight.

The NHL will introduce the Japanese to its game with a tease designed to whet their appetites for the tournament. The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Vancouver Canucks will ring in the new season with a two-game series at Yoyogi Arena in Tokyo October 3 and 4.