NHL embracing return to Olympics after 12-year absence

The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan will mark the first time in 12 years that NHL players will return to the Games, something NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is expecting to have a big effect on the league.

“Ultimately, in terms of balancing the pros and cons, we decided it was important to go back and be on what is one of the most visible platforms in the world,” Bettman said at CNBC Sport and Boardroom’s Game Plan conference in Santa Monica, California, on Tuesday.

Prior to Bettman being named commissioner in 1993, NHL players had not participated in the Olympics. After seeing firsthand the effect that Olympic player participation had on the NBA, Bettman said, the league and the NHL Players’ Association worked to have the players participate starting in 1998.

But that participation stopped after the 2014 Sochi Games, which Bettman said was a reflection of the evolution of the business of the league and the sports industry in general.

“It was a bit of a mixed bag,” Bettman said of the NHL’s participation in the Olympics. “Even though we were shut down for two weeks, our players were treated like invited guests,” he said, adding that the league and its teams “had no control over anything; we didn’t have the rights to promote ourselves.”

There were also competition challenges as well, given the number of players some teams were sending.

Part of what drove the NHL back to the Olympic ice was a shift in that relationship. The NHL and NHLPA’s new deal with the IOC changes some aspects of their commercial arrangement and also upgrades the players’ living conditions while at the Games.

But Bettman also noted it came down to the desire from the players to play best-on-best at a national level, something that was highlighted in the league’s successful 4 Nations Face-Off tournament earlier this year.

“It became clear to me that it was important to our players, who have a history and tradition of representing their countries,” he said.

The NHL will stop play for nearly two weeks this season, and Bettman said Olympic participation “won’t be without its difficulties.” The NHL has not yet formally guaranteed its players will participate in the 2030 Games.

“But on balance, it should be worth it,” he said.

Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2036.