- Walsh says he would be shocked if the IOC and IIHF didn’t want NHL players in 2030
- The Milan gold medal game averaged 18.6 million U.S. viewers and peaked at 26 million
- Read below for what still has to be negotiated before the French Alps
Marty Walsh does not sound worried about getting NHL players to the 2030 Olympics. He thinks the IOC needs them more than the other way around.
The NHLPA executive director sat down with Chris Johnston of The Athletic in Munich and was asked whether the deal for the French Alps could collapse the way past Olympic negotiations have.
“I would be shocked if the IOC and the IIHF didn’t understand that they need us in the Olympics, because the ratings were off the charts,” Walsh said. “The president of the IOC (Kirsty Coventry) mentioned in a comment about ‘The Olympics helps the NHL with ratings.’ Yeah, but the NHL helped the Olympics with ratings. Let’s not (kid) ourselves. I think 20-something million people watched the gold medal game.”
He was in the right neighborhood. The United States and Canada averaged 18.6 million live viewers on NBC and Peacock, and 8.7 million were tuned to CBC when the game ended.
One number went higher than that. Take a look at what the golden goal pulled in:
Twenty-six million people were watching Jack Hughes win it in overtime, the largest U.S. audience on record for a sporting event starting before 9 a.m. ET. Puck drop came just after 8 a.m., which is why Gary Bettman later said the ratings “would’ve been twice as high” with an afternoon start.
None of that guarantees anything. NHL players sat out 2018 after five straight trips, and the 2022 plan died over COVID-19 concerns. Last year’s memorandum of understanding commits the league to 2030, but the clause reads “subject to negotiation of terms acceptable to each of the NHL, NHLPA, and IIHF (and/or IOC).”
Walsh laid out what those talks actually cover.
“We’ll get there. I’m not worried about that. The agreement is not about players playing in the Olympics; the agreement is all the other stuff that goes with it. Like accommodations and all that stuff.”
His calendar is already filling in. The 4 Nations Face-Off arrived in February 2025, Milan came a year later, and a revived World Cup of Hockey is booked for February 2028.
“’28 we have the World Cup, and our intention is to be at the ’30 Olympics,” Walsh said.
Europe is the other front. The league and the union have committed to regular-season games in Germany for three straight years, and the first two land Dec. 18 and Dec. 20 in Dusseldorf with the Senators and Blackhawks:
Roughly a third of the league’s players come out of Europe, and deputy commissioner Bill Daly has already said an outdoor game over there is coming as well.
France hosts the 2030 Games, and Walsh is planning on NHL players being on that ice.
