The NHL's participation in the 2002 Salt Lake Games
"remains probable" but not a lock, according to Jeff Schultz
of the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman
is still waiting to hear the coverage plans by NBC for the
games, but NBC Sports VP/Sports Information Ed Markey said,
"We're not close to making any programming decisions on Salt
Lake City. We're still working on Sydney." Schultz:
"Bottom line: The NHL will have to make its decision without
the benefit of a programming guide" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION,
12/12). One source, on the NHL's request for primetime
coverage: "The NHL isn't asking for the world, just
something higher than its Third World status at Nagano." In
Toronto, William Houston wrote to "look" for the NHL and its
players to participate in Salt Lake (GLOBE & MAIL, 12/12).
OFF-THE-ICE: In N.Y., Sherry Ross wrote that the NHL
"contends it make little sense to spend promotional money
trying to lure [the] disenfranchised NBA audience because
its demographics are different from hockey's. So the NHL's
market research reveals its core audience is ... what?
Hockey fans? Does it make any more sense to sell the game
to people who are already in the building?" (N.Y. DAILY
NEWS, 12/13)....In Canada, MP Dennis Mills, Chair of the
Subcommittee on the Study of Sport In Canada, is "disowning"
a recommendation in his Mills report which calls for tax
breaks for NBA and NHL athletes in Canada. Mills: "It is
better to cut it loose because that in turn will put people
at ease who perceive it to be a tax preference." Mills said
it has caused too much "adverse publicity." Mills "still
hopes some of the recommendations will make their way into
the federal budget in February" (NATIONAL POST, 12/12).
