As World Cup of Hockey rosters are announced for all eight participating teams, the NHL made another significant announcement. Bill Daly and Don Fehr revealed that the next World Cup of Hockey is already scheduled to take place in 2020.
Bill Daly and Don Fehr say the World Cup is here to stay. Will happen every four years. Next one after September will be in 2020
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) March 2, 2016
The NHL has stated several times that they’re going “all-in” with the World Cup of Hockey, but it’s pretty bold to announce the next tournament before anyone can measure the success of the upcoming tournament in September. The event will likely do well, but it’d be a bit safer to wait and see how things go. What if there’s another lockout prior to the 2020 tournament? More on that later.
The league has high aspirations and envisions cities bidding for the tournament.
Daly says the expectation is that this will become a bidding process for future World Cups in terms of host cities pic.twitter.com/f1x0Rbdeo8
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) March 2, 2016
Before focusing on the second iteration of the new World Cup of Hockey, there are a ton of problems to address. Will the NHL participate in the Olympics? Does September make the most sense as far as scheduling goes? The latter question is apparently still being discussed internally.
Daly says it's been brought internally the idea of holding the event mid season like the Olympics in the future, but says not likely
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) March 2, 2016
The other topic is one the NHL won’t want to discuss – the ol’ CBA. The collective bargaining agreement expires on September 15, 2022. Even though the World Cup of Hockey would potentially be scheduled two years earlier, there’s a chance the CBA could come into play. The CBA has an opt-out clause which allows either side to terminate the agreement in 2019.
Via Yahoo Sports:
This CBA is a 10-year agreement, but both can choose to opt out after 8 years. The NHL will have first crack to do so by Sept. 1, 2019. If they decline, the NHLPA can decide to opt out by Sept. 19, 2019.
A potential Spring World Cup wouldn’t fair too well based on that timeline and the assumption that another lockout is coming.
Ideally, even a lengthy stoppage would hopefully be resolved before another World Cup of Hockey (one taking place in Fall of 2022), but they’d likely have to cancel or reschedule the event if the 2019-20 season is fully jeopardized.
Maybe the NHL should wait and see if there’s another lockout before they schedule a 2020 World Cup of Hockey?
