ELI5 - Why don't baseball players participate in the Olympics?

[brelic]

Or do they? I admit I know zero about baseball, football, and basketball. So, I know that pro basketball players had gone to the Olympics in the past. Do they still go now?

And has the Olympic discussion ever happened around baseball players?

I bring it up because there were a few interesting articles last week on philly.com about the NHL basically being silly to send its professional athletes to the games because it undermines its own value, it risks the safety of its players (i.e. multi-million dollar investments), and it completely disrupts the regular season.

I hope this is the last Olympics for the NHL. I was curious as to why other professional leagues did not participate.

Anyone?

[radoran]

Professional golfers, tennis players, hockey players, basketball players have played in the Olympics.

 

The primary reason baseball players don't is that the Olympics dropped the sport after 2008.

 

The Olympics for hockey are much more popular because of the wide range of athletes from across the world that play in the NHL (KHL, AHL, etc.).

 

It's important for a lot of players to play for their home country and important for a lot of countries (Canada included) to win the gold medal.

[ruxpin]

There's everything rad said.

 

Plus, MLB plays its game just about every night.  There is nowhere to go with their schedule as far as condensing the schedule. Because, more than any other team sport, baseball is a very statistics-driven sport, simply contracting the schedule to less games in an Olympic year would not be an option.  Plus, MLB wisely promotes itself as the top possible level in its sport.  I don't think shutting down its league so players can play elsewhere is compatible with that.

 

Basketball sends its people to the Olympics, but it does not interfere in any way with the league schedule.  Basketball season is through the winter and into June whereas summer Olympics are played in July-August (forget which one as I don't ordinarily watch any of it.)    The timing of the Olympics doesn't interfere with tennis' (or Golf's don't think) Grand Slam schedule, so it doesn't really interfere much with their schedule either.  It's just an added tournament every four years.

 

I realize this may--or may not--be an American point of view, but I do think it IS silly for a major sports league that wants to be legitimately considered the penultimate in its sport to close down its league for its players to participate in another tournament.  To me, it makes that league--by virtue of the obvious placement of priority--subordinate to that tournament.

 

I also think that it's extremely unwise, nearing malpractice, for a league to allow its under contract players to go play in a tournament mid-season and risk injury that affects their ability to then honor their ability to play for a team that is actually paying for their services and possibly affecting the outcome for that team's season, for that organization, its city, and its fans.  I realize that risk is involved somewhat for basketball, but at least it isn't altering circumstances mid-season.

 

I mean, just this week, we were considering the possibility of having one of the best players in the league come back for a league game as a "warm up" or "test run" to see if he could play in the Olympics.  That, to me, just screams "screwed up priorities" for the NHL.

 

I have always disliked the shutdown to play in the Olympics and hope this is the last time (I'm not holding my breath).  

[hf101]

From what I've read this likely will be the last Olympics for the NHL.  Insurance costs is one of the driving factors, Bettman has also stated that the league would prefer to hold a World Cup tournament in the summer.

 

The International Olympic Committee will pay around $8 million to insure the NHL athletes playing in Sochi. Team Canada made the call to not go out on the ice during their orientation camp because they didn't want to fork over the cash to insure a few light skates. The cost of doing business in the Olympics will continue to be an issue and it may get worse. "When you look at the insurance, it's not for Hockey Canada to control, as it's all about salaries," said Hockey Canada CEO Bob Nicholson. "When you look at salaries and what they were in 2002 compared to what they will be in 2014, the 47 players here will have over $1.5 billion remaining on their contracts. Insurance is always going to be an issue." Additionally the league wants to start up the World Cup again and it is a tournament that has more appeal to the NHL and its owners.   http://www.rotoworld.com/headlines/nhl/190564/could-sochi-be-the-nhls-last-olympics

[radoran]

From what I've read this likely will be the last Olympics for the NHL.  Insurance costs is one of the driving factors, Bettman has also stated that the league would prefer to hold a World Cup tournament in the summer.

 

Honestly, why not make it a "summer" winter Olympics and have the hockey in the off-season? It's not like the players participate in the opening or closing ceremonies, etc.

 

Because the "insurance issue" will be the same if these players are playing for a "World Cup" team as they would be for an "Olympic" squad - as would the risk of season- and career-ending injury to players not playing on the teams that they are under (guaranteed) contract to.

 

The main reason the NHL would want to run a "World Cup" because the league and owners want to make the money on it.