World Cup of Hockey coming in 2016?

[The Napkin]

espn link
LOS ANGELES -- The NHL and the players' union are deep in conversations about staging another World Cup of Hockey in two years.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday that the league and the NHLPA have held "very substantive discussions" recently about the return of the tournament, which hasn't been held since 2004.
 
Sportsnet says Toronto will host
LOS ANGELES — The World Cup of Hockey is expected to be held in Toronto when it is reborn in September 2016, Sportsnet has learned.
The NHL and NHL Players’ Association are currently working on the final details of an agreement that will fill out the international calendar for the next several years and believe that the Air Canada Centre is the ideal location to relaunch the World Cup, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.

 

[MoGator71]

This would be all kinds of awesome. The Canada Cup was amazing, in a perfect world the World Cup returns every four years and the kids get to play in the Olympics again.

 

[kenneycb]

First time somebody's won something in Toronto since the halcyon days of Joe Carter.

 

[Infield Infidel]

Would this need more than one venue? They could probably fill the Rogers Centre, and Ricoh Coliseum still seats enough for random Czech Rep vs. Latvia type games. 

 

[RSN Diaspora]

First time somebody's won something in Toronto since the halcyon days of Joe Carter.

 
Have we forgotten the Grey Cups of 2004 and 2012 already? 
 
In all seriousness, soccer has enough worldwide popularity to pull off Olympic soccer and a World Cup. Hockey doesn't, so I wonder why you would need two quadrennial hockey competitions.

 

[brienc]

 
Have we forgotten the Grey Cups of 2004 and 2012 already? 
 
In all seriousness, soccer has enough worldwide popularity to pull off Olympic soccer and a World Cup. Hockey doesn't, so I wonder why you would need two quadrennial hockey competitions.

I'm assuming that bringing back the World Cup would mean the end of NHL players in the Olympics. I can't imagine that Bettman and the owners are thrilled with the thought of shutting down the league for two+ weeks, to play a tournament that they don't profit off of, in South Korea.

My only gripe with the World (and Canada) Cup(s) is that it's hard to watch early season NHL hockey in October, after seeing the game played at it's highest level right before the season.

 

[RedOctober3829]

I'm assuming that bringing back the World Cup would mean the end of NHL players in the Olympics. I can't imagine that Bettman and the owners are thrilled with the thought of shutting down the league for two+ weeks, to play a tournament that they don't profit off of, in South Korea.

My only gripe with the World (and Canada) Cup(s) is that it's hard to watch early season NHL hockey in October, after seeing the game played at it's highest level right before the season.

You could say the same thing with basketball in the Summer Olympics.  High quality hockey is great to watch no matter the time of year.  I'll be just fine watching a WCOH(that's for you smas) before the season starts.  It might even make the quality of the NHL game better early as well.

 

[FL4WL3SS]

 
Have we forgotten the Grey Cups of 2004 and 2012 already? 
 
In all seriousness, soccer has enough worldwide popularity to pull off Olympic soccer and a World Cup. Hockey doesn't, so I wonder why you would need two quadrennial hockey competitions.

Worldwide, no, but there is enough international popularity that I think it works just fine. USA, Canada, Russia and the Viking states alone can support both events.