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NHL participation in Olympic Games reportedly in doubt

The NHL's board of governors approved the application of an as-yet unnamed Seattle team to join the league in time for the 2021-2022 season

The NHL's participation in future Winter Olympics is under threat in negotiations between the league and the International Olympic Committee, US media reported Saturday. ESPN.com reported that the NHL, the NHL Players Association and the International Ice Hockey Federation met last week, with the international governing body reporting that the IOC doesn't want to reimburse some of expenses previously paid for the North American league and players who took part in the Games. The IOC has helped cover expenses such as insurance for players and travel costs since NHL players began taking part in Nagano in 1998. The NHL's participation in future Games has been uncertain for some time, with commissioner Gary Bettman saying during the Sochi Olympics in 2014 that more negotiations were needed to decide if the league's stars would take part in 2018. League owners find it difficult to shut down competition for more than a fortnight in the middle of the NHL season and are also worried about injuries like the one suffered by Canada's John Tavares in Sochi. However, the NHL could work out a deal to play in the 2018 Games in South Korea and the 2022 Olympics in Beijing in a bid to expand interest in the sport in Asia.