| 26 January 2010
The Canadian Press reported yesterday, that if the Team Canada men's hockey team reaches the podium during the Olympics, they are eligible to receive bonus cash. The Canadian Olympic Committee decided that any athlete who wins a medal should be eligible to receive the money, even if none of the Team Canada players are amateur athletes.
Canadian athletes will be awarded $20,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze. But unlike most sports, the hockey team are professional players with only 3 players that make less than $3.5 million US. The combined NHL salary of Team Canada comes in at $120 million based on this season.
"As you can imagine, there was considerable debate about whether or not athletes who professionally make a lot of money should be able to avail themselves of this,'' Rudge said Monday.
"Everyone was unanimous that if we were going to do a program, this is to say thank you and reward athletes for their performance at the Olympics. Every athlete should be able to have the opportunity to receive the money.
"We certainly understand how much money NHL players get, but they're going to spend a heck of a lot of money on getting their families and that there to watch them,'' said Nicholson.
"More importantly, they play at world juniors and men's worlds and we don't pay them any money for that. They're on Team Canada - when they're in the village we want them to be exactly the same (as other athletes).
"They're going to have the option hopefully when we're on the podium that they can give those dollars back (to charity) or do what they see is fit.''
I'm sure other countries do this as well, and some players will end up donating their money back to charity, but perhaps Hockey Canada President Bob Nicholson should have stopped before he said that NHL players are going to spend a heck of a lot of money since every athlete, professional and amateur is going to spend a heck of a lot of money at the Games.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
