What Is Gold Worth?

Let's be honest here when we look at hockey in the USA. We can talk about all the great players that the US is producing for NHL purposes, and we can cite years that the US has won the World Junior Championship. Those players and teams won't be debated about how good they were, but if we're talking about greatness over an extended period of time there's no denying that the USA Women's National Hockey Team has been the most consistent when it comes to winning medals since the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games where USA captured gold for the first time. Since then, there have been gold medals at every level, so one has to ask what gold is worth to USA Hockey after everything that the US Women's National Team has done?

It was announced today that the US Women's Team signed a new one-year deal with USA Hockey last month that will see the new terms of the deal in place until August 31, 2022. This comes on the heels of the four-year pact they signed with USA Hockey in 2017 following their near walkout on the IIHF Women's World Championship that year over what the women felt was significant differences between how they were compensated for their efforts compared to the men.

If we go back to the 2017 battle, there were definitely some significant differences that the women not only brought up, but saw that USA Hockey fixed for them and for future generations. They involved lawyers from Ballard Spahr who were able to advise them and be involved in the process, and the impasse was solved in the eleventh hour, resulting in the women returning to the ice for the start of the IIHF Women's World Championship where they won the gold medal.

Ballard Spahr was involved in the process again this year for the negotiations, and another deal was struck so the women can participate at both the IIHF Women's World Championship this week and at the 2022 Beijing Olympics next February while being compensated for their efforts once again. Needless to say, this is vitally important for USA Hockey if they hope to see more success and corresponding medals coming home due to that success.

Emily Kaplan of ESPN reports,

"According to documents obtained by ESPN, players on the women's national team can earn up to $126,750 over the next year should they win gold at both the 2021 world championships and the 2022 Beijing Olympics. If the team wins a silver medal at both events, each player will receive $105,500. That money is made up of stipends and bonuses, paid out by both USA Hockey and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee."

If you ask me, that seems like a reasonable amount of money to be paid by the two organizations for winning medals at both events, but you have to wonder just how much a gold medal is really worth to USA Hockey when you consider Kaplan's reporting of "[t]he USOPC will also pay the players a $7,500 bonus if they win gold at the world championships. USA Hockey doesn't give out a bonus for world championship results."

It seems hard to fathom that USA Hockey doesn't pay a bonus for IIHF World Championship results considering this is the biggest women's hockey event annually from which we usually see USA Olympic team members discovered and where roster spots are determined. Indeed, this year's World Championship will determined USA Hockey's Olympic roster for Beijing, yet USA Hockey doesn't reward the players for their results in proving they're the best in the world each year.

When you consider that Kaplan's sources also noted that "women's national team players gave 15% of their salaries back to USA Hockey for three months during the pandemic as a sign of good faith," you have to wonder what gold is worth to USA Hockey considering all the medals that the US Women's National Team has won both at the World Championships and at the Olympic level? At what point do we see some "good faith" from USA Hockey where it rewards these women who haven't played a meaningful international game in some 860 days for their abilities to step on the ice and return home with hardware against the best that the planet has to offer?

Personally, it seems like USA Hockey is getting off pretty easy when you consider that the American women will be playing for their sixth-straight IIHF Women's World Championship gold medal when the tournament kicks off in Calgary on Friday, and this comes on the heels of the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic gold medal where the American women finally returned to the top of the podium. Again, it's hard to believe that their annual rite of winning gold isn't worth more to USA Hockey, but perhaps this will change before we see players like Hilary Knight, Alex Carpenter, Alex Cavallini, and Amanda Kessel retire.

These are women who fought for everything they've earned from USA Hockey thus far after the fiasco in 2017. From a per diem to child care expenses to housing allowances, all of the things that we, as fans, may take for granted had to be demanded and negotiated with USA Hockey which, to me, seems rather incredible that they weren't already in place. And while being paid for Olympic medals is nice, that bonus only happens every four years from the organization whose logo is worn on the chest of these women who consistently return results.

So again, it begs the question: what is gold worth to USA Hockey? Because if you were to ask me, it seems like USA Hockey is buying gold medals at pennies on the dollar despite every dollar fought for and earned by the women who play for the US Women's National Hockey Team.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!