There’s always an added sense of pride when your country’s best players come together to play any sport at the highest level. To me, international sports are a temporary painkiller for a country’s society; and for a few hours, individuals can set aside personal differences, political issues, and self pain for the pure love of sports and the country they live in. People often refer to the Olympics or the World Cup as great examples for times when people can set aside their differences, but just recently, there has been a new event that people have felt the same feelings for: the NHL’s Four Nations Tournament.
The Impact of Skipping the All Star Game
The fabled All Star break is always a point of discussion for American sports fans regarding the amount of entertainment that is provided in exchange for the lack of a week of a professional sport. The NFL has their All Star weekend right before the Super Bowl, the MLB hosts theirs during the middle of the summer, and because of their similarities in schedule, the NBA and NHL are lucky enough to have their All Star breaks at exactly the same time. Looking back at the NBA all star game, I didn’t know the festivities had started until Mac McLung had already won the dunk contest, which was the only event that was worth watching the entire weekend. I don’t even remember who won any of the other main events, and apparently, I didn’t miss much. Over the last couple of years, the NBA has been trying to change the narrative they currently have for hosting one of the worst all star games through different formats, and on the other hand, because of the NHL’s choice to eliminate this year’s all star festivities, I am well aware of what took place during the NHL all star break. Instead of taking the normal route of showing off their best players in a one night spectacular, the NHL decided to forget their skill competitions like “fastest skater” and go all in on a 4 team international tournament. This tournament could be a revolutionizer in the world of sports, because of the astounding amount of captivation it brought onto the majority of North America. According to ESPN, in the 4 Nations championship game alone, the amount of viewers just on their channel that tuned in to watch the US play Canada has only been topped over the last year by the 2024 NBA Finals. This isn’t including SPORTSNET’s audience too, which was well over 10 million viewers at its highest point. 1 in 4 Canadians watched the final game in Boston.
What can The NBA Emulate?
Let’s be completely honest. The NBA all star game in 2025 was an absolute flop, and nobody should be denying it. While the new game mode that was introduced this year with a 40 point target to end a game is a good option that tries valiantly to resolve the issue of a lack of effort in the stars that fans paid to see. The thing that would fix the indifference of playing in the all star game for players has been gifted to the NBA by the NHL. When players suit up for their country, everything changes. For example, if players suit up for the United States of America during the Olympics, they don’t have the opportunity to play with the effort they would normally give during the all star game because of the added weight of the logo on their chest. If the U.S. Men’s basketball team loses to Canada, shockwaves are going to be sent through the basketball world, something that can’t be achieved during an all star game. Also, viewers would rather see the United States play versus the world in a full game because of the idea of people suiting up for their country: Victor Wembenyama for France, Nikola Jokic for Serbia, and LeBron James for the United States. Adam Silver, the NBA’s commissioner, has been infamous for his unpopularity compared to former commissioner David Stern, and for one of the first times in his tenure as the decision maker in the NBA, there has never been an easier option for him to utilize. If he does not incorporate some sense of a national competition into the NBA all star weekend, Silver would be missing on a golden window of extra revenue that was brought in by the NHL’s success with marketing the star players of different countries.
