[Untamed]

NHL players were officially allowed to compete in the Winter Olympics in 1998. I think the NHL was the last to get the IOC's stamp of approval.

Now, apparently, that may be recinded depending on how talks go with Gary Bettman and the IOC. A few things are on the table - will the players be allowed to continue to compete in the Olympics, does the NHL shut down during the two weeks (more an NHL decision, but obviously affected by the first, above), if players will be allowed, will there be a cap on the number of professional athletes per team, etc? It will likely take them the better part of two years to come to consensus on all the issues.

From a marketing perspective, you couldn't have a better money maker than USA vs. Canada in the final Olympic event. The taxes made off beer alone would be phenominal.