Should they stay or should they go? No, I’m not talking about the song written by The Clash. Rather, I’m talking about whether the four major sports leagues in North America should send their players to The Olympics or not.

Why are we talking about this? Well, The Summer Olympics are currently ongoing. MLB is having conversations about whether it wants to send its players to The LA Olympics in 2028. The NHL always seems to waffle back and forth on this issue. NBA players have Team USA cruising at the moment. And The NFL, well, they’re The NFL and if there’s money to be made then they’re likely to be intrigued. 

However, the question isn’t if these leagues are interested in The Olympics, rather the question is if they should interrupt their respective seasons to allow their players to go.

So, let’s break things down and see where the answers may lie. 

NHL

Okay, let’s start with The League who always seems to have Olympic-related questions. 

The Winter Olympics typically take place in February, which as any hockey fan knows, is right smack in the middle of The NHL season. We’ve seen The League choose to pause its season on some occasions and refuse to do so on others. 

If we set aside insurance issues (always a biggie) and look at it through a big-picture lens, then, yes, they should pause their season to allow their players to participate. The Olympics are arguably the biggest sporting event in The World and there are so many eyeballs on them that it would be business malfeasance to not send NHL players to the Winter Games. Plus, with how diverse NHL player ethnicities are, there’s no shortage of interest on their end to represent their respective countries on the ice. 

Sure, the two-to-three-week pause and injury concerns can wreak havoc on the regular-season schedule, but there are simple remedies. One, in an Olympic year, doesn’t have an All-Star Game; the players won’t mind that in the slightest. Two, instead of spacing out each team’s “bye-week,” just put them all during that part of the calendar. And lastly, don’t have weird three-to-five-day breaks between games. One-to-two days between games is all that’s needed. 

VERDICT: Send ‘em!

MLB

This one is a bit weird. 

Major League Baseball has almost never shown any interest in allowing its players to participate in the Summer Olympics. For crying out loud, baseball isn’t even an Olympic sport most of the time. 

However, now that baseball is coming back to The Olympics and Los Angeles is hosting The 2028 Summer Games, this is an issue that has cropped up. 

With how condensed MLB’s regular-season schedule is and how adverse they’ve been to interrupting it – think World Baseball Classic – it doesn’t seem in character for MLB to want to send its players to the Olympic Games. BUT, money talks and Major League Baseball clearly see dollar signs with The Olympics coming to Los Angeles. 

Let’s forget about injury concerns for now because every sport has them and there’s no way around that. 

Logistically, could MLB reshape its schedule to accommodate a two-to-three-week break in July/August? It gets dicey, but the answer is yes. Opening Day would have to move up to the third week in March. Once-per-week double-headers would likely be required (just like they used to be way back in the day) and MLB would need to be okay with having the World Series begin around November 1st. 

That sounds like a lot of shuffling things around and it is but The League brought this question upon itself. Of course, there is another way to make the schedule work if MLB doesn’t want to start the World Series in November. 

GET RID OF THE THIRD WILD CARD!

Toss the third Wild Card in the garbage where it belongs. Get rid of the Wild Card Series and go back to the one-game playoff between the two Wild Cards before going straight to the Division Series. I’d suggest doing away with the second Wild Card too, but that’s likely asking too much, so I’ll just stick with getting rid of Wild Card number three. 

VERDICT: If there’s enough interest from the players then send them. Otherwise, don’t go through the headache of trying to reshape the season.

NFL

This one is actually easy from a logistics standpoint. 

The Super Bowl is over before The Winter Olympics would begin, so there’s no scheduling issue as long as The NFL doesn’t expand to an 18, 19, or 20-game season. 

However, I’m not sure there’s enough interest on the players’ side to make this a real conversation. Besides, American Football hasn’t been played at The Olympics since 1932 and that’s not likely to change anytime soon. So it’s a moot point. 

VERDICT: Not happening.

NBA

Just like with The NFL, The NBA’s season is completely unaffected by Olympic participation. The NBA schedule makes it a Winter Sport, but basketball is played at The Summer Olympics, so there’s no scheduling conflict. 

There’s plenty of desire amongst NBA players to participate in The Olympics and that’s not going to change. Team USA regularly uses NBA players to form super teams and that’s why they’re one of the most successful international teams in history. 

VERDICT: They already go and that’s not going to stop.