Bettman: People should assume we aren't going to Olympics

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman continues to sing a somber tune.

Bettman spoke at the Sport Business Summit in New York on Tuesday where he echoed the sentiment that as things stand it is looking more and more like NHLers will not be participating at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

"There are no negotiations ongoing," Bettman said, according to Steve Keating of Reuters. "We were open to having discussions on a variety of things that might mitigate the damage to our season but that had no resonance.

"As things stand now people should assume we are not going."

Bettman reiterated the fact that the league would have to shut down its season for two weeks in February if it were to allow players to participate in the games. He also remained adamant that the league would not benefit from doing so.

"Remember, this is February, there is no baseball, no football, it is just us and basketball and we just disappear," said Bettman. "We don't get content for the NHL Network, we don't get content for our social media platforms and NHL.com.

"Why did we do it five times? Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time but we have been unable to quantify any benefit from it."

It should be noted that no formal decision has been made and as it stands no hard deadline for a final decision exists.