What's the definition of a pro or an amateur? The Canadian hockey team had an average salary of 5.3 million, and the US had an average of 3.5 million I think. This does not include any outside endorsement deals that the players have. However, Lindsay Vonn and Michael Phelps both make around 10 million per year. Clara Hughes makes a few million as well. I know most olympians barely scrape by, but a lot of "amateurs" make a pretty good living. The only difference is that they don't get paid by a team. I say the Olympics should be the best athletes in the world, who cares who pays their bills.
A little off track here, but bear with me. I love hockey, grew up in WI, played for fun and watched it all my life. I hope that actual game attendance spikes, I know I've gotten a bunch of people to be fans after twisting their arms to get them to a game. Live hockey is amazing. Unfortunately, televised hockey, NHL especially, isn't so much. If people start tuning into NHL games expecting the kind of action and suspense that was in the Canada/USA games, they're going to be sorely disappointed. Maybe a few will stick around, but that spike isn't going to last long. This was a good start, but it's going to be quite a few more years before hockey popularity starts to get back to the levels it had before the NHL strike. NBC advertising that they'll have ONE NHL game a week? At least it's better than the zero on major networks the last couple years.