The International Olympic Committee's executive board announced Monday it is "looking favorably'' at the addition of seven events for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and it has given President Jacques Rogge the final say in the matter. Rogge is expected to make his decision at the end of April.

Among the seven is a team event in figure skating. "I am 99.9% sure this will happen,'' International Skating Union President Ottavio Cinquanta said Tuesday. And one of the drawing cards to the event, in Cinquanta's eyes, is the opportunity for lineup discussions to become a hot topic, just as they are in other sports. "This would be something spicy,'' Cinquanta said.

How would a team figure-skating event be structured and scored? Philip Hersh has the answers in his Globetrotting blog.