The NHL still doesn’t have a concrete idea of when or how the season will resume, but continue to work on potential options for a restart. One of those is a “hub city” proposal, where teams would gather in one location to play games in front of empty arenas. Gary Bettman spoke this morning, and Nick Cotsonika of NHL.com relayed his most important points. Among them is the idea that the league continues to look at “eight or nine different places” that would be able to host up to a dozen teams in one location. That would need ample hotel and practice facilities, obviously ruling out some markets in North America.
On Sportsnet radio today, Chris Johnston explained that he has heard the two leading candidate cities are Las Vegas and Columbus, though there is still work to do on both fronts. Johnston does explain that the league and NHLPA are “getting closer to having the actual format essentially nailed down.”
The two-city hub idea would have each conference split to complete some play-in games before a regular playoffs and would allow the league to operate without dealing with multiple state, provincial or federal governments. Remember, as Cotsonika writes, 17 percent of the league’s players are currently outside of North America and will likely need a quarantine period following their return.
Both Johnston and Bettman focus on testing as the biggest question the league has to solve before anything can come back. The commissioner explained that the amount of tests is a “fundamental question” though he did sound optimistic about the increased capacity.
To be clear, nothing has been announced officially from the league at this point on which cities would be used as hubs. As with anything related to coronavirus contingencies, a new outbreak or wave could immediately change (or scrap) any plans.
And the trade-off for those undeserving major market teams to have access to the playoffs is that only the bottom 7 should be involved in a lottery for the # 1 pick with odds adjusted as follows: DET 25%, OTT 20%, SJ (OTT) 15%, LA 13%, ANA, 10%, NJ 9%, BUF 8%
It’s starting to look more more like outside of Toronto and Boston and Los Angeles you’re going to have professional sports in the NHL played in their cities. The only problem is getting the logistics for crossing the border into Canada and out of Canada
OTT 35%
Why does the arena have to be empty? Couldn’t an arena that holds, say, 18,000 seats have 2,000 people in the stands spread out from each other? Or can we only do that at Wal-Mart’s?
Or maybe the league could just pump in fake fan noise to give the building some atmosphere. :D
@Gbear – Bad news – they’re already thinking about implementing fake fan noise. They could create a few temp jobs by having some folks who are handy with jigsaws and drills create “Fake Rock Ridge” plywood figures to “sit” in the stands, including a Fake Mongo in each corner, for intimidation. And, a few well-placed Gabby Johnson figures would go a long way to add that “hominess” feel back to an otherwise sterile-feeling arena. You and I can send Bettman the bill on this one, eh! :)
It’s Hedley
@Ol Voodoo – He’s still stuck in traffic on the William J. Le Petomane memorial freeway! Hey, somebody’s got to go back and get a you-know-what-load of dimes! :)
If Bettman announces a 3 on 3 tourney for the Cup we’ll work up a number 6 on ’em.
@Ol Voodoo – With PLENTY of whoopin’ & hollerin’ !!! Hide the women & children! :) There might be a fight to see who gets to hit Betttman up side the head with a shovel, too!
@MacJablonski– I can see it now, mannequins with hockey jerseys on, some with fan fingers and even the occassional mannequin holding a beer. Players may freak out having all those blank stares looking down on them though. :D
@Gbear – And every barn will be required to have a trio of mannequins – dressed as The Hanson Brothers, anxiously awaiting their shift! :)
Or they could play in Phoenix and Miami where even if they wanted to play in front of fans, they wouldn’t sell a single ticket!
Gonna be the 2 city hub for sure. Would only make sense to do it in the states and to announce it soon so players abroad can get the 2 week mandatory quarantine out of the way. Vegas makes perfect sense but don’t know if Columbus is where the eastern hub should be
Columbus is perfect because it is centrally located and one of the few cities that has 2 Arenas set up for hockey. Nationwide Arena and Value City Arena (Ohio State)
Wherever they play the ice will be shit.