The NHL’s potential “neutral site” plan to resume the NHL in places like North Dakota or New Hampshire is dead, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and Greg Wyshynski of ESPN. Instead, the league is considering a way to play games in a small number of NHL cities, with Friedman suggesting one from each division. Emily Kaplan of ESPN tweets that the favorites are Raleigh (Metropolitan), Edmonton (Pacific), Minnesota (Central), and a to-be-determined city for the Atlantic Division.
Obviously any plan of this nature still has plenty of hurdles before implementation. Wyshynski notes that it currently has no timetable and that the NHLPA would have to sign off on anything.
Friedman suggests that one idea is playing a triple-header per day in each location, giving the league a chance to finish the remaining regular season in three weeks. The focus is still on playing some games before the playoffs would begin.
As with any of the NHL’s plans at this point, it is important to note that these are just discussions. Nothing has been finalized or put into action, and things are still changing rapidly. For now, all that is certain is that the league’s self-isolation recommendation is in place through April 30th.
Our POS governor here in NC hasn’t even started opening up the economy. He’d never go for this.
There are more important things going on than whether or not hockey is being played. We all want hockey back, but not if it means making a blood sacrifice of grandma and grandpa.
Well yeah people are still dying…….your haircut will have to wait
remember Trump put the ball in the courts of the governers. its not like the guy is disobeying a federal order.
The United States is a republic, the federal government doesn’t have the legal authority to force the States to do anything.
Yes, there are more important things in life than a hockey game. Things like not driving the economy into a 1930’s era Great Depression. You want to see death and despair? Keep people in indefinate lockdowns while ruining their businesses and jobs.
ColossusofClout, states can not override the Bill of Rights. Interstate commerce can’t be interfered with. Neither can the 1st Amendment, though it’s currently being trampled on by certain states.
So, how would this work? The games the teams have left aren’t all against division opponents.
So say the Blues, their first 2 games that got PPD cause of the virus were home against San Jose and home against Ottawa. Would San Jose and Ottawa travel to Minneapolis to play? Wouldn’t that kind of defeat the purpose?
I get your question but why did you pick Minnesota? neither Ottawa, Boston or San Jose are in that division?
The United States is a republic, the federal government doesn’t have the legal authority to force the States to do anything.
Edmonton? Ya, right. Las Vegas is the best option in the Pacific. The Strip could host every hockey team in the world if they had to and still have room left over, all within a few miles of the arena.
why?
OMG! the season is over. Let it go. Try to figure out how you are going to survive, next year, without any fans since you rely on gate proceeds more than any other league. Nobody will watch the rest of this season. Your momentum is gone.
Wrong. Im a fan of a team thats well out of the playoff picture and I will watch.
I am not sure people realize just how much the NHL is in trouble. It will never return to the way it was before. The pay structure is way out of whack with how little their revenue is going to be.
I’m not sure I’ve even seen you post here before in the NHLs section?
nevertheless, the sky is not falling. people will want to watch. the biggest issue is going to be with most states and pretty much every Canadian province not allowing fans in person, how will tv work out with 3 sports all wanting to get back up and running at the same time. if I was the NHL and nba, I would collectively create a schedule that alternates days so that the fans aren’t forced too choose. it will help both leagues get eyes on the product without having to compete for sponsor dollars (if those will still exist)
Except majority of the fans of those leagues wont watch the other. I loved the NBA back in the day of Jordan. Couldn’t pay me to watch it now. I would rather watch reruns of the simpsons than Raptors vs Jazz. So offsetting the leagues is fruitless from me. But if the NHL has games televised daily i will watch them. Doesn’t matter if it Toronto vs Ottawa, Dallas vs Florida, or Edmonton vs Calgary I will tune in to each and every game.
@dalrob – Regarding the pay structure (aka the cap), apparently, discussions are going on that suggest the cap will be reduced, drastically. That, in turn, will *require* the players to take a proportionate pay cut. So, the owners won’t be forced into “deficit spending.” This will have to go on as long as necessary. The world economy has to get back in a much healthier shape before all is “back to normal” for all sports.
@wreckage – Very true! I, personally, disowned the no-skill bleep-shotters, back in the mid 80’s. You and I, and hundreds of thousands of other hockey fans will tune in to one or more games on a daily basis, pretty much without fail. I’m still listening to four different interweb radio shows/podcasts, daily. Live action is in pause mode, but hockey talk is still on. The hockey fan base is like no other, IMO.
Agree but the ignored fact is the NHL has a horrible TV deal. It relies almost solely on gate receipts and without those, the league has almost no revenues.
Caps are going to have to be adjusted and players, mostly millennials, are not going to be too keen on reduced salaries. Not saying they won’t do it, but it isn’t something that will occur easily. One idea floated was games on TV on a pay-per-view basis. I have been a crazy Leafs fan for 45 years but I live in Canada and am not staying in to watch hockey and giving up what little great weather we have up here. Baseball is the perfect summer sport because it is so slow and you don’t have to pay constant attention to it.
It matters that I constantly post on here? I post on the Leaf strand once in a while. Whatever. The NBA, MLB, NFL have exceptional TV deals and don’t rely solely on fans in the stands. That is not the case with the NHL. As i said below, we get crappy weather 7 months a year here in Canada. I am not sure a majority of people up here are going to give that up to watch a hockey game. All momentum from the season is gone and any championship will be extremely tainted. Just my humble opinion.
@dalrob – And, speaking of the players not being too keen on reduced paychecks… The other day, on HC, A-Stew, aka Anthony Stewart faced that prospect proffered by Burkie. This is not a curmudgeon opinion, just economic fact. A-Stew inexplicably said “I don’t think the players would agree to that.” Burkie had to remind him, that they wouldn’t have a choice in the matter. I love A-Stew and his brother Chris, but that was a major brain fart. Fact is, *nobody* will like that in the hockey world. I wouldn’t either. But, stark economic reality will be punching everybody in the face soon. I hate them even remotely considering PPV as an option, as it will probably lead to massive backlash against the league.
I didn’t say they wouldn’t do it, merely that it is not something that will happen quickly.
More people probably watch the Raps vs Jazz than 90% of hockey games.
Eyes on the product doesn’t produce ticket revenue. Unlike the other three major sports, the NHL can not survive with gate receipts. The TV contracts aren’t big enough to offset that loss.
Meant to say that they can’t survive without gate receipts.
Mac , will stick to paying dish to keep NHL Center Ice Package and NHL Network and on MSNBC and NBC through the some games on weekends and playoffs and Stanley Cup , no interest in PPV agreed.
NBCSN not MSNBC sorry
Excellent choice, G!
Games with no fans means TV viewers will get up close with the game. All the chirping, swearing at refs, all of it will echo in those empty buildings. Some of the chirping is bound to be hilarious.
Because of rapid expansion to non-traditional hockey markets, in hopes of a lucrative national TV deal that never materialized, the NHL is built like a house of cards. The tiny commish has spurned sites in Canada, Like Quebec City for years. When this is all over and the budget for this league is a fraction of what it was, cities like Quebec City, will be logical choices to put the Florida, Arizona, etc franchises. Pl
Go! Nordiques , been awhile since wrote that name, will take either team
Contraction is the only way this league survives on a large scale and remains a legitimate professional sport. it is already losing popularity to MLS in some markets. I laugh when I read all the comments about the cap staying at 81 M. The only way that happens is if the players lose 75% or more of their salary to “escrow”
Even if gates are opened fans aren’t gonna be flocking back in droves. The average ticket price is $135. After so many people have suffered from a loss of income for however long it will be by the time the economy reopens, not many are gonna have the spare change to go to a hockey game. $135 just gets you in the door. No parking, no beer, no food, no anything but the ticket. All sports leagues are going to have to adjust.