Can the NHL resume in 2020? NHL incentive to resume play conflicts with the reality of the coronavirus

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The National Hockey League is suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak. When or if play resumes at some point this year is the million dollar question.

A rebounded shots sail past a sliding Jake DeBrusk #74 of the Boston Bruins as Ivan Provorov #9 of the Philadelphia Flyers move in for the puck.

Rudy Gobert testing positive for Coronavirus on Wednesday, March 11, unleashed an unprecedented chain of events that led to practically every single major sport league and organisation in North America to suspend action indefinitely. The NHL shutdown operations less than a day after the NBA’s decision, of which the ripple effects are bound to reverberate for some time.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, in a statement issued on Thursday, March 12, said, “following last night’s news that an NBA player has tested positive for coronavirus – and given that our leagues share so many facilities and locker rooms and it now seems likely that some member of the NHL community would test positive at some point – it is no longer appropriate to try to continue to play games at this time.”

It was only a matter of time before Bettman’s prophecy was fulfilled. Less than a week later, on Tuesday, March 17,  the Ottawa Senators announced that a player had tested positive for coronavirus, marking the first case of COVID-19 within the NHL. Numerous other players within the Senators are being tested according to various reports and awaiting results. No word on more positive tests were revealed as yet.

Nowadays, sports is equivalent to big bucks for all those stakeholders invested in the business. Be they athletes, corporations, advertising companies or governing bodies responsible for the game’s administration, all have a vested interest in the million dollar business of sport.

The marriage of capitalism and sport, a courtship that began circa 1970s, really solidified its union in the 90s and onwards as television increasingly began to provide a platform for advertisers, marketers and sponsors to reach millions of viewers. TV rights therefore became one of the most lucrative media commodities on the table.

Then the internet sauntered onto the scene, proving to be an even more seductive game changer with its vast reach that transcends borders and regions. Never before could a platform give access to a previously untapped global audience the way the internet did. Viewers equals vast sums of dollars. So, it was inevitable that TV and leading online portals would join to make a concentrated mass grab at the riches on offer.

Yet, none of this works without sport itself. Sport is integral to the economies of scale in this big business of sport. It is equivalent to the Goose that lays the Golden Eggs. If sport is forced to stop for any reason all that profit is hijacked along with it. It follows, therefore, sport and all its stakeholders, are on the hook for millions – if not billions of dollars – if play isn’t resumed in the near future.

The NHL paused proceedings when the regular season had about a dozen or so games left before the playoffs were due to kick off in April. The odds for the Stanley Cup are still in play with various major sports betting platforms, which is an indication that the season hasn’t yet been abandoned.

Goalie Alexandar Georgiev #40 and Jacob Trouba #8 of the New York Rangers, James van Riemsdyk #25 of the Philadelphia Flyers

When the NHL resumes (or if it does resume) is the million dollar question. The incentive to resume is enormous but the reality of the coronavirus pandemic may prove too overwhelming. It has handicapped the world in a way never previously seen before. This is nothing like any previous interruptions to the NHL, which were brought on by labour disagreements mainly, the kind that required nothing more than litigation and boardroom wrangling.

Assuming the world overcomes this terrible crisis, the logistics of resuming the NHL presents a minefield. Will the NHL finish the regular season or just head straight into the playoffs taking with it the teams that would make the cut based on the standings in the table at the time of suspension. That’s just scratching the surface of the challenges the NHL will be faced with.

To be fair, though, it’s not looking promising. Previously, bookmakers rolled out prop bets on the NHL’s officially return date. Bovada Sportsbook tipped the date at April 17, offering bettors the opportunity to wager on whether NHL would start ‘after April 17’ or ‘on or before April 17’.

In hindsight, that market was optimistic. It has now been revised with the date pushed back to July 1 with – and this is the pertinent bit – the odds on NHL resuming after July 1 tipped as the likely outcome on favourable odds.

In this Sports Blackout due to the coronavirus pandemic, sports fans and bettors alike have no alternative but to wait and see what happens. Remain hopeful for their favourite leagues to start up eventually. Hope springs eternal, so they say.