The new National Hockey League season is a day away. There is certainly cause for enthusiasm and optimism from that simple statement. The successful conclusion of the truncated 2019-20 season and the conception of the postseason tournament, Stanley Cup Playoffs and Stanley Cup Final were notable and commendable.
The NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman, appeared on a media conference call on Monday ahead of the new season and was clear that the new season was important for the game.
“Let me make something really clear: We’re coming back to play this season because we think it’s important for the game, because our fans and our players want us to, and it may give people, particularly those who are back in isolation or where there are curfews, a sense of normalcy and something to do,” the Commissioner said.
“It would be cheaper for us to shut the doors and not play. We are going to run through more money — or [to] say it differently, lose more money at the club level and at the league level — by playing than by not playing. But the owners unanimously are OK with that because they know how important it is for our fans and for the game.”
Those readers here who follow the Pro Hockey News Podcast know this writer is not as optimistic as most on the playing of the season amid the current conditions. Financial, emotional and unrealized benefits from playing the season are unquestioned.
Saying the fans and players want the league to move forward is the weak point in the argument. Empty arenas are the best answer to the SARS-COV-2 pandemic. Permitting fans to enter arenas, at whatever percentage of capacity, is a mistake.
“In order for us to get through the season, we understand that there is an element of risk, that COVID-19 may impact one or more games,” Bettman said. “We also understand as we have throughout that in order to accomplish our goal, we’re going to need to be flexible and agile in how we deal with whatever we’re confronted with, and we are again prepared to do that.”
The postseason tournament ahead of the playoffs last season was conducted with the utmost care and diligence by all accounts. Fans, players, media, and observers need to understand that the viral pandemic does not adhere to the niceties and planning of sport leagues or epidemiologists. Training camps have been disrupted by the SARS-COV-2 virus in Dallas, Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Vancouver. New variants of the virus will continue to emerge as the virus adapts to new human population centers, and mutates.
Twelve distinct protocols have been issued by the NHL, strict and comprehensive, and all need to be followed anyone and everyone connected to the game, from Commissioner to fan.
“As I told the managers and the coaches, the protocols are not a suggestion or a recommendation,” the Commissioner said. “It will need to be done in order for us to address and get through the pandemic, and we will vigorously enforce them. There will be lots of judgment calls that we have along the way, and … we will be guided by the medical experts with respect to doing that.”
“Allowing fans in buildings isn’t really financially driven at all,” Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. “It really is to connect and engage with your fan base should you have the ability to do it in person. There’s not a lot of money to be made at the numbers we’re talking about.”
There is where this writer departs from the league. We have seen lost seasons for labor disputes, and the game survived. The current SARS-COV-2 vaccines are not preventive, rather ameliorating for disease progression and severity. As a vaccinate, this writer can still be infected and transmit the virus; with luck disease severity would be curbed. The point is, the vaccines are not the end of the pandemic, just a tool to help end it.
Keep the fan numbers low, be strict in enforcing restrictions, mask wearing and social distancing on entry and exit points, as well as seating in the arenas. Noncompliance should be non-negotiable.
As Bettman and Daly said, financial losses are crippling either way.
“The magnitude of the loss, when you add it all up, starts with a B,” Commissioner Bettman said. “We’re out of the M range and into the B range. And you know, that’s just what we have to deal with, and that’s what the clubs have decided that they’re prepared to do.
“Even though it would be a smaller number if we just shut down for a year, everybody thought it was important as one of the four major sports to take our role and play our game and deliver what people expect from us, and that’s what everybody signed on to do.”
Don’t add “fans” to the losses.
Image courtesy of NHL.com
Yes, it’s a bit dated, but oh so good……
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