Adrian Dater
Everybody around the game of hockey hopes we can have fans in the stands again soon. There’s just no way the NHL and other hockey leagues can go too much longer without paying customers. Not just for tickets, but paying to park, paying those very reasonable arena concession prices and those even more modestly priced jerseys at the arena team store. But the NHL is already trying to game-plan for the next season, and unless there soon is a miracle cure for the virus to the point where we can all congregate in big numbers, the reality is we’ll probably have to start such a season without fans. (By the way, filling a portion of the arena with fans like they do in football or baseball won’t be as realistic, because of the games being indoors where transmission is saId to be easier). I’m hearing the Colorado Avalanche is a potential host team for games at the Pepsi Center, should that be the case.
In talking with some people around the league recently, one of the contingency plans on a new season would be for two-week bubble experiences in a few cities, and Denver is on the shortlist as a host. Let’s say the league wants the Colorado Avalanche, Coyotes, Stars and Blues to all play some games against each other. If Denver were selected as a bubble host city, the teams – including, probably, the Avs – would all stay in one medium-sized hotel that would be essentially rented out by the NHL just for their use. They’d all undergo the same kinds of protocol that was used in Toronto and Edmonton and all play their games at the Pepsi Center, albeit with no fans.
Denver is a potentially attractive host city right now because our virus numbers are better than most states and we have a good geographical location when it comes to flight distances from other Western NHL cities.
Again, we all hope these bubble plans are burst. Nobody wants to go through another fan-less NHL experience. But, if the league is as adamant as it says it is about playing a 2021 season, then plans have to be finalized fairly soon – like, a couple of months at most probably.
Some other Sunday notes and links: