WHL teams need fans in seats

COMMISSIONER SAYS TEAMS WILL NEED FANS IN SEATS TO OPERATE NEXT SEASON

Western Hockey League teams need their arenas at least half full with spectators next season to operate, according to the league’s commissioner.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shut down large gatherings of people across North America over fears of a rapid spread of the virus.

Some sports leagues are rebooting, or planning to reboot, with games in empty stadiums and arenas.

Major junior hockey is ticketdriven and doesn’t have a lucrative broadcast rights deal to fall back on, WHL commissioner Ron Robison said Thursday.

“As a spectator-driven league, we need spectators to make it work,” Robison told reporters Thursday on a conference call.

“(We need) to arrive at a capacity that will allow our teams to resume operations. We have set at the present time approximately a minimum of 50-per-cent capacity for that to occur.

“In the event we can’t get to a certain spectator level that will allow our teams to operate, we will not be in a position to start play.”

Six jurisdictions with different levels of infection, health restrictions and re-launch plans, plus a currently closed CanadaU.S. border make planning for a 2020-21 season complicated, Robison acknowledged.

The WHL’s goal is a full 68-game regular season starting Oct. 2, with training camps opening Sept. 15.

“We need all six of our jurisdictions, the four western provinces and obviously

Washington and Oregon to be ready to go in order to start our season, so this may in fact require us to consider a later start date,” the commissioner said.

“The start date will dictate our ability to get to our full 68-game schedule. If we get to a January start date, that’s going to be very difficult to accomplish.

“We think we can get that accomplished if we start as late as early December.”

British Columbia provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, when asked about Robison’s comments, could not confirm whether or not fans would be allowed in arenas later this year.

“I do absolutely recognize that there are many leagues, not just hockey, that are dependent on receipts at the gate to keep them going. So, that is a challenge that we’re all facing,” Henry said.

The 18-team Quebec Major Junior Hockey League also wants to play a 68-game schedule starting Oct. 1.