Blades look to the future as WHL works on return-to-play protocol
The target date to restart play is Oct. 2.
That’s when the Western Hockey League and Saskatoon Blades hope to begin a new 2020-21 hockey season.
Special task forces are being set up in each of the WHL’S six jurisdictions — Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Washington and Oregon — to work directly with government and health authorities on the league’s return-to-play protocol while dealing with the COVID -19 pandemic.
The outcome of these discussions with government authorities will ultimately determine the actual start date for the 2020-21 WHL regular season.
“There’s never been any discussion about not having a season,” stressed WHL commissioner Ron Robison during a one-hour media conference Thursday on Zoom.
“Having said that, the timing of which we make these decisions is outside our control. We need to come to an agreement of what that’s going to look like with the health authorities and respecting their position. That’s going to take time.”
Robison and Blades general manager Colin Priestner both admit that an Oct. 2 start may not be entirely possible, but they stress the importance of having a date and plan in place.
“I’m very optimistic,” Priestner said Thursday following the media conference. “I think we have Plan A through Z right now. Plan A is now being worked on and discussed. Whatever happens in the four provinces and two states over the next several months, in terms of guidance and assistance, and how those provinces and states continue to handle the recovery from COVID here, and the spread of COVID, will determine when we can start.”
Priestner said having a plan is “the most important thing ” for the league, which could be onto “Plan C or Plan D” by the end of August.
“And, if that’s where we land, that’s where we land, but the league’s done a good job of acknowledging that there’s a lot of hurdles we need to jump here before we can get to a point where we are able to finalize a schedule and play,” Priestner said.
Robison added that the league has a responsibility to establish a schedule as a starting point to ensure arenas are booked in advance while the schedule “forms the basis of what any contingency plans would be” to make sure there is building availability.
Robison said the league is committed to a 68-game schedule.
“Certainly our objective is to play a full season of 68 regular-season games — that is our first priority — and then determine what our playoff situation would look like,” he said.
LEAGUE ‘WON’T PLAY’ WITHOUT FANS
Both Robison and Priestner stress that the WHL does not have the luxury of being financially viable without fans watching games in the arenas.
“As a spectator-driven league, we need spectators in order to make it work,” stressed Robison.
“There are essentially two criteria to our return-to-play protocol. No. 1 is to demonstrate to our health authorities in each of our jurisdictions and to return in a safe and responsible manner, taking into account our players and everyone associated with our league. The second one is to arrive at a seating capacity that will allow our teams to resume operations. We have set, at the present time, approximately 50 per cent as a minimum capacity that we’d require in order for that to occur.”
Priestner added that the WHL is “not a league that’s set up to play without fans” because it can’t rely on a large TV revenue stream.
Being allowed to have any large gathering inside an arena is a major obstacle to overcome; restrictions are in place limiting the number of people allowed for indoor gatherings.
“We need that spectator capacity matter to be resolved before we can commence play, but we are confident we can get there,” said Robison.
“If you look at the reopening plans, it’s going to take time to get there but we think there will be a solution at some point. Our target is 50 per cent capacity, minimum, but we’ll have to see how those discussions go with the governments and health authorities in the weeks and months ahead.”
The Blades are fortunate that they play at Sasktel Centre, which seats 15,000-plus and is spacious enough to spread out fans who can easily adhere to social-distancing protocols.
“We’re in a great situation in Saskatoon, but there are other teams in the league and what works for us might not work for other teams; so, until we can get to a point where it can work for all teams, and getting to a point where we can even get to 50 per cent capacity, that’s by no means a foregone conclusion because gatherings in a lot of the provinces is at 50 indoors,” Priestner said.
“Getting to a point where gatherings indoors could conceivably be 500, or 8,000 in building like ours, there’s a lot of steps that we need to take but I believe today was a good first step in informing our players and their families, just all the stakeholders in the league, just to where we’re at today. I applaud the league’s honesty that it’s not as simple as saying we’re starting on Oct. 1 and everything’s great.
“We have hurdles that are significant to jump over the next few months in many, many areas. I applaud the league for being honest with the players and the fans as to where we’re at.”
Priestner said Blades training camp — based on that Oct. 2 season start — is tentatively set to begin Sept. 15. “But that’s all in the far distance now,” he said. “These are only the first steps.”