NHL coming to Edmonton could give Alberta big lift

Hockey might be just the ticket to give province’s tourism industry a needed jolt

Alberta’s premier says that while the economic benefit of Edmonton being chosen as one of the NHL’S two hub cities when resuming its season wouldn’t be earth-shattering, the decision would give a boost to the struggling province.

“This would not have a massive effect on the Alberta economy, but you would be getting over the course of a couple of months tens of millions of dollars back into the service sector here in Edmonton, and that’s desperately needed,” Jason Kenney said Thursday.

Edmonton is one of 10 cities under consideration to play host to part of the NHL’S post-season set to begin as early as late July, which Kenney has supported.

If chosen, hundreds of NHL players and staff, as well as broadcasters and league officials, would travel to Alberta’s capital. Games and practices would take place on two arenas in the city’s Ice District and visitors would stay in neighbouring hotels. The province has created a set of guidelines for the league detailing the potential arrangement.

The entire area would be part of a “quarantine zone” meant to minimize risk to public health, with teams part of quarantine cohorts.

The direct economic injection from the selection, Kenney said, is that hundreds of service industry jobs would be created, including at hotels that have had to lay off staff, and each of those workers could be “safely accommodated” within that bubble.

However, the premier said the main draw if Edmonton were named a hub city is that it would help relaunch Alberta’s tourism industry.

“It would be the biggest free marketing that Edmonton has had in a long time and that Alberta has had perhaps since the Calgary Olympics (in 1988),” Kenney said. “I think it would be a great branding opportunity for the future relaunch of our tourism industry and also to show the world how well Albertans have done in combating COVID -19.”

Edmonton’s COVID -19 rates remain low, with its 53 active cases making up only eight per cent of the province’s total. Only Winnipeg has a lower per capita rate of novel coronavirus infection among NHL cities.

The Edmonton Chamber of Commerce was also supportive of the idea of becoming an NHL hub city.

“The pandemic has left many of our job creators struggling to hang on, and this opportunity would give us a much-needed dose of excitement and would be a huge boost to our economic recovery efforts,” said Janet Riopel, chamber president and CEO.

Though the chamber hasn’t completed any formal economic modelling of the impact of a potential selection for Edmonton, a policy analyst with the chamber estimated an impact of between $500,000 and $4 million per playoff game in the city, with the range depending on fan behaviour at restaurants and sponsorship and procurement deals with local businesses.

A potential snag for Edmonton’s bid is that the league has said the city could be knocked out of contention if Canada doesn’t exempt NHL personnel from some travel and quarantine restrictions, which Kenney has requested from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

In a statement, the federal government said it was working with stakeholders, including provinces, on the potential for a Canadian city to host the NHL’S return to play.

“We understand that Canadians are eager to see their favourite sport teams return to play. The health and safety of all Canadians, including our athletes, remain our top priority,” said Camille Gagné-raynauld, a spokeswoman for the minister of Canadian Heritage.

“We will continue to work with (the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association), as well as provinces and territories, to ensure that we are not taking any actions that would put Canadians at risk of contracting or transmitting COVID-19.”

Alongside Edmonton, Vancouver and Toronto were also shortlisted as potential NHL hub cities.

(This) opportunity would give us a much-needed dose of excitement and would be a huge boost to our economic recovery efforts.