Stands at least half full when play resumes
But officials say having fans in the stands, government approval, key to return plan
There will be fans in the stands at the Saddledome when the Calgary Hitmen resume playing hockey … whenever that might be.
The Western Hockey League made it clear Thursday that it will not put its product back on the ice inside empty arenas, given that it’s a gate-driven league.
Without massive TV revenue, the junior circuit has always banked on having butts in the seats and even more so now to make for a healthy financial return from the coronavirus pandemic that ended the 2019-20 WHL season back in mid-march.
“We feel we need to have spectators to make it work,” said WHL commissioner Ron Robison, who outlined the league’s return-to-play protocol during a conference call. "We rely heavily on spectators.
“That is a key criteria.” In particular, the league believes approximately 50 per cent capacity is needed in the arenas — from Day 1 — to put junior hockey back in action.
“Our target is 50 per cent capacity, minimum,” Robison said. “In the event that we can’t get to a certain spectator level that will allow our teams to operate, then we will not be in a position to start play. But we’re confident that we will get there.”
Of course, the approval from the many health authorities must be in place to make that happen.
With teams based in four provinces (B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan) and two U.S. states (Oregon and Washington), the league is awaiting approval from six governments to confirm a start date for next season.
Plus, the WHL needs the green light from both the U.S. and Canadian governments with border crossing being a major hurdle.
“We’re all working together on this,” said Hitmen vice-president and alternate governor Mike Moore. “Nobody really has full visibility on what the future will look like. We’re planning together to try to see what it looks like on the other side.
“We are in a bigger building, for sure,” continued Moore of the Dome that makes it easier to house more fans within social distancing guidelines than most other WHL markets.
“But (50 per cent capacity) is going to affect everybody economically. But we want to play safely and properly and follow the guidelines and protocols and get back on the ice.”
The league has appointed special task forces in each of the six jurisdictions to work directly with government and health authorities to ensure the health and safety of WHL players, staff, officials, and fans are a priority in the return-to-play protocol.
“We expect to get some answers probably within the next 30 days as to what it would look like,” Robison said. "We are being very patient. We understand that this are challenging times for the governments and health authorities, so we respect their timelines.
“And the health and safety of our players in the first priority.”
The WHL’S goal is to get back to playing games on Oct. 2, with training camps set to open Sept. 15.
But Robison admits it’s simply a target date at this time to set the wheels in motion to hopefully deliver a full season with all 22 member clubs included — leaving none behind.
“Our intention is we want to get our 68-game schedule in — that’s a clear direction that we want to achieve,” Robison said. “We believe there’s a way we can do that, provided we can modify our playoffs and also get the co-operation from the Canadian Hockey League to adjust the dates of the Memorial Cup.
“But if we get to a January start date, that’ll be difficult to accomplish. But we think we can get to that if we’re starting as early as early December.”
Robison emphasizes the need for patience from teams, players, parents and fans in putting the plan in motion.
The commish expects talks to continue with health authorities well into August — and possibly September — to finalize a schedule.
Flexibility might well be required depending on conversations with the jurisdictions and the status of the COVID-19 crisis.
That might mean less travel and increased divisional play, moving away from a traditional schedule that tries to achieve as much balance as possible to one that requires much more outside-the-box acceptance.
“Anything is possible,” Robison said. “Our schedule will be dictated largely by what the outcome of our discussions will be with the health authorities and what restrictions we’re working with. We’ve talked about border crossings and quarantine situations and restrictions that might be unique to a particular province or state. So we have to take all that into consideration.
“We are just committed to playing as soon as we possible can and in a safe, responsible way. But we’re certainly going to need to be flexible from a scheduling point of view.
“Stay tuned.”
Our schedule will be dictated largely by what the outcome of our discussions will be with the health authorities.