TRUMP OFFSIDE IN PUSH FOR RETURN OF SPORTS
Are 19,000 people going to rush to an arena to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with others?
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on the weekend he wants to see players back on the ice and fields with fans in the stands “sooner rather than later.”
After a conference call Saturday with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, Rob Manfred of Major League Baseball, the NFL’S Roger Goodell, the NBA’S Adam Silver, the WNBA’S Cathy Engelbert, Don Garber of MLS, the LPGA’S Michael Whan and Jay Monahan of the PGA, Trump sounded optimistic that down the road the COVID -19 crisis will be behind us and life will return to normal.
“Absolutely, I want fans back in the arenas. Whenever we’re ready,” Trump said at his daily briefing Saturday in Washington. “As soon as we can, obviously. And the fans want to be back, too. They want to see basketball and baseball and football and hockey. They want to see their sports. And they want to go out onto their golf courses and breathe nice, clean, beautiful, fresh air.
“I can’t tell you a date, but I think it’s going to be sooner rather than later. … Eventually, people are going to be able to occupy their seats in arenas, next to each other, like we have for all of my life, and all of your life.”
Unfortunately, not everybody shares Trump’s optimism and it’s anybody’s guess as to when hockey fans in Canada and the United States will be able to return to the rink to see their favourite NHL team.
The NHL’S board of governors could get an update from Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly as early as today because they’re expected to get their bi-weekly update from head office to discuss the call with Trump and what lays ahead for the 31 teams after the league went on pause because of the spread of the novel coronavirus on March 12.
If all had gone as planned, the league would have wrapped up its schedule Saturday night with 15 games, while the playoffs were scheduled to get underway Wednesday. The NHL’S draft lottery was set for Thursday at the NHL’S Network studios in Secaucus, N.J. All of this is on hold, and as know, so is the rest of the sports world amid this unpredictable virus.
There might not be a lot new for Bettman to discuss with the owners, but the league has been looking at models for what a finish to the regular season and the playoffs could look like.
The NHL is also waiting to hear what the members of its players association have decided to do with their final paycheque, which is scheduled to be deposited into their bank accounts on April 15.
As part of the 50-50 split with the owners in hockey-related revenues negotiated in the last collective bargaining agreement in 2013, the players are required to make up any shortfall in those numbers by paying into escrow. The owners withhold part of the players’ paycheques, and when the two sides agree on the numbers, the players get back any excess money they may have paid into the escrow account.
As TSN’S Bob Mckenzie reported last week, the players paid 12.9-per-cent escrow for the 2018-19 campaign and after talks with the owners will be receiving approximately 10 per cent from the league, while three per cent is returned to the players in midapril. Naturally, if the NHL isn’t able to complete the final 10 per cent of the schedule remaining and the playoffs, then the estimate is it could be a US$1 billion hit to the revenues.
Trying to make sure they’re not digging deeper into their pockets down the road, some members of the NHLPA have suggested the players let the owners keep the final paycheque to help soften the blow of escrow down the road. The union has held a series of conference calls — including another one Saturday — and a decision is expected today.
The belief is the players will likely take their final paycheque, put the money in the bank and then worry down the road about making up any shortfall.
It’s a difficult call to make because the league has asked for dates in July, August and September to try to complete the 2019-20 campaign.
If the NHL does return, what will the audiences in the rink even be like? Are 19,000 people going to rush to an arena to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with other people?