National Post (National Edition)
Still waiting for decision on NHL fans in Ontario
CLOCK IS TICKING WITH SEASON BEGINNING IN TWO MONTHS
Two months from today, the Toronto Maple Leafs will host the Montreal Canadiens in their season opener at Scotiabank Arena and it's anybody's guess how many fans will be in the 19,800-seat building.
The next night, the Leafs will travel to the Canadian Tire Centre to take on the Ottawa Senators and their home opener Oct. 14 at the Canadian Tire Centre. Again, nobody knows how many of the 18,153 seats will be sold.
We're at the point where time is of the essence for both organizations and they're not alone on the hockey front in Ontario.
It's believed the stakeholders have held more talks this week to see where it all stands.
Look, there's no reason to believe that both buildings won't be full with many of the vaccination thresholds already met to allow for indoor seating at ticketed events but it's difficult for the NHL's two Ontario-based teams to put single-game tickets on sale if they aren't sure they can sell them all.
Lisa MacLeod, the minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, has been good about staying in touch with representatives of all the organizations in the province to make sure they're kept up to date on what the chief medical officer of Ontario is recommending for their return to play with fans
While the CFL's Ottawa Red Blacks, Toronto Argos and Hamilton Tiger-Cats will all have capacity limits of 15,000 people at their respective outdoor stadiums, the Senators and Leafs are waiting with bated breath to find out just how many people will be allowed inside their buildings with other NHL teams across North America making preparations.
Senators owner' Eugene Melnyk, president of business operations Anthony LeBlanc and representatives of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment — which also owns the NBA's Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC and the Argos — need to find out what the landscape will look like when the season gets underway.
Officials with the Ontario Hockey League, a gate-driven league with 17 of 20 team based in the province, must be wondering what kind of capacity they can have. The Senators and Leafs both own their American Hockey League affiliates in Belleville and Marlies respectively, so they want to know how many fans they can have as well.
No, you can't throw caution to the wind, but we already know in Alberta the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers will be to be able to have full houses because there's zero restrictions there. The Canadiens had limited capacity in the playoffs, however, the expectation is the Bell Centre will be close to capacity. Vancouver is in a tough spot with cases on the rise.
The Winnipeg Jets announced late Wednesday they've been given the green light by province of Manitoba to have full capacity of 16,345 next season. However, it comes with the proviso fans will have to be fully vaccinated.
“We have recently surveyed a selection of our customers and the majority of respondents told us they would only feel comfortable attending games if we required proof of full vaccination,” the club said in a statement. “Furthermore, approximately 70 per cent of guests felt it was important that staff and guests be required to wear masks at games or events.”
A large part of the issue is the warning of a fourth wave around the corner. The Delta variant has numbers on the rise across the country, especially among those who have chosen not to get their jab, and that's making everyone question what the fall is going to look like when schools reopen.
Sure, there needs to flexibility, but you have to have guidelines to work with as well and, at some point, Ontario Premier Doug Ford will have to announce when we're going to return to normal operations throughout this province.
The Leafs and Senators will open training camp Sept. 22 and will play exhibition games in their own rinks a few days later. If you read the rules in Stage 3 of Ontario's reopening plan, it appears that if the season started tomorrow the Leafs and Senators would be limited to a capacity of 1,000 people.
Of course, we all know that's not going to be the case, but sooner or later there does need to be a hard and fast number attached especially with full vaccination stats in Canada hovering at the 70 per cent mark. For example, if the Leafs, Senators and Raptors are to start the season with 50 per cent capacity then they do have the right to know.
No, there hasn't been any public discussion about limiting tickets sales here to those fully vaccinated and it's not known if teams in Ontario will be asked to go that route but it does make sense. It would make everybody feel comfortable but that's a decision all the organizations across the province will have to make.
If the requirement is for ticket holders to be fully vaccinated that's not an unreasonable request. We've also seen it with the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers and that's a big reason why the Jets followed suit.
Only two months to the season and still many questions remain unanswered for Ontario's two NHL teams.