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Gary Bettman participated in a virtual roundtable on Tuesday with MLB Commissioner Rob Manred and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. During the 2020 Paley International Council Summit discussion, the NHL commissioner revealed several avenues the league is exploring to play next season.
While it has been difficult to get the 2020 playoffs in a bubble, playing the 2020-21 regular season can be an even harder needle to thread as the league cannot afford and is unwilling to remake a complete bubble solution. The league is currently aiming to start the season on January 1, 2021, but some owners, like Bill Foley of the Golden Knights, believe the start date will be pushed back to February.
According to NHL.com’s Nicholas Cotsonika, Bettman said the teams will either play in their own arenas, with or without supporters, or in hubs. There is also potential for a hybrid system of the two.
“You will play for 10 to 12 days,” Bettman explained of a possible hub system. “You’ll play a bunch of games without traveling. You will go home, go home for a week, be with your family. We’ll have our testing protocols and whatever else you need.
“It won’t be as effective as a bubble, but we believe that we can, if we go this route, minimize the risk to the extent possible and reasonable. And so that’s one of the things we’re talking about.
Bettman also revealed that the league is considering a “reduced schedule,” which synchronizes with Bill Foley’s prediction that the league will end up playing a 48 to 56 game regular season. Bettman also called the travel schedule “the great unknown” and said the league could “temporarily realign itself to deal” with a Canada-U.S. Border closure, meaning an all-Canadian division, in this scenario , is probable.
“We may have to temporarily realign ourselves to deal with geography, and that may make sense, as having some of our teams travel from Florida to California may not make sense,” Bettman said.
“We may be better off, especially if we play a reduced schedule, which we envision, to keep it geographically centered, more division-based, and realign, again on a temporary basis, to do in the face of travel. problems, ”Bettman said.
Title photo: Elizabeth Kong / RMNB
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