As provincial restrictions on public gatherings become tighter and tighter, desperate Canadian teams are looking at all possibilities to be able to play in front of fans.
The Winnipeg Jets, for example, seriously considered playing games at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon because of Saskatchewan’s relatively looser restrictions on gatherings when compared with those of Manitoba.
When asked about it by Jeff Marek on the Jeff Marek Show on Sportsnet 590 on Friday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said the Jets were looking at moving as many as three games this month, including the upcoming game against the Ottawa Senators, which was eventually dropped because it was too soon. The other two games being considered were against Vancouver and Florida.
When the team canvassed season-ticket holders about the possibility of playing games out of province (SaskTel was not specifically named), the response was 40 per cent didn’t support it, 30 per cent were neutral and 30 per cent were supportive if it helped out the team.
https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1479480048692383753
Ultimately, Friedman said the Jets decided not to move the games because there were too many obstacles, one of which was the question about potentially reimbursing the visiting team for the extra costs to travel to Saskatchewan.
When asked by Marek about the speculation that Canadian teams were considering temporarily moving to the United States for a month in order to play in front of fans – he specifically mentioned moving the Toronto Maple Leafs to Buffalo as a logical possibility – Friedman didn’t see much credibility in it.
“I don’t think it’s at a level of teams are going to the United States,” Friedman said, “but what this Winnipeg thing shows is Canadian teams are saying, ‘What can we do to make this make financial sense? Is there anything else we can do here?’ I really don’t think so, they’re exasperated. … One owner made clear he doesn’t want to play another game with no fans.
“It’s just the uncertainty of how long this is going to last and the COVID fatigue everyone is going through. … If you were to say move all the Canadian teams to the U.S., what about these players and their families?”
Either way, the clock is ticking on finishing the season on time. Friedman said the league is still determined to have the last regular-season game on April 29.
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