Quote:
Originally Posted by dino7c
The best part of this whole thing will be when Edmonton is NOT named a host city. The butt hurt will be amazing
Also, not sure why people want this in their cities so bad considering they are not allowed to attend
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While it won't likely mean much to the city overall, it will be a boost to the hotels and other businesses that would be servicing the NHL during this.
If they're going have 12 teams in each city to start, between players and staff, each team will probably have close to 60 people (there will also be the officials and other game staff, plus the broadcasters), that adds up to a lot of people who will need hotel rooms and catering and all the other services they'll require.
With this switch to 12 teams in each hub, can Edmonton support it? I don't think they could run the necessary games in only one arena until it's down to 2 series, so they'd need a second rink. Is Northlands still operational? If it's not, what would their second option be? The U of A?
Also, with the potential cross-border issues that could pop-up between now and then, I'll bet they pick the two hub cities in the same country. That means Edmonton's chances are likely tied to Toronto. Given all the options, that wouldn't necessarily be the worst choice. If they did choose Toronto, they'd likely use the AHL arena for the secondary rink, but it would be kind of cool if they could play some games in the rink at the old Gardens.