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Oilers and City of Edmonton Put Forward Joint Bid For Playoffs

May 20, 2020, 4:07 PM ET [15 Comments]
Sean Maloughney
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
On Tuesday afternoon, the OEG in combination with representatives from the province and the City of Edmonton, including Premier Jason Kenney and Mayor Don Iveson officially put forward a bid to host NHL playoff games for the 2019/2020 season.

A number of options have been presented for playoff games, but the most feasible has been for specific cities to host and house a number of NHL teams. These cities need to be places where COVID-19 infection rates are low and have the facilities house NHL players, coaches, trainers etc in a safe and secure location.

Edmonton clearly fits the bill.

First off, the province (with the exception of Calgary) are officially into Phase 1 of it's re-opening economic plan and a number of businesses have already re-opened with some restrictions. While more people are out and about, the overall rate of new cases has been on the decline. As of yesterday, the Greater Edmonton Area had a total of 58 active cases of COVID-19.

Secondly, Rogers Place is a brand new, state of the art facility which not only contains all the fancy bells and whistles for NHL teams, but also connects directly to the JW Marriott Hotel. Teams could be housed within the hotel and move easily back and forth between there and the arena without ever having to come in contact with outside civillians. Mayor of Edmonton, Don Iveson has proudly stated that the city has the capacity to host 12 teams and their support staff in the downtown area.

In addition, Premier Jason Kenny has stated an number of additional measures such as additional screenings and self-isolation plans for international travelers coming to Alberta would be part of protocol to ensure safety.

Without trying to get too political on a hockey blog, the measures and actions that have been put in place in Alberta far exceed a majority of the actions put in place in the United States. At the time of writing this blog, there are a total of 1,041 new cases in Canada while the USA has 19,662. As a whole, Canada has done a far better job of flattening the curve while infection rates continue to run rampant in many parts of the States.

Alberta and specifically Edmonton is arguably one of the safest options in all of North America and in combination with the facilities available, the City of Champions is an excellent choice to serve as a host city. I will keep you all updated as more news breaks.

Thanks for reading!
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