Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: There are at least four teams that are looking at the possibility of playing home games outdoors as it may allow them to have fans attend games.
The teams that have explored the idea are the Anaheim Ducks, Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Kings ownership also owns the LA Galaxy who play at Dignity Health Sports Park – a 27,000 seat stadium. The Kings also contacted the Ducks and looked at a joint venture.
Currently, local rules wouldn’t allow this Los Angeles.
Boston explored the idea and Fenway park was brought up. Pittsburgh looked at Heinz Field and PNC Park. The Steelers could be playing in late January so that would be a big problem for Heinz Field.
The cost to do this would be a major issue, along with getting approval from the players, The players were surveyed earlier about the idea of playing games indoors and outdoors and they weren’t thrilled with the idea.
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: Teams that has confirmed who have shown interest include the Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins and the Florida Panthers.
TSN: Pierre LeBrun on Insider Trading when asked about teams looking for ways to play with some fans in attendance.
“Believe it or not, but I’m just passing this along. The Pittsburgh Penguins for example have informed the league that they would be ready to start the opening month of the regular season in outdoor games. The Boston Bruins looking to play multiple games at Fenway Park if it’s feasible and if local health authorities are OK with it. We also have the Carolina Hurricanes who might want to have a game or two by their own refrigeration system. The LA Kings have the MLS stadium in California later in the season if health authorities allow it, but would like to play a whole bunch of games, and there’s other teams as well that have told the league we’d like to play outdoor games.
Why? Because with the fans physically distanced, obviously you can get some gate revenue. That’s what this is all about. The NHL has not officially responded. I think right now they see the pros and the cons to it. By the way, none of the seven Canadian teams at this point, I believe, think it’s feasible or of interest to them. So we’ll see where this goes.”
