By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The National Hockey League will go toe-to-toe with the COVID-19 pandemic this summer when it re-launches a paused season with a 24-team championship tournament starting August 1, with the Vegas Golden Knights set to play the Dallas Stars Aug. 3, the St. Louis Blues Aug. 6 and the Colorado Avalanche Aug. 8 to determine the seeding for these unprecedented Stanley Cup playoffs.
Not only did the league and the players association approve the return-to-play plan, the two sides also took the opportunity of this novel coronavirus-created 142-day pause in play to ratify a four-year extension of their labor deal to 2026. Here’s a look at the first 10 days of hockey that will involve the Golden Knights and 11 other Western Conference teams playing in a “bubble” environment in Edmonton, while another dozen NHL teams in the Eastern Conference will compete in Toronto.
But Friday also brought disappointing news for Las Vegas, which had the inside track to be one of the two NHL playoff host cities. Las Vegas, with a surge in COVID-19 cases, ended up sitting on the sidelines to play host to the NHL postseason, meaning a major loss in revenue for MGM Resorts International hotels that were expected to host the NHL teams in Las Vegas.
The Stanley Cup Final will also be staged in Edmonton.
Here are your dates:
Las Vegas and T-Mobile Arena are out:
In addition, the UNLV football team suffered bad news when it learned it will not play Pac-12 football teams California and Arizona State at the new Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium in late August and mid-September because the Pac-12 said Friday it will ditch its non-conference games and play only conference games.That means UNLV’s scheduled season-opener against California at Allegiant Stadium Aug. 29 is wiped out and the UNLV-Arizona State game at Allegiant Stadium Sept. 12 is also scrubbed.
UNLV sports issued this statement: “We are aware of the Pac-12 announcement today and we will continue to work with the Mountain West regarding our fall schedules.”
Here is one UNLV fan’s response:
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