No Exit: NHL’s Endless Fight To Navigate A Virus Pandemic In Two Nations
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Bruce Cusick’s booming voice on the powerful T-Mobile Arena public address system advises Vegas Golden Knights fans in T-Mobile Arena to wear a mask to comply with Nevada’s indoor mask mandate as COVID cases soar in the Las Vegas area and lines of motorists seeking a virus test extend for hours in Clark County.
But take a look all around the arena — hundreds if not thousands of fans inside the VGK home arena go mask-free, yelling, cheering, drinking and potentially spreading the COVID-19 virus to fellow fans.
The mask-free people at Golden Knights games include owner Bill Foley, President of Hockey Operations George McPhee and General Manager Kelly McCrimmon in a suite.
Fans have posted social media photos of Foley, McPhee and McCrimmon not wearing masks while watching the Knights — a team that has had three games postponed because of the novel coronavirus. (Dec. 27 vs Colorado, Jan, 14 in Edmonton, Jan. 15 in Calgary).
LVSportsBiz..com took this photo of Foley, McPhee and McCrimmon, left to right, during last week’s Rangers-Knights game at T-Mobile Arena.
Public address announcer Cusick advises the crowd that not wearing a mask inside the arena at VGK games could result in ejection from the game. Fans take that advisement as seriously as they do the 65 mph speed limit on the 215 back to Summerlin.
COVID test positivity rates have soared to nearly 35 percent in Clark County, with the omicron variant causing more than 90 percent of the positivity rate cases. Doctors say the omicron is very contagious and lodges in the upper respiratory system, but less dangerous than previous variants whichcan lodge in the lower respiratory system and cause more severe health problems.
Not only do many fans at Golden Knights games not wear masks, there is no way to determine who is vaccinated and who is not at VGK games at T-Mobile Arena.
Unlike the Las Vegas Raiders games at Allegiant Stadium and UNLV basketball games at Thomas & Mack Center, the Golden Knights do not require proof of vaccination from people attending VGK home games.
Raiders owner Mark Davis said he supported requiring all fans to show proof of vaccination to attend Raiders home games because he said it was impossible to police fans to wear masks. “It’s not just about you,” Davis said of the virus at the time. By showing proof of vaccination, fans at Raiders home games do not have to wear a mask inside Allegiant Stadium.
In Clark County, about 55 percent of residents are fully vaccinated against COVID.
But who is vaccinated attending Golden Knights games?
Nobody knows — unlike the number of fans who decline to wear masks despite the state indoor mask rule.
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The National Hockey League has postponed at least 104 games because of coronavirus issues as of this week and the number is likely higher by the time you read this.
The league has postponed games in Canada because of government restrictions on the capacity of arena crowds for NHL games from Montreal to Vancouver.
The Golden Knights had games previously scheduled for Friday in Edmonton and for Saturday in Calgary. But those games were scrubbed and will need to be rescheduled.
Crowd capacity restrictions are financially brutal for NHL teams because they rely so much on game-day revenues like ticket sales.
Unlike the National Football League, which has multiple billion-dollar broadcast rights deals with several TV networks, the NHL’s revenues are more focused on money generated from game-related revenues. The NHL’s national TV ratings are a fraction of those of the NFL and the NHL has little leverage for lucrative national TV rights deals.
There’s one game that has not been postponed by the NHL. National Hockey League All-Star Game is still on for Feb. 5 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Knights have two players on the Pacific Division All-Star team — forward Mark Stone and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.
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Some fans who have season tickets just don’t attend and try to unload their VGK game tickets on the secondary ticket market.
The NHL is trying to negotiate a path through a pandemic that has created different protocols and restrictions on both sides of the USA-Canada border.
The COVID-19 spread also prompted the NHL to not have players participate in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
“Unfortunately, given the profound disruption to the NHL’s regular-season schedule caused by recent COVID-related events — 50 games already have been postponed through Dec. 23 — Olympic participation is no longer feasible,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement last month.
Here in Nevada, Gov. Steve Sisolak said more than half a million take-home rapid COVID-19 tests are on the way to Nevada and will be available to those in high need communities. The State has ordered a total of 588,216 Flexflow COVID-19 Antigen home tests which are expected to arrive toward the end of the month and the first deliveries will be made directly to community partners who will help ensure the tests reach Nevadans as quickly as possible.
The local school district here in Las Vegas is taking a five-day pause starting Friday (remember the NHL pause last month?), Clark County courts are pausing longer trials for 30 days and new COVID testing sites are opening this week.
The Golden Knights’ next home game is Monday when the Pittsburgh Penguins come to Las Vegas for a 7 PM game.
