Since March 13, the NHL has been shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And to say that in Canada and Quebec in particular, depriving people of their favorite sport is not an easy task.
“It’s been three weeks since we pressed the” Pause “button,” says Jean-François Chaumont of the Journal de Montréal. The image speaks for itself in these times when the world takes refuge in front of screens at home to kill time.
“We miss hockey,” continues the Quebec journalist. “It was almost the start of the playoffs. So for Montrealers it is a little less difficult because the Canadian was not going to participate, but the story is lives differently in cities where teams have a good chance of going far in the play-off. Quebec’s center Phillip Danault explained that he was still doing fairly well, while Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins had more hardly. “
Old cassettes
So to fill the void left by live matches, TV channels like RDS and TVA Sports decided to run their archives. “RDS has brought out the old tapes, says Jean-François Chaumont. For 28 nights in a row, they decided to spend 28 Canadiens victories, including those of the last Stanley Cup victory in 1993.”
This abrupt cessation of hockey in a province that lives for this sport also has unfortunate consequences for the media. “Several colleagues from TVA Sports have been temporarily laid off,” deplores the Quebec journalist. The numerous radio shows have been drastically reduced. In our daily lives, we went from 20 pages of sports to 8 or 9 per day. “
Because this crisis does not only affect the Montreal Canadiens, the tip of an iceberg that spans the entire province where thousands of athletes of all ages play. “Quebec society is on a break, according to Jean-François Chaumont. What makes the best audiences are the press conferences of the Prime Minister with two million viewers. But there are lots of little dramas playing out at levels I am thinking of the Memorial Cup (red: the final of the junior Canadian leagues with the QMJHL, the OHL and the WHL) which had to be canceled, for certain regions such as Chicoutimi, this is much less income. “
Need for public revenue
Unlike the Swiss League which went through matches behind closed doors before drawing a final line on its sports activities, the NHL has “played extra time”. And unlike the European championships, the best league in the world has not yet drawn a final line on a possible recovery. “We talk about playoffs in August, recalls the Montrealer. We would postpone the 20-21 season later in October. But that would mean continuing with a break of only a month and a half for the winner of the Stanley Cup. Honestly, I don’t see not how it could be done, especially looking at the American curve. “
But as we observe with the football championships in Europe or the NBA, officials assess the situation and make up rescue plans. One possible solution could be to gather the teams in a single “protected” place and to play matches behind closed doors. “This scenario, I see it well for the NBA, concludes Jean-François Chaumont. Because this league generates a lot of money thanks to TV rights. Same thing for the NFL which could do without the public during a whole season without losing a “because of the colossal size of TV contracts. For the NHL, it’s not as simple since spectator revenues weigh more heavily on the balance of clubs.”
By Jean-Frédéric Debétaz
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