Since the late 1800s, the cities of Calgary and Edmonton have not gotten along. Since the 1980s, the hockey clubs representing these two cities – the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers – have been downright hostile to each other. But in 2028, the two cities and teams may find themselves strange bedfellows as co-hosts of the World Cup of Hockey.

On Tuesday afternoon, speaking in the Ed Whalen media lounge at the Scotiabank Saddledome, National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed that the two cities have submitted a joint bid to host the North America games when the World Cup returns in 2028.

“I’m aware of the bid,” said Bettman. “Bids are being evaluated. Nothing has been finalized. But it was a good bid. I’m not prepared to tell you today that it was or was not the winning, bid but certainly it’s a bit that people could be very proud of.”

Bettman added in a subsequent answer that host selection remains “a work in progress.”

“Things still need to be finalized, which is why there has yet to be an announcement,” said Bettman. “But at some point in the not-too-distant future, a couple of weeks or so, we should be in a position to finalize and announce.”

The game plan for the World Cup is to have two pools of four national teams apiece, with a pool located in North America and another in Europe. Each pool would feature six games in a round robin format. The exact format for the playoff round isn’t clear quite yet, but in years past the top two teams in each pool advanced to a pair of semi-final games, followed by a best-of-three final series.

Originally, the NHL touted a format that involved a single host city on either side of the Atlantic Ocean, but it does appear that they are open to multiple host cities. It’s unclear exactly how a Calgary/Edmonton-hosted event would split up the games, but based on prior World Cups it seems likely that the two cities would split the North American group stage games and perhaps the two semi-finals, and then one city would get the final series.

While Calgary’s shiny new arena, Scotia Place, is slated to open in time for the 2027-28 NHL season, Edmonton raised the curtain on their new building, Rogers Place, for the 2016-17 NHL season. While the NHL often promises to bring big events like the NHL Draft or All-Star Game to new buildings after they open, Edmonton never got one – sorry, we’re not counting hosting the NHL’s COVID bubble playoffs in 2020 in front of zero fans as an “event.”

A joint bid would allow both cities to get the spotlight on the world stage, and logistically would make it a bit easier to get provincial and federal government funding to support the bid.

Host cities for the 2028 World Cup of Hockey are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.