Coronavirus is beginning to impact the NHL
By Ryan Pike
4 years agoAfter spreading for awhile, the novel coronavirus has begun to have its impact felt in North America. While the primary concern is on the health and well-being of those exposed to the virus, sports entities within North America – including the National Hockey League – are beginning to be impacted as preventative measures are put in place to halt the spread of the virus.
The Flames’ response
The Flames released a statement prior to the weekend about their preventative measures:
As precaution, CSEC has enhanced sanitizing measures at the Scotiabank Saddledome which include additional hand sanitizing stations, sanitizing equipment and cleaning staff. There is also increased cleaning frequency throughout the Scotiabank Saddledome in all heavy traffic public areas such as washrooms, lobbies and elevators. As recommended by Alberta Health Services, anyone with symptoms or feeling unwell should consider staying home.
Both on the public concourse and in the lower levels of the building, they’ve gone nuts with tons of signage regarding hand-washing and oodles of hand sanitizing stations.
Our pal Darren Krause over at LiveWire Calgary reached out to the Flames, and they’ve confirmed that they’re postponing their interactive fan experiences for the time-being. In other words: you’ll have more chances to wash and sanitize your hands at the ‘Dome, but fewer to meet with Flames players.
The NHL’s response
Over the weekend, teams began closing their locker rooms and holding their media availabilities in alternate venues – some teams used their media lounges, others like the Flames used their hallway areas directly adjacent to the locker room. The Flames began the new practices during Saturday’s skate.
While teams began those measures on their own, on Monday the NHL put out a statement formally implementing the policy:
After consultation with infectious disease and public health experts, and given the issues that can be associated with close contact in pre- and post-game settings, all team locker rooms and clubhouses will be open only to players and essential employees of teams and team facilities until further notice. Media access will be maintained in designated locations outside of the locker room and clubhouse setting. These changes will be effective beginning with tomorrow’s games and practices.We will continue to closely monitor this situation and take any further steps necessary to maintain a safe and welcoming environment.
After a couple days of the new media guidelines, they’re a small price to pay to allow the Flames (and other NHL clubs) slightly more control over the cleanliness of the areas the players are in. Media members lose the ability to informally work on stories via small-talk with players – a decent amount of the features we run here come from those types of interactions – but we’re still provided the same general level of access. It’s not like we can’t do our jobs, and our ability to tell the stories about the game won’t screech to a halt.
As a PHWA member, I hope it’s not permanent – as that would indicate that the health crisis has stuck around – but as a temporary measure it’s completely reasonable.
Elsewhere…
The coronavirus situation in Calgary is relatively minor. It’s significantly worse in the Bay Area, where it appears the San Jose Sharks won’t be able to host games for the remainder of March in an effort to halt the spread of the virus.
The ban will impact San Jose’s next three home dates: Mar. 19 vs. Montreal, Mar. 21 vs. Boston and Mar. 29 vs. Arizona. Per John Shannon, the league and the Sharks are investigating possibilities including empty arena games at SAP Center, neutral site games, playing in the visiting team’s arena, or rescheduling to later dates.
How San Jose’s games are dealt with will provide a template for what we can expect in the event games in other NHL markets are impacted.
Finally…
If you’re sick, stay home. If you think you might be sick, stay home. If you can’t find somebody to buy your tickets because you’re sick, donate them to Kids Up Front so less fortunate kids can get exposed to sports.
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