To appease the attention-deficit mob, the league may replace them with the heroes of the post-expansion era The concept of dumping the league’s history in favour of blog talking points for Millennials has taken root. If the attention-deficit mob – which loves changing the names of universities or toppling statues to suit the mood –…
There’s no going back since Bieksa joined the crew in 2020 The recent news that the NHL is contemplating an 84-game regular season is a testament to the bankruptcy of ideas at NHL HQ in New York City. Perhaps they felt it necessary after the shellacking the league absorbed for its “non-binary” proclamation. And its…
So why aren’t there any trans men in the NHL? Imagine the Academy Awards coming out in favour of returning The Dreamers to their home country. Or the Tonys advocating a repeal of gay marriage. That’s the equivalent of the NHL’s Twitter site tweeting, “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Nonbinary identity is…
Unfortunately, city council is not willing to give up on a deal just yet
Taxpayers may have dodged a bullet. Calgary’s arena deal has fallen through. While Mayor Jyoti Gondek laments the loss, taxpayers should be relieved since it was a bad deal and the only winners were rich hockey team owners. As beloved as the Calgary Flames are, they are not a charity. According to Forbes, the team…
Annual fundraising effort to support clinical trial of precision drug developed at U of A
As 40 local hockey players brave the elements on an outdoor rink just outside Sherwood Park, Alberta for the World’s Longest Hockey Game, they’ll be making a difference in the lives of cancer patients in Edmonton. Over the course of more than 10 days and nights of non-stop shinny, the game, which began on Feb.…
New research has implications for reopening arenas to fans during COVID-19 pandemic
When one of the big four professional sports leagues in North America expands into a new market, it brings with it an increase in influenza-related deaths, according to a sport management researcher looking to inform the conversation around getting sports fans back in stands in the midst of a pandemic. “We wanted to find out…
Marketing wins outweigh limited economic benefits for city, province and Oilers, according to U of A sports management researchers
If Edmonton is selected as one of the two host cities for the 2020 National Hockey League playoffs, the big winners will be the province's health-care system and its ability to attract talent, according to a pair of University of Alberta sports management researchers. However, with no fans in the stands and participants all but…
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Or, as they say in pro sports, desperate times call for divisional realignment. With the COVID-19 pandemic having applied the brakes to (virtually) everything sporting since early March, fans are going stir crazy. So, with hints that U.S. President Donald Trump might do a limited reopening of economic activity…
The emergency NHL goalie did what every sports fan wishes they could do every time they watch the best of the best play
I can’t get enough of the highly improbable David Ayres story. A 42-year-old kidney transplant recipient – and until recently a Zamboni driver for a minor league hockey team – who hadn’t played in a hockey game, at any level, for five years, enters a National Hockey League game in the second period, stops eight…
The future of franchise-based leagues and pro tours may hang in the balance as big-money investors look to strip out superstars
In business they’re called corporate raiders. People who buy up a publicly traded stock whose assets are thought to be undervalued. They then strip out the valuable assets and sell them at a large profit, leaving the shell of a company behind. The world of sports has been largely immune to raider capitalism so far.…