KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When the NBA’s Toronto Raptors organization selected Tampa as its temporary U.S. home during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kansas City and T-Mobile Center lost out on an opportunity to provide residence to a major sports franchise.
But KC’s door to housing a major North American pro sports franchise during this time of the coronavirus remains open.
The NHL may soon be looking for U.S. cities for its Canadian-based teams because of COVID-19 travel restrictions in Canada. If that’s the case, then why not Kansas City?
This wasn’t a possibility weeks ago when the Raptors sought a U.S. host city. They were relocating south to the United States because the U.S.-Canada border has been closed to non-essential travel.
The NHL thought it had found a solution for its own seven Canada-based teams: A realigned all-Canada division. The Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks play only each other during the regular season.
The league hoped to begin a shortened, 56-game season on Jan. 13.
But as of late this week, local Canadian health authorities and the NHL hadn’t approved the notion of Canadian teams even leaving their own cities to travel to other cities within Canada.
The teams were informed of the possibility of alternate plans during a Thursday conference call with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, according to the Toronto Sun.
This headline, on an editorial piece posted on a Montreal Canadiens’ fan site called A Winning Habit, was eye-catching: “Montreal Canadiens could become Kansas City Canadiens this season.”
Officials in Kansas City and T-Mobile Center said Friday they hadn’t recently been in contact with the NHL. So this may be nothing but idle speculation.
But those who know hockey know that Kansas City was once the home of the KC Scouts, an NHL expansion team that played in Kemper Arena before relocating to Colorado in 1976 and eventually became the New Jersey Devils.
Another possibility for this season is having the Canadian NHL teams play in bubbles, similar to how the league handled the resumption of last season and Stanley Cup playoffs. Toronto and Edmonton served as hub cities.
The Toronto Star reported that relocating teams to the U.S. “one of the last options.”
