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Leagues and Governing Bodies

NHL Could Temporarily Realign In '20-21 To Form Canadian Division

NHL is holding to its schedule of a full season starting Dec. 1, but sources pegged that as "unrealistic"GETTY IMAGES

There is a "possibility the NHL could temporarily realign for 2020-21 to form a Canadian Division" in which the seven clubs north of the border "play exclusively against each other," according to Larry Brooks of the N.Y. POST. The NHL currently is "holding to its schedule to open camps on Nov. 17 and begin a full 82-game season on Dec. 1." However, sources "have indicated that is unrealistic." A late December or January start of a truncated schedule where fans are "permitted to attend games in meaningful numbers is probably the NHL's best-case scenario" for '20-21 (N.Y. POST, 8/30).

HUB CONCEPT WORKS: In Toronto, Kevin McGran wrote the NHL hubs in Edmonton and Toronto "are working," as COVID-19 "has not penetrated the bubble and, perhaps more importantly for Toronto's public health, no one associated with the playoffs has infected anybody on the outside." That is "good news for hockey" because the NHL "may have to revisit the hub cities idea" for '20-21. NHLPA Special Assistant to the Exec Dir Mathieu Schneider said for the "first quarter, or maybe even the first half," of next season, "(we'll need) to have a plan in place where maybe we'll be looking at guys living at home but flying into a bubble city and playing several games, and then flying back out." Describing discussions on next season so far as "spitballing," Schneider said, "I had the ability to talk to several general managers and key presidents (over) theoretically what next year might look like" (TORONTO STAR, 8/30).

BACK WITH A MISSION: The NHL had tripleheaders on Saturday and yesterday after games were not played Thursday and Friday, and in L.A., Helene Elliott noted players considered the pause "to be a launch point to expand discussions about ending racism in hockey and beyond." Lightning D Luke Schenn said, "We're all having the conversation at this point in time and we're all looking to educate ourselves and wanting to improve" (L.A. TIMES, 8/30). In Boston, Kevin Paul Dupont wrote fans eventually "will return," and the bubble "will become a distant, though vivid, memory." Dupont: "Far harder, and more vital, will be for the same players, league officials, and union to engineer and execute an effective plan to develop and advance people of color in the game" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/30).

COMING AROUND: THE HOCKEY NEWS' Ken Campbell wrote NHL players speaking out on racial and social injustice is "huge for a sport that has demanded for too long that its athletes just shut up and play and stick to hockey." That the confines of the bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton "helped these conversations along and spurred them to action is the biggest takeaway here." For two days, NHL players "were not content to stick to hockey." Campbell: "And they don't want us to, either" (THEHOCKEYNEWS.com, 8/28). In Chicago, Phil Thompson wrote the NHL "will look out of step and timid by tiptoeing, reluctantly, into the conversation" on racial and social injustice. The league is "reactionary." Thompson: "Why? Because they risk the ire of 'cancel' trolls with the reductionist 'stick to sports' chirping on social media?" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 8/30).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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