NHL might take place in North Dakota if season resumes

Like many leagues of other sports, the NHL was forced to postpone its season, scheduled to take place in March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One month later, the NHL and its Players Association are discussing on the solution to salvage the remainder of the season. According to Sportsnet, that includes the possibility of resuming the 2019-20 season in North Dakota.

Several venues might be necessary for the league to hold the rest of the season in North Dakota and Sportsnet pointed out that the 11,640-seat facility Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks might be one of the options. It would give the league plenty of room to operate. It should be also noted that capacity might not be a too big deal in this situation since it isn’t clear whether fans will be allowed to attend matches if the league resumes play this season.

Ralph Engelstad Arena is the home of the University of North Dakota hockey team and has hosted several big hockey events, such as the 2005 World Junior Championships and the 2016 World Under-18 Championships.

However, nothing is imminent now and North Dakota is one of the hypothetical scenarios that the NHL is discussing. Even if they settled on a certain scenario, finding venues is just the first matter to any plan to resume. The league also needs to figure out hotel accommodations, transportation, and much more.

If the season resumes, both the league and the players will have to agree on all terms, including location.

The NHL postponed play back on March 12. They did just shortly after the NBA put their season on postponement and announced that Rudy Gobert of Utah Jazz tested positive for the COVID-19.

It’s unclear what the plan of the NHL is for finishing out the remainder of the season. Several teams obviously would have had plenty of time to catch up if the season hadn’t been put on pause prematurely.