Calgary ban on public events includes Flames, Stampeders should leagues restart

Calgary’s ban on public events until June 30 includes NHL and CFL games should those leagues resume before then, the city’s mayor said Friday.

Leagues, games and tournaments around the world have been suspended, cancelled or postponed indefinitely because of the COVID-19 crisis.

Eighteen Albertans had died and 1,075 people had been infected in the province as of Friday.

“Even if before the end of June we are in a situation where we think we’ve seen the other side of the mountain, even if we’re at a place where the number of cases are coming down, I’m no epidemiologist, but I don’t think it’s wise to say ‘hey everybody, let’s have seventeen, twenty or thirty-five thousand people all in one space,'” Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said.

“That’s probably just not wise from a public health perspective.

“Certainly between now and the end of June, I cannot imagine that you would see events like that starting up again.”

The NHL suspended operations March 12 with 189 regular-season games remaining.

The Calgary Flames were in playoff position sitting third in the Pacific Division with a 36-27-7 record. 

The NHL doesn’t yet have a timeline for re-starting the league and has asked teams for arena availability dates through August, according to The Associated Press.

All CFL training camps have been postponed. Rookie camps were to open May 13 followed by main camps May 17.

The Calgary Stampeders are marking their 75th year in 2020.

The Stampeders were to host the Saskatchewan Roughriders in an exhibition game May 30. Then they were to open the regular season entertaining the Montreal Alouettes and B.C. Lions on June 12 and June 18, respectively.

Toronto’s ban on city-led events through June 30, announced earlier this week, does not prohibit professional sporting events.

That means the Maple Leafs and Raptors still could hypothetically play games at Scotiabank Arena, the Blue Jays could play at the Rogers Centre and Toronto FC and the Argonauts could play at BMO Field.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2020.

The Canadian Press