CALGARY — Gary Bettman wasn’t ready to leave the 2028 World Cup to Calgary.
But he was willing to pour oil on the building to make it one of the best in the world.
“You can’t ask for a nicer building,” Bettman said shortly after touring the Scotia Place construction site on Tuesday.
“It looks like it will be a spectacular, first-class, state-of-the-art stadium. I’m excited about it and Flames fans will be excited about it when they get a chance to experience it. It will be a great addition to the city of Calgary to have this type of facility that, in addition to hosting the Flames, can also host concerts and other events that don’t currently take place in Calgary.
“The new building is twice as big, has more bathrooms and more amenities. It’s going to be amazing.”
The $1.2 billion events center located across the street from the Saddledome is on a short list of venues that could host the eight-team top tournament, Sportsnet reported Sunday. The tournament will see four countries from Europe and four from North America play before the finals on this side of the pond.
Sources say Calgary’s bid is considered the frontrunner based on several factors, including the extensive and unique celebrations planned around Calgary, the world-class stadiums and cities hosting them, the league’s desire to reward cities that make such investments, and the city’s endless support for the game.
“Nothing is finalized, but it was a good bid,” Bettman said.
“I’m not prepared to tell you today that it was a winning bid or that it wasn’t a winning bid, but it was certainly a bid that people can be very proud of. I think it’s always been a great place to come to. Just ask the Stampede, and the millions of tourists who come here every year.”
Calgary also has an advantage over American destinations due to the political uncertainty of hosting matches in a country whose president has already threatened to disrupt FIFA’s upcoming World Cup schedule.
Bettman said a decision on the two host cities will be announced in two weeks and claimed the league never told Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on Monday about the $15 million the province provided for a joint host bid between Calgary and Edmonton.
The commissioner did not say whether Edmonton was involved or whether other cities were on the shortlist the NHL and NHLPA cut from the 25 original applicants.
The party’s claim was that his visit, along with deputy chief executive Bill Daly and a number of other league officials, was simply part of a routine check-up of ownership across the league, albeit to keep an eye on the progress of the new rink, which would include a community stadium.
“What’s clear to me is that a lot of homework has been done studying the most recent new buildings,” Bettman said of the building, which is scheduled to open in September 2027. “If there were things that someone wanted to do differently, they took that into account.”
“They were able to see best practices in terms of layout, but the building is a lot further along than it looks, because you can see the steel coming out of the ground and not fully rotating. There’s internal work that’s already going on underneath the ground that you can’t see.”
In response to players’ demands, the league promised to host the World Cup every four years, alternating with the Olympics every two years.
Bettman said there was no need to commit right now for an eighth country to join Canada, the United States, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland in February 2028.
Asked whether Russia, currently at a standstill, will finalize this area, Bettman said: “I think it depends on IIHF decisions on that, the world situation, things that are out of our control.”
Otherwise, Slovakia will likely qualify if it finishes fourth at the Olympics.
On an interesting note about hosting events in Alberta, Bettman said the league has considered hosting outdoor games in Lake Louise in the past.
“It’s true that it makes a picturesque place grand, but I don’t know if that can actually happen,” Bettman said. Bettman equated it to hosting games in Lake Tahoe during a pandemic.
“Physically, it’s a little difficult because there’s no infrastructure. Economically, it’s a little difficult because there’s no fans. What we’ve discussed in advance is that it’s federal land around Lake Louise and the regulations can make it almost impossible to deal with in terms of what we have to do and people who care about the environmental aspect don’t like it.”
But hosting the world at Scotia Place is a whole different story.
