NHL unveils plans to return to the ice

As states across the nation begin to reopen their economies, the NHL announced its plans to return to the ice. Yahoo Finance's Editor-at-Large Dan Roberts joins The First Trade to discuss.

Video Transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: Sports would be a nice break for many of us, and luckily, the NHL is looking to finally drop the puck. It's proposing a new plan with a 2014 playoff. But is it good for sponsors and league fans? Yahoo Finance editor at large Dan Roberts joins us. Dan, good or bad here?

DAN ROBERTS: Well, I think it's smart, Brian. And of course, medically, none of us really knows what's going to happen in terms of safety and in terms of whether this could be another spike in cases in cities that have reopened. So of course, that could throw a wrench in everything.

But I will say-- I'm writing about this right now-- that the NHL has now given the most detailed return plan of any league. And I think that if it goes well, it could become the model that all the other leagues follow.

And I didn't think I'd be saying that. I mean, if you go back to March, it all started with the NBA suspending its season. The NBA was the first domino. And in the weeks that followed that, not just sports leagues but tons of live events, concerts, whatever, followed the NBA's lead. And the NBA and Adam Silver got a lot of credit.

Because of that, I kind of thought that it would be fitting if the first league to then resume would be the NBA, sort of the bookends. But it might be the NHL. Now, of course, the NBA is also trying to return. It's trying to bring all its teams to Orlando, and MLB is trying to start its season. But the NHL's plan, which is very detailed, makes some sense. There's multiple phases, kind of like the way cities are doing it.

In the first phase, which starts June 1, teams can start individual or small-group training at their own team facilities, so players practicing. That hasn't been allowed previously. Phase 2, which wouldn't start until July 1 at the earliest, would be a full training camp, where all the teams would start training again.

And finally, phase 3-- and Gary Bettman has said it could be as soon as late July, although others think it wouldn't be that soon, it could be August-- is playing this 2014 playoffs, so the top 12 teams in each conference from back when the league paused on March 11, in two hub cities. So they'll bring all the players, all the personnel, to those two hub cities, and that would make it more safer-- you're kind of quarantining-- and play the NHL playoffs over the course of a couple of months, maybe, or maybe a month and a half, however long it takes. I'm sure it will be a sped-up version.

And the NHL isn't saying what cities those would be, but it did release top candidates. I'm sure Vegas is going to be one of the two. Chicago is also one that Commissioner Gary Bettman pointed to. But it makes a lot of sense if it works. And of course, there are a lot of asterisks.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: So Dan, I'd imagine, no fans in the stands? That's the first part of the question.

DAN ROBERTS: No fans.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: OK. [INAUDIBLE], And also, what does this mean for advertisers, and what happens to their exposure if they want to advertise on the NHL?

DAN ROBERTS: I think if you're an NHL advertiser, you'd rather it come back in some blunted, condensed form than not at all. And let's also talk about TV. A lot of the NHL games are on NBC, and the NBC has a vacuum right now, a space, because it was going to have the Olympics during this time. And obviously, the Olympics, coming in July, have now been pushed a full year. So if you're NBC, you would welcome this, and NBC Sports. I think it's probably good for everyone involved in the NHL.

Of course, the scenario you don't want-- and I'm sure every league's thinking about this. And in some ways, I have a little bit of a suspicion, a theory, that no league actually wants to be the very first to return, because then you're the duck in the water. You're the litmus test. But what you don't want to have happen is, you take all the precautions, you have a detailed plan, you come back, and two weeks in, suddenly a bunch of players get it, and you shut down again. And then hindsight's 20/20. People say you shouldn't have come back.

But considering all the different safety measures in place and all the cities that have now reopened-- I mean, what, almost every big city except for LA and New York City-- I think this is smart, and I think this has a chance of working. And I'm sure the other leagues are watching this closely.

BRIAN SOZZI: Oh, I can hockey watch. I'm tired of watching these old-school NBA dunk contests on ESPN. So let's watch some live hockey.

DAN ROBERTS: I'm a Pred guy. Go Nashville Predators. And they'll be [INAUDIBLE] And then the Boston Bruins will be the number one seed in the East. So I think if you're a hockey fan this makes a lot of sense, even though, again, you're now starting the playoffs based on a much shorter regular season. I mean, normally, right now, you'd have the Stanley Cup finals going on. But the interesting thing will be, there's a chance that you'll have the Stanley Cup finals going on in September, which is very late. But better to have it happen than not happen.

BRIAN SOZZI: All right. Dan Roberts, thanks so much.