Neither the Calgary Flames or Stampeders will be allowed to host home games until June 30 at the earliest.
On Friday, the City of Calgary announced that it was banning all public events until the end of June in an effort to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
That includes outdoor festivals, races and sporting events — including Flames and Stamps home games.
“(Calgary Emergency Management Agency Chief Tom Sampson) says they will not be permitted to have gatherings of that type,” said Mayor Naheed Nenshi. “Look, 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 in a place where the number of cases are coming down, I’m no epidemiologist, but I really don’t think it’s wise to say let’s have 17 or 20 or 35,000 people all in one space.
“That’s probably just not wise from a public health perspective, so certainly between now and the end of June I cannot imagine that you would see events like that starting up again.”
The NHL has put its season on pause but has asked teams for rink dates into August. The Flames had eight games left on their regular-season schedule and were in a playoff position at the time of the season’s postponement.
The CFL, meanwhile, has postponed the start of its mid-May training camps but has not announced anything regarding its plans for the regular season.
The Stampeders were scheduled to play three home games before the end of June, starting with a pre-season tilt against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on May 30 at McMahon Stadium.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
