The NHL will give financial support to all 31 teams and it’s expected to be a lot of money!

As we await for official confirmation from the National Hockey League and the Players' Association for the start of the 2020-21 season and its schedule, there are now talks that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman could be willing to pay a significant sum of money to each team in order to relieve some of the financial stress linked to the pandemic and the shortened campaign. 

According to insider Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, he who made the report on the air on RDS in French, the NHL could follow the NBA’s protocol as they recently paid $ 30 million to each team in financial assistance that will help protect against cash-flow and liquidity issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Here is how LeBrun explained it, translated from French: 

“It has been confirmed to me this afternoon. Will it be the same amount as the NBA? The NHL did not want to confirm the number to me, but one of my sources indicated that it was going to be ' comparable 'to that of the NBA offered its teams. We know that the NHL has had for a long time already, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, a line of credit for team owners when the need arises. The shutdown in March resulted in more money being injected into this line of credit. Additional sums will therefore be available to teams in the coming months. We know that it’s been a long time since NHL teams have received any income because of the pandemic.”

While LeBrun was unable to confirm the amount of money that is expected to be offered to teams, he strongly believes it could be around the same amount offered to NBA clubs, which is $30 millions. 

That’s a lot of money and hopefully it gets teams back on track without biting the players in the butt later on… 

NHL teams have been without income for several months now and will have to prepare to play, for the vast majority of them, a full season without being able to welcome fans in attendance to their local games. 

You have to admit it is encouraging to see that Bettman and the league are willing to help teams, though let’s hope it isn’t at the cost of something else in the end.