St. Louis Blues Could Host A Pod, But Should They?

The NHL seems to be moving closer and closer to finding a way to resume the 2019-20 season and give the St. Louis Blues a chance to defend. Could they even host games? Perhaps so.

In the ever-evolving landscape that is North American sports during the pandemic, it seems as though the NHL is doing everything and anything they can to finish the 2019-20 season. Now, there are rumblings that the St. Louis Blues could even be considered as a host city.

The NHL has made no officials moves or statements and have already moved on from one or two ideas regarding possible restarts. With that in mind, nothing is set and all of this is just being floated out there.

However, as April draws to a close, the league seems to be setting its sights on a four, possibly five, city hosting format to finish out the regular season. How things would be condensed from there for playoffs is anyone’s guess.

One of the interesting things to come from this switch to the multi-city format is St. Louis possibly being one of the hosts. What would be just as interesting is who might play here.

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There have been no definitive reports of how the league would split the teams, but the current “front runners” to host are St. Paul, Minnesota, Edmonton, Alberta and Raleigh, North Carolina. In case you forgot, St. Paul would already be a city with a team from the Central Division, should the league want to pod the teams by division.

So, if St. Louis were to become a fourth team in that grouping, who plays here? Let’s assume they keep teams within their division. The league could put the Central teams in St. Louis and have the Atlantic Division play in Minnesota.

They could also swap that. Or, they might throw everything into a blender and have divisions play in cities where there would be absolutely no home ice.

However, the one thing that sticks out in this scenario is what is to be gained? When I first heard the idea on the radio, I have to say I was excited.

As pointed out by Jim Thomas, the Blues have proven they can host big events. They filled the arena for Stanley Cup games when the Blues were not even in town.

They hosted the Winter Classic and All-Star Game in the last handful of years. They know how to get these things organized and run smoothly.

But, outside of getting some exposure for the franchise by being labeled one that helped, what is there to gain?

The guys on the Stalter and Rivers Show on ESPN 101 made it sound like there could be an economic impact? I’m not sure how.

There would be no fans at these games, so there would be no jobs to be gained by those in St. Louis. Perhaps the NHL would use local camera technicians as opposed to bringing an NBC crew.

Hotels would get some benefit, clearly. But, it would likely be a flat rate as opposed to a nightly fee. So, it’s a scenario where any money is better than no money for them.

Perhaps a catering service or a handful of restaurants benefit too? Players and staff have to eat, but depending on what the rules around the state are by then, they might not have the ability to go in and sit down, so the servers get little out of it.

I’m not saying there would be no impact. I just don’t see how it would be this fantastic gain for the city or even the team.

Nevertheless, St. Louis is perfectly suited to host something like this. That has never been more true than now.

The guys on the radio were talking about having practice at the Enterprise Center, but unless teams absolutely want it, there would be no need. The Centene Community Ice Center has three NHL-sized rinks, more than fit to hold practices or even a game if needs be.

The Maryville University Hockey Center is also a first-class facility. Both Centene and the MUHC have hotels right next to them.

Enterprise Center has two hotels within a three-block walk. That should be more than enough rooms to house teams and whatever media is allowed in.

The buildings would benefit. Maryville and Lindenwood’s hockey programs would get some publicity.

Still, other than having hockey back, overall, the larger benefit escapes me. Even so, it would be interesting to have St. Louis as a host city, even though there would be zero interaction with the players involved.