Los Angeles (AFP)
North American Ice Hockey League (NHL) commissioner Gary Bettman said on Tuesday that he did not rule out "no options" for the current season suspended due to the coronavirus, including its cancellation, in an interview with NBC Sports.
The NHL, which shutdown its championship in North America three weeks ago, sees its calendar tighten as the Covid-19 spreads.
"The best thing, which is also the simplest, would be to be able to finish the regular season at some point and then participate in the play-offs as usual. But we understand that this may not be possible. why we are considering every conceivable alternative to deal with any eventuality, "said Bettman.
"There is no point in speculating, because no one in any of the sports knows enough to make these kinds of decisions," he added.
This weekend, Bettman participated in a conference call with Donald Trump, along with the other bosses of the North American sports leagues.
While the American president wanted to be optimistic about the resumption of sports competitions "as soon as possible", Bettman appeared more balanced on NBC Sports. "I think there is too much uncertainty right now. I hope we will all know more by the end of April."
"As far as the NHL is concerned, we want to be ready to restart as soon as we have a green light. However, this green light may not be clear, because there may still be places where we cannot play and others places where we can. So we're looking at all the options. Nothing has been ruled out, nothing has been ruled out, "he said.
"And it will largely depend on what we can do with the time we have left, because we also have to focus on next season," he said.
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