It’s official. Calgary and Edmonton have been chosen, together with the Czech Republic capital city of Prague, because the host cities for the World Cup of Hockey in 2028.
The NHL made the announcement on Monday in a social media post featuring messages from NHL superstars Cale Makar, who was born in Calgary, together with Edmonton Oilers’ captain Connor McDavid and David Pastrnak, who’s from the Czech Republic and plays for the Boston Bruins.
“I’m excited to announce that the 2028 World Cup of Hockey is coming to my very own hometown, Calgary, Alberta,” said Makar in a message posted on the social media platform X.
The event, featuring eight of the highest hockey nations on this planet in a best-on-best tournament, will happen in February 2028.
Calgary and Prague will host the round-robin games, while the semi-finals and finals will probably be played at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that the semifinals and finals of the 2028 World Cup of Hockey will happen in Edmonton, Alberta,” said McDavid within the social media post.
The tournament made its debut in 1996 and was last played in 2016 in Toronto, when Canada won.
Scotia Place, the longer term home of the Calgary Flames, is scheduled to open in the autumn of 2027 and can have a seating capability of about 18,400 people.
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The announcement of the World Cup’s return comes two weeks after NHL commissioner Gary Bettman visited Calgary to tour the development site of Scotia Place, which is a component of Calgary’s latest $1.2 billion events centre development, that can function the brand new home for the NHL’s Calgary Flames.
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During his visit to the town, Bettman described the joint bid by Calgary and Edmonton as “an excellent bid” that “people may very well be very pleased with.”
Details of Calgary and Edmonton’s plans to host the 2028 World Cup of Hockey were announced during a press conference within the Alberta capital on Monday.
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“So we did initially submit our bids individually, as was requested by the NHL and the NHLPA,” said Alisha Reynolds, president of Tourism Calgary.
“But we put in something at the underside of our bids that we call a love note, which was a comment that if there have been an appetite to contemplate a joint bid that will create more movement, more economic impact, and more community engagement between two destinations — that we might like to take next steps in a conversation about that joint bid.”
“What got here back to us fairly promptly was they loved the concept and that they desired to explore a partnership between Edmonton and Calgary.”
Organizers estimate the tournament will generate $375 million in economic impact for Alberta, help fill nearly 172,00 hotel rooms and support greater than 43,000 jobs.
Plans call for Calgary to host a complete of seven games at Scotia Place, including six round-robin and one elimination game.
The Flames’ latest arena is scheduled to be accomplished in fall 2027 and is predicted to seat about 18,400 people.
Edmonton will play host to 2 semifinal games and the championship game at Rogers Place, which has a capability of 18,347 for hockey.
Plans call for Calgary to host six round robin games and an elimination game at Scotia Place, while Edmonton will host to 2 semifinal games and the championship game at Rogers Place.
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The CEO of Roger’s Place, Stu Ballantyne, said the 2 Alberta cities were amongst “many” bidding to host the tournament.
“We never were exactly sure what number of NHL teams were bidding on it for the North American tournaments. (But) a whole lot of the NBA cities weren’t capable of to offer up the time because if you may have hosted your entire tournament it’s a few 20-day commitment from the sector. So we’re still, to this present day, undecided what number of we (were) competing with, but we’re completely satisfied to have won,” Ballantyne added.
The participating countries, together with ticket information and other tournament details will probably be announced at a later date.
Fans who’re enthusiastic about purchasing tickets are being asked to fill out an “interest form” on the tournament’s official website.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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