{"id":481872,"date":"2026-03-03T01:21:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/481872\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T01:21:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:21:19","slug":"calgary-mayor-to-meet-with-nhl-commissioner-to-discuss-world-cup-of-hockey-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/481872\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary Mayor to meet with NHL Commissioner to discuss World Cup of Hockey bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas has confirmed he\u2019ll meet with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of hosting the 2028 World Cup of Hockey.<\/a><\/p>\n

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The event \u2014 featuring eight of the top hockey nations in the world, with the anticipated participation of players from the NHL \u2014 will take place in February 2028 in North America and Europe, with the host cities to be announced following a bid process.<\/p>\n

The construction of a new arena in Calgary, scheduled to be ready for the 2027-28 NHL season, could be one of the city\u2019s main selling points.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prospect of hosting events like this are very exciting,\u201d Farkas said when asked about a bid to host the event. \u201cI think it shows the value of the investment in the event centre, the fact that we can host larger events\u2026 I think it would be very exciting to to be able to welcome the world, for this event. And I understand that there\u2019s going to be some more news coming very shortly on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tAn artist\u2019s rendition of what the new Calgary events centre will look like when completed. The venue is expected to be a major selling point in any Calgary bid to be a host city in the 2028 World Cup of Hockey.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy: City of Calgary\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Asked about the possibility of Alberta being chosen to host the event, Premier Danielle Smith said she\u2019s excited.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"For<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand it\u2019s a joint bid so both Calgary and Edmonton would benefit from it. It would be 2028, so right after the new event centre is open in Calgary and it would be mid year on Olympics, so it would be the second most watched sporting even in the world when it comes to hockey. So we are crossing our fingers and hoping that the NHL players association as well as the owners make a decision for the Calgary-Edmonton bid.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked to comment reports the province is willing to offer up to $15 million to support a bid, a spokesperson for Tourism and Sport Minister Andrew Boitchenko provided a written statement saying the government hasn\u2019t entered any agreements at this time.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDetails regarding the bid are commercially sensitive and their premature publication could adversely impact the competitiveness of Alberta\u2019s bid against others,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCalgary\u2019s new event centre on time, budget heading into busy 2026\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Construction of the new events centre, which broke ground in July 2024<\/a>, has a total budget of $1.2 billion with the city contributing $515 million in upfront costs.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Something just went off\u2019: Canadians in Middle East describe \u2018surreal\u2019 Iran missile strikes\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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During his lobbying efforts for a new Calgary arena, Bettman suggested that Calgary might not be chosen to host any big future NHL events without a new venue.<\/p>\n

While Farkas wasn\u2019t part of the previous city council that negotiated the arena deal, he was highly critical of both it and a previous arena deal he voted against when he was on council. On Monday, however, he adopted a conciliatory tone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that will be up ultimately for our city council to determine and weigh the benefits of that type of investment,\u201d Farkas said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut what I will say is that Calgary\u2019s at its best when we are welcoming the world. We have that Olympic legacy of being able to welcome the world\u2026 and as we think about the future prospect of hosting events like this, there\u2019s a huge business case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farkas also confirmed he and the NHL commissioner will attend a Flames game together on Tuesday. \u201cI\u2019m sure we\u2019re going to have a lot to talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bettman also has a media availability scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, although the Calgary Flames said there won\u2019t be any announcement.<\/p>\n

The World Cup of Hockey has been held on three occasions, with the United States winning the event in 1996 and Canada winning it in 2004 and 2016.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGary Bettman questions why Flames have to play in \u2019oldest building in the league\u2019\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas has confirmed he\u2019ll meet with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Tuesday to discuss the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[17916,57773,1014,5,4,4172,333,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-481872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-2028-world-cup-of-hockey","9":"tag-calgary-events-centre","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-nhl-commissioner-gary-bettman","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116162625416140710","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}