Trump's call with major sports leagues means little change for timeline of NHL return

A historic moment in the United States today as President Donald Trump held a conference call with the commissioners of every major sports league operating in that country. This included NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, as well as Roger Goodell of the NFL, Rob Manfred of MLB, Vince McMahon of WWE, Jay Monahan of the PGA , Adam Silver of the NBA, Dana White of UFC, Roger Penske of IndyCar and Michael Whan of the LPGA. While it had been speculated that the call would develop a firm timeline for the return of these leagues to regular play, the fact is, not much changed, especially when it comes to the return of the NHL.

"They want to get back. They've got to get back.... We want to get back soon, very soon," Trump said of his conversation with pro sports commissioners at his new briefing Saturday. "We have to open our country again."

According to ESPN, Trump told the leagues he wants to have fans back in stadiums and arenas by August or September. This is the timeline the NHL was looking at anyway. All of this needs to be prefaced by the fact that it needs to be deemed safe for fans to return to public sporting events before that can happen and no one knows when that ruling might come.

TSN Insider Pierre LeBrun summed it up nicely, saying "Basically Trump hopes to have sports (and fans in arenas/stadiums) as soon as possible if safe. But who knows when that will be? From an NHL perspective, nothing changes. The NHL hopes to resume its season at some point even if it means summer hockey. But who knows if it can."

LeBrun added he doesn't see hockey returning until sometime next season, but he hopes he's wrong.

Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom was asked his thoughts about the NFL starting its season in August. His response was short. "I'm not anticipating that happening," he said.

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