Calgary, Edmonton leading candidates to host 2028 World Cup — The Fourth Period

The NHL and NHLPA have started planning the 2028 World Cup of Hockey and are inching closer to decisions on host cities for the tournament.

There is expected to be one European-based host city and one North American host city, with at least eight countries participating.

According to TFP’s David Pagnotta, Calgary and Edmonton are considered frontrunners to jointly host part of the World Cup. The two cities submitted a joint bid when the NHL and NHLPA were taking requests.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was in Calgary on Tuesday and visited Calgary’s new $1.2 billion event centre, home to Scotia Place, the Flames future home.

“They’ve taken that into account and they’ve been able to look at best practices in terms of the layout,” Bettman said, as quoted by NHL.com. “The new arena’s twice as large in square footage (as the Saddledome). It has more bathrooms. It has more amenities. It’s just going to be incredible.

“This building has been well thought-out and as a result, it’s going to work very well for its intended purposes.”

Ten North American cities and six European cities originally submitted bids to host games in the tournament, which is slated for February 2028.

Bettman confirmed that the in “not-too-distant future” a decision will be made on host cities, followed by a formal announcement that may not come until some point before or during the NHL Playoffs.

“Bids are being evaluated,” Bettman confirmed. “Nothing has been finalized, but it was a good bid. I’m not prepared to tell you today that it was or was not the winning bid, but certainly it’s a bid that people could be very proud of.”

Boston and Montreal, the two cities that hosted last season’s 4 Nations tournament, also entered the mix, though Montreal is not expected to be a host city, per sources. Neither is Toronto.