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Canucks in conversation with City of Vancouver about playoff plans

Rob Williams
Rob Williams
|
Apr 5 2024, 2:30 pm
Canucks in conversation with City of Vancouver about playoff plans
The Canucks are getting Rogers Arena playoff ready. (Rob Williams/Daily Hive)

A lot has changed in the nine years since the Vancouver Canucks last hosted playoff games at Rogers Arena.

Large outdoor viewing parties are no longer just something reserved for the Stanley Cup Final. It’s now customary for most teams to hold them throughout the entirety of the playoffs.

That wasn’t the case when the Canucks played the Calgary Flames in the first round of the 2015 playoffs, although Maple Leaf Square started hosting viewing parties for games in Toronto as far back as 2013.

Closer to home in Calgary and Edmonton, the Flames and Oilers have held epic outdoor events when they’ve been in the playoffs since 2022, beginning in Round 1. The NBA’s Toronto Raptors also held viewing parties throughout their championship run in 2019.

They were all wildly popular, well organized, and held without incident.

Will Vancouver do the same?

It’s a question Daily Hive posed to the Canucks two years ago, following successful events in other Canadian markets.

“It’s something we’ve talked about internally, and would obviously love to explore it again,” a team spokesperson told Daily Hive in 2022. “We were looking at options just prior to the pandemic interrupting the 2019-20 season. I’m sure we will explore it again in a way that is safe, exciting for fans and unique to our Vancouver market.”

The pandemic ruined playoff party plans in 2020, but the Canucks did have brief internal discussions about potentially holding a COVID-safe drive-in viewing party at BC Place.

When reached for comment this week, the Canucks told Daily Hive they had “nothing to share at this point” about their plans for the 2024 playoffs.

canucks rogers arena plaza 2

Construction is in progress on the plaza outside Rogers Arena (Rob Williams/Daily Hive)

The playoffs begin in under three weeks and it appears the plaza outside Rogers Arena is getting a facelift, though they’ll need to secure a much bigger space to hold an event like the ones seen in Toronto, Edmonton, or Calgary.

An outdoor viewing party would likely need the support of the City of Vancouver, and in that regard, both sides are talking.

“The City is thrilled that the Canucks are in the Stanley Cup playoffs,” a City of Vancouver spokesperson told Daily Hive this week. “We are in early conversations with the Canucks and other partners regarding supporting plans.”

Needless to say, Vancouver has a checkered past when it comes to viewing parties. The last one in 2011 ended in a riot that brought shame upon the city. But there are lots of lessons to be learned from that one.

Big screens were set up in the middle of Georgia Street during the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, allowing thousands of fans to congregate without having to first pass a security checkpoint. The event got out of control.

Viewing parties in other cities are typically ticketed events with fenced-off areas, complete with security, to ensure crowd control.

 

If the Canucks do host an outdoor playoff party, one of the neighbouring parking lots would offer up a natural location. Perhaps it could be held across the street, south of Rogers Arena at Concord Pacific Place. That’s where Cirque du Soleil has been held in the past, and False Creek would provide one heck of a backdrop.

vancouver map rogers arena

The parking lot south of Rogers Arena, owned by Concord Pacific, has held events before (Google Maps)

The Stanley Cup playoffs are scheduled to begin on April 20, though the Canucks’ postseason schedule won’t be known until after their final regular season game on April 18.

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