MANALAPAN, Fla. -- The World Cup of Hockey 2028 will shine the spotlight on the rich tradition of the sport in the Canadian province of Alberta, along with Czechia’s capital city of Prague.
The NHL and NHL Players' Association announced Monday that Calgary and Edmonton will be the North American host cities, with Prague serving as the European host for the eight-team international best-on-best tournament.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, speaking at a press conference Monday with NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh and NHLPA assistant executive director Ron Hainsey, said the NHL “couldn’t be more excited” for the event.
“We think all three cities are going to do great things for this event, Bettman said at the NHL general managers meetings at Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa. “We believe this will be a huge success…highlighting the best-on-best that we believe is the best of any sport with the world’s greatest athletes.”
The tournament was first announced via a video featuring David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins, who is from Czechia, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar, who is from Calgary, and Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid.
Scotia Place, the Calgary Flames' new arena that will open in the 2027-28 season, and at O2 Arena in Prague, will each host six round-robin games and one elimination game.
The World Cup semifinals and final will be played at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
“We’re going to be in extraordinarily strong, exciting, state-of-the-art buildings for all of it,” Bettman said. “So when you put the whole package together, particularly the Alberta component, it really was a bid that stood out and was gratifying to see.”
The tournament will feature 17 games played over 13 days. The NHL schedule in the 2027-28 season will pause for 17 days to allow for a runway to the tournament and time for players competing to reintegrate back into their respective teams.
The schedule for the tournament, the eight competing nations, dates, and ticket purchasing opportunities will be announced at a later date.
“It is a great day for hockey, another great day for hockey,” Walsh said. “When you think about what’s been accomplished in the last two years; the 4 Nations tournament, which was beyond expectations, having our NHL players return to the Olympics this year in February in Milan was an incredible experience, and now having the World Cup of Hockey working collectively together. It’s great for our players. Our players want this. It’s wonderful for our fans. It’s great for the growth of hockey.
“We’re excited this is a reality and now we can stop answering questions about a schedule moving forward about best-on-best competition.”
Scotia Place, the state-of-the-art arena currently under construction, will be home to the Calgary Flames, Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen and the Calgary Wranglers of the American Hockey League.
The venue will be in the heart of Calgary’s Culture + Entertainment District downtown.
Rogers Place opened in 2016 and has hosted the Stanley Cup Final the past two seasons. It also hosted the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the 2021 and 2022 IIHF World Junior Championships, and it is scheduled to host the 2027 World Juniors.
Prague has hosted the second-most NHL regular-season games outside North America, with all nine games held at O2 Arena.
The tournament will feature two groups of four teams competing in a round-robin format with one pool in Prague and another in Calgary.
The top three teams in each pool will advance into the single-elimination stage.
The first-place finisher will advance to the semifinals. The second- and third-place finishers in each pool will play in a single elimination to advance into the semifinals.
“I think what you saw in the Olympics is an indication of what you’ll see in the World Cup of Hockey,” Daly said. “The hockey got better as the Olympics progressed. I think we’re going to start in a situation where the hockey is really good right away and we’ll do it over a 13-day period and we’ll have a champion.”
The tournament will be operated by the NHL and NHLPA, but players who are not part of the League will be allowed to participate.
Daly said the League and NHLPA are working with the International Ice Hockey Federation to assure cooperation and collaboration to facilitate players in European leagues being released to play in the World Cup.
“They know how important it is to us and to our players, to the Players’ Association, and our discussions particularly recently, very productive,” Daly said. “So my hope and expectation is we’ll get to a final deal soon.”
The 8-nation tournament will also feature extensive ancillary programming including unique fan events and media days.
“The fan experience is going to be amazing in Calgary and Edmonton and in Prague,” Walsh said. “People are going to be excited. People won’t go to the game, but they’ll know there’s a tournament in the city. There will be excitement in those places. You’ll have cities benefitting from revenue, from tourism, from hotels, from restaurants, from shopping, all of that stuff.”
Unlike at the Olympics, the NHL and NHLPA will be in control of the building, in-game entertainment, content, video highlights and everything else that is public facing.
“We get to control this from soup to nuts,” Commissioner Bettman said. “We get to do it in buildings that we’re completely comfortable with and control. We get to do it in a situation where we have complete access to all the things we need access to. We think we can do a really good job of bringing hockey to another level through the visibility that this event will have and it relates to everything across the board.”
Part of that is the media and broadcast rights. Commissioner Bettman said the League will begin the bidding process shortly.
“We know there’s a worldwide appetite,” he said. “There have been inbound calls from media platforms wanting to make sure we call them and obviously we’ll talk to our partners in North America, Rogers in Canada and Disney/ESPN and TNT in the States. We think there will be robust interest and hopefully robust bidding.”
This will be the fourth World Cup of Hockey, following tournaments in 1996, 2004 and 2016.
The United States won in 1996 with Canada winning in 2004 and 2016.
The League and Players' Association also combined efforts to put on the 4 Nations Face-Off last year, the first best-on-best competition since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Canada won the 4 Nations Face-Off, which also featured the United States, Sweden and Finland.
The United States defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime to capture the gold medal at the Olympics in Milan on Feb. 22
The World Cup of Hockey will continue the NHL's calendar of best-on-best international competitions every two years following the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 and preceding the 2030 Winter Olympics in Nice, France.
“Marty and I have been very clear that we think having an every-two-year rhythm, Olympics, World Cup, year off in between will continue to grow the game and build the property, particularly our property the World Cup,” Bettman said. “That’s something we’re focused on for the long term. We think it’s important for the game and important to the players.”
