2026 World Juniors Could Take Place in an Exciting, Brand New City

The conclusion of the 2022 World Juniors shifts the focus around the IIHF to future tournaments and events. Next year's tournament -- scheduled for December and January -- will be hosted in Halifax and Moncton, Nova Scotia. Normally, the tournament shifts back and forth between North America and Europe every couple of years, but the COVID pandemic put that tradition on hold, while the IIHF navigates local and federal guidelines.

The schedule for the next three World Junior tournaments looks like this:

2023 - Halifax/Moncton
2024 - Gothenburg, Sweden
2025 - TBD, Canada

Thus, reigniting the alternating standard we have grown to adopt. TSN's Gord Miller reports that the 2026 tournament could be held in a brand new city that has recently proven to be a great hockey market: Las Vegas.

Honestly, what could go wrong?

No doubt the tournament would be a huge success in Las Vegas. The city is already a big-time hockey market and is arguably the best vacation spot in North America, depending on what you look for in a vacation spot, so the tournament would absolutely draw crowds from the U.S., Canada, and the European countries as well.

2026 is still a long time away, but these plans are best made years in advance. As Miller notes, hosting the tournament in Vegas was the dream for the late Jim Johansson, a beloved figure with a deep connection within USA Hockey. By 2026, the U.S. will have gone eight years between hosting events, the last one being held in Buffalo in 2018.

Vegas makes a lot of sense for the U.S. host-city. Uber-hospitable, temperate climate in the winter, strong hockey presence, and there simply is no other city on Earth like Las Vegas. It is a one-of-a-kind experience that would act as a great personal memory for families and attendees and has the potential to set a new precedent entertainment-wise for the tournament, which can only make the game more attractive to prospective fans of the sport. Growing the game ought to be the focus of every governing body in the sport of hockey, superseding trivial things like money.

Create the best fan experience --> Attract more fans --> Make more money. Easy.

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