The Dallas Stars postponed Monday night’s game against the Nashville Predators at the request of Mayor Eric Johnson, according to the NHL.
Team President and CEO Brad Albert first confirmed to the Dallas Morning News‘Stars’ told reporter Matthew DeFranks that the game was postponed due to power outages in North Texas.
On Monday morning, the American Airlines Center said it would cut power consumption so that the Stars and Dallas Mavericks games could continue as planned this week, while answering energy-saving calls.
Arena officials said they were “implementing measures to reduce energy consumption to the minimum necessary to host the Dallas Stars and Dallas Mavericks games” and that these measures included “turning off external lighting, digital message boards, limiting security operations. concession and eliminate other internal facilities in the building. “
However, before the Stars’ home game on Monday night, requests for the team or the NHL to postpone the game began to circulate widely on social media.
When asked about the Monday afternoon game, the Stars initially said that their game was not being postponed at this time and that it would be played as planned. The Mavs’ next game is not scheduled until Wednesday night.
The stars’ decision came amid conservation requests after millions of Texans were forced to live without heat and electricity or venture out on dangerous roads to find heat elsewhere, while increasingly low temperatures struggled to get out of their home. a digit on Monday.
DeFranks later added that the American Airlines Center was on the “critical infrastructure grid”, which also houses the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and local hospitals.
NBC 5 asked officials in the arena how much energy the reductions should save compared to a normal night, or how much would be saved if a game was postponed, but we still haven’t received an answer to those questions.
ERCOT, which oversees the state’s electricity grid, said that about two million customers across the state are without power and that power may not return until Tuesday. While Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted on Monday afternoon that the utility was returned to about 25 percent of those affected, some vendors warned that the outages could last for several days.
On Monday, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson tweeted that Downtown Dallas, Inc. was asking downtown buildings to turn off external lights on Monday night to help conserve energy. Dallas city councilman Adam Bazaldua added that conservation calls were not just for residents.
“While we all have a role to play in conserving energy to avoid overloading the grid, I want to make it clear that the task is not exclusive to residents. I urge all non-essential businesses to also do their part while working through the scarcity situation of electricity with our energy suppliers. If you do not have to physically open your business and can work remotely, do so. Also, consider turning off any lights or electronic devices that are not necessary for the survival of your business, ie ,. decorative signage and / or buildings on the horizon with any decorative light elements, “said Bazaldua. “The city of Dallas has worked with the Omni Hotel to ensure that we are not asking for anything that we are not willing to do. The Omni lights will remain off until Friday to include Pegasus and tree lights on your property.”
Officials with AAC added, “We will continue to monitor our energy usage this week and will decrease usage in all possible areas.”
NBC 5 also contacted the city of Arlington to find out what was being done to reduce energy use at Globe Life Field and AT&T Stadium, and the city said it asked both locations to reduce their consumption and they they said they were doing this. The city did not give details on what measures the facility was taking to conserve energy.