TAMPA — The NHL could take a page from the NCAA basketball tournament if the hockey season is able to resume. The league is considering the idea of playing games at regional sites, with Tampa among the possibilities.There have been a lot of ideas floating around, including using neutral sites. The regional idea has enough credence that commissioner Gary Bettman discussed it during an interview on Sportsnet last Wednesday, though without specifics.“We’re modeling," Bettman said. "We’re trying to see what our options will be under whatever scenario unfolds. The decision ultimately will be made by medical people and people who run governments at all different levels, so we’re not going to try to do anything that flies in the face of what we’re being told is appropriate.”One version of this idea would include four arenas — possibly following division alignments — hosting multiple games a day to finish at least part of the regular season and start the playoffs.The league would have to work with local and national governments as well as medical professionals to find perhaps four NHL cities where the risk of coronavirus is lower and which have adequate facilities.Let’s start with the simpler of those requirements: Tampa has the facilities in place. The NHL knows Amalie Arena well from the 2018 All-Star Game and 2015 Stanley Cup final.The arena’s NCAA championship events (including Frozen Fours and the Women’s Final Four) demonstrate its capacity for multi-team events with five total dressing rooms. There also are another six sheets of ice available for practices, between the TGH Ice Plex in Brandon and AdventHealth Center Ice in Wesley Chapel.Tampa certainly has downtown hotel availability, or it wouldn’t be hosting the Super Bowl next year. Marriott Water Street is across the street from the arena, and the Westin Tampa Waterside is across the river from that.Tampa is not a coronavirus hotspot, especially compared to other NHL cities of similar sizes. Cities like New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, San Jose and Los Angeles are non-starters.Tampa, however, could be an option.The state of Florida had seen 32,846 COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday morning. Hillsborough County had 1,080 at that point, and the larger Tampa Bay area had seen 3,234. The county has just started offering testing on a larger scale , so those numbers could change quickly.There is one major issue with Amalie Arena hosting multiple hockey games a day: weather. Tampa is hot and humid in the summer, and it could be challenging to maintain ice conditions. If the building was empty (without fans’ body heat raising the indoor temperature), that might help, but to what extent is unknown.Of course, this is all presuming the season even resumes. The NHL would have to follow medical advice and government restrictions. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said just a few days ago he is “not in a rush” to open arenas or theaters.There is still time for circumstances to change one way or another and for more ideas to come out. Contact Diana C. Nearhos at dnearhos@tampabay.com. Follow @dianacnearhos.