If you don’t want the Stanley Cup delayed, maybe increase highway funding, AED CEO says

Updated Jun 19, 2015
NHL veteran Kimmo Timonen celebrates his first Stanley Cup win Monday. After a 16-year career, Timonen had to wait a bit longer to celebrate the Chicago Blackhawks’ win over the Tampa Bay Lightning when the trophy got stuck in traffic.NHL veteran Kimmo Timonen celebrates his first Stanley Cup win Monday. After a 16-year career, Timonen had to wait a bit longer to celebrate the Chicago Blackhawks’ win over the Tampa Bay Lightning when the trophy got stuck in traffic.

Even one of the most storied trophies in all of sports isn’t immune to America’s infrastructure woes.

While Chicago Blackhawks players were out on the ice savoring their Stanley Cup win on Monday night, championship-starved fans chanting “We want the cup.” Unfortunately for the fans, the cup wasn’t ready for them.

The Stanley Cup and “Keeper of the Cup” Philip Pritchard were still stuck in traffic, according to Reuters.

Pritchard needed a police escort to finally make it through the poor weather and gridlocked Chicago roads.

The traffic-delayed Stanley Cup was a high-profile opportunity for Associated Equipment Distributors president and CEO Brian McGuire to remind taxpayers and legislators of the need for increased transportation funding across the U.S. in order to get traffic in large metro areas like Chicago flowing smoothly once more.

McGuire called the Cup fiasco a “new low” for American infrastructure.

“As key congressional committees examine solutions to restore certainty to the federal highway program, the holy grail of professional sports trophies, the Stanley Cup, was delayed by traffic from reaching the 2015 NHL champion Chicago Blackhawks; our inadequate roads and bridges have reached a new low,” McGuire said.

“Our nation’s crumbling infrastructure has broad implications for the U.S. economy and international competitiveness, but it’s now impacted one of the sports world’s ultimate competitions.  Continued inaction is unacceptable and—like a Stanley Cup champion—bold, fearless leadership is required for America to once again have a winning surface transportation system.”

It’s not the first time proponents for increased highway funding have taken to sports metaphors to get their message across. In May, the U.S. transportation chief himself, Sec. Anthony Foxx, said it would take a Lebron James-like legislator to pass a long-term highway bill.

No such King James appeared and on May 29, President Obama signed a two-month extension for highway funding. Earlier this month, the House passed a $55 billion spending bill for transportation and housing, but Obama has threatened to veto the bill because it is $9.7 billion less than what the administration’s GROW American Act would provide.