2008 Winter Classic
The ratings are in
"The best regular season rating in more than a decade is a result of the tremendous efforts of the NHL and we're delighted by the success of this historic event."Translation? Get ready for another outdoor game next season in an American location, perhaps Penn State, or Denver, Detroit or St. Paul.
There interest is there, even if the bulk of those ratings came from Buffalo and Pittsburgh.
UPDATE Pensblog was in the building and has a humorous roundup of the festivities.
Labels: Winter Classic
by James Mirtle @ 3:34 PM
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16 comments
16 Comments:
I'd love to see a detroit game, especially with another original six team... unfortunately they've killed the Detroit/Toronto rivalry by making them play maybe once a year.
I don't see it happening in the Twin Cities area in before 2010. There isn't a venue that could hold it here. We do have a couple outdoor stadiums (Twins, and Gopher football stadiums) popping up though, so hopefully soon.
They could play at Comerica Park since Illitch owns that as well.
Would they try it in NYC as well?
If they put a game with the Maple Leafs within six or seven hours driving distance of southern Ontario, my guess is they could fill any size of stadium with only Toronto fans.
Detroit seems like a logical choice, but I bet there'd even be great Leafs representation at a New York or Chicago game.
Another translation: It'll never happen in Canada.
Toronto would be a good spot, but I'll bet the NHL wants to milk the US audience all it can.
Anyway, it's good to see good news.
6 or 7 hours? Make it a Saturday afternoon game and that leaves about 14 hours of driving time for Leaf fans to make it.
Better yet for the Red Wings-Leafs idea - do it at the Big House in Ann Arbor and let 110,000 Leaf fans finally see their team in the flesh.
Another translation: perhaps NBC makes a stab at securing some other regular season games. Not just the novel games.
toronto, philadelphia, pittsburgh, and montreal in a double header at Penn State.
Pens and Rags in Pittsburgh next time around. Absolutely.
And I think NBC is, in fact, taking steps at airing more NHL games, oh commenter named "cole" - check for January 20 Rags and Broooons at MSG.
It's diffently flyers vs. pens at happy valley. the only thing that is holding it up is that psu is relucatant to do this because they dont really rent out beaver stadium and plus they are afriad of the riots that will occur btw flyers and pens fans. its bad enough they cant control the student body's riots after football games
Well the dumbest thing I saw all day was the poll on the San Jose Sharks' page asking "Provided the ice conditions could be made acceptable, should a game be played in San Jose?"
Now that's wishful thinking. Most arenas in the Bay Area can barely keep their ice frozen. There are no more than a handful of outdoor rinks, and their ice surfaces are like skating on cookie dough.
I would go to the game just to see what kind of equipment is required to make outdoor ice happen when it's +15C in the middle of winter with a 50% chance of rain.
Maybe they could do the afternoon Hockey Day in Canada game outdoors. On the canal in Ottawa. Although as a Sens fan, i would probably hope its not an important divisional game.
I loved the pictures on that Pens blog link. What was the dressing room the Pens used, the janitors broom closet?
1) We like the 'double header' idea. Perhaps one game here in the states and one north of the border. If it can make $$, you know its gonna happen!
More $ means a higher salary cap! Yay for the post lockout era
The NHL's opportunities for a future outdoor hockey game are limited. The eastern canadian teams lack large enough stadiums, the southern teams lack the temperatures, and a few others like Columbus and Boston would be unable to fill the seats. Personally I'd love to see the event stay in Buffalo, but besides that only other real options are in Alberta, Pennsylvania, and Denver.
I also have a more detailed look at the future possibilities on a stadium by stadium and team by team basis...
They could have filled the stadium with just sabres fans but the nhl reserved tickets for canadiens along with penguins fans. Hold it at Ralph Wilson Stadium again.
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