Congratulations to the Washington Capitals on winning the fourth annual NHL Winter Classic, and on clinching their berth in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals (the road team in the Winter Classic has reached the Finals in each of the previous three years; isn't it convenient how the NHL predetermines a finalist for us like that?). In just four years, the Winter Classic has become the premier event on the NHL calendar, and as much a part of New Year's Day as all 62 college bowl games. Now the question is whether NBC is going to schedule it at night every year after airing this year's game in primetime. I don't think that would be a good idea, but let's see.
Of course, New Year's Day is a Sunday next year, so I'm curious to see what the NHL is going to do about scheduling it anyway. They're not going to put it against Week 17 in the NFL (assuming the NFL plays next season), and NBC has the Sunday Night game, so that rules that out. My suggestion would be to play it on Monday, January 2, like they do with all the bowl games, and I suspet that's what the NHL will eventually decide.
The Winter Classic is such a marketing bonanza that seemingly every team is lining up to host it (knowing the trend, I'd want to be the visiting team, but that's just me). The Rangers were supposed to host it at the old Yankee Stadium in 2009, but that never panned out, and since the Yankees seem committed to hosting the stupid Pinstripe Bowl, that rules out the Rangers hosting anytime soon (although I give the Pinstripe Bowl three years, tops). Last night, Versus televised what was basically a huge Winter Classic-themed New Year's Eve party in Pittsburgh, and they were scrolling Twitter comments from fans across the bottom of the screen. A couple of idiots actually suggested that the following teams should host the 2012 Winter Classic: the Coyotes and the Blues. Are they serious?
I'd like to establish a couple of rules for fans to consider when making these ridiculous suggestions. First, if your city either doesn't give a crap about its hockey team or doesn't realize that it has one (yes, I'm talking to you Phoenix), then you don't get to host the Winter Classic. Second, the title "Winter" Classic implies that winter is an important element. The Winter Classic is about going back to hockey's roots where Canadian kids would play outside on frozen ponds for hours. It's cold (read: often sub-zero) in Canada in the winter. So, if your team plays in a city where 1. it never snows or 2. fans would be showing up dressed like it's an August game between the Cubs and Cardinals instead of a December game between the Bears and Packers, I'm sorry, but you don't get to host the Winter Classic.
You also need to have an available stadium, so any city that hosts one of the 58 college bowl games is out. That stadium also needs to be outside, since that's the whole point, which means St. Louis is out. (Since the NHL wants to use football stadiums with their larger capacities and better sight lines rather than baseball stadiums, that would make holding the game in Detroit a problem, but I'm sure they'd be able to figure that out.) The matchup also needs to be attractive. No one is going to care about an outdoor game between the Blue Jackets and Predators at Ohio Stadium (although I'm sure it would be a ratings bonanza for NBC!).
I understand that all these conditions eliminates all but about eight teams from hosting the Winter Classic, which is kind of my point. As far as I'm concerned, the only teams that could potentially host the Winter Classic but haven't yet are the Flyers, Rangers, Red Wings, Avalanche, (possibly) Wild, (possibly) Capitals, (possibly) Devils, and (possibly) Sharks. So, in my opinion, that narrows down the possible matchups for the 2012 Winter Classic to two: either Rangers-Flyers at Lincoln Financial Field or Red Wings-Avalanche at Invesco Field.
As for the 2012 Heritage Classic, the choices are obviously a little easier. Edmonton hosted the first one, Calgary's hosting this year's, and Ottawa is hosting next year's All-Star Game. That leaves Vancouver, which will have a retractable roof at BC Place Stadium by the end of this year (sidebar, why didn't they put in the retractable roof before the Olympics?), Toronto and Montreal. My vote: Canadiens-Leafs at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium in Montreal (the roof at Montreal's Olympic Stadium is permanent, so that's out).
No comments:
Post a Comment