What an effing farce. Let's go over it again...
Pittsburgh @ Buffalo
Detroit @ Chicago
Philadelphia @ Boston
Washington @ Pittsburgh
New York @ Philadelphia
TBD @ Washington
It's almost as though they skipped something in there... surely not the city with the baseball stadium owned by the NHL team owner, where 37,000+ showed up to watch the Frozen Four final just a year and a half ago, in the same metro area with the town that got over 110,000 people to a college hockey game just this past December? Where you can guarantee freezing temperatures? Oh, yes, and it's also the 11th largest media market in the country and one of the driving forces in NHL ratings.
Washington is too far south!
What an effing farce. Let's go over it again...
Pittsburgh @ Buffalo
Detroit @ Chicago
Philadelphia @ Boston
Washington @ Pittsburgh
New York @ Philadelphia
TBD @ Washington
It's almost as though they skipped something in there... surely not the city with the baseball stadium owned by the NHL team owner, where 37,000+ showed up to watch the Frozen Four final just a year and a half ago, in the same metro area with the town that got over 110,000 people to a college hockey game just this past December? Where you can guarantee freezing temperatures? Oh, yes, and it's also the 11th largest media market in the country and one of the driving forces in NHL ratings.
It's not as simple as some of you think. No casual fan would want to watch the avalanche or wild. These teams aren't even playoff contenders in a league in which more than half of teams make the playoffs. I think the kings and Tampa should be featured in a game, maybe tb will play wash next season.
...the same teams over and over again even if it ends up killing the event in the long run.
Truth be told, I'm worried about the future of the Winter Classic. I fear that the NHL/NBC will go for the short-term route of recycling the same teams over and over again with the argument that only a few markets are truly hockey mad enough to get great national ratings, to the detriment of the event itself as it changes from a special event to look forward to into some type of novelty that actually gets pretty repetitive.
Sure, it'll great to be a Penguins or a Flyers fan, and likely Hawks, Wings, Caps, and Bruins fan, as you know more likely than not that you'll repeat once every few years in the thing. But for the vast majority of the league, it'd just be annoying humdrum if the same teams keep getting the honor of hosting something that they'll not only never host for various reasons, both legitimate and not legitimate, and likely never even get the opportunity to play in it as a road team.
As far as I'm concerned, these are the current U.S. NHL markets that could legitimately host an outdoor, early January event:
Colorado
St. Louis (average high 30s to low 20s in January, so not farfetched climatically)
Minnesota
Chicago
Detroit
Columbus/Ohio
Pittsburgh
Buffalo
Washington (probably the least likely, a bit warmer than St. Louis)
Philadelphia
New York/New Jersey
Boston
That's the potential for 14 "host" teams (with St. Louis and Washington being the biggest stretches due to the greater potential for higher temperatures, but honestly still plausible), plus you could add to that God knows how many different locations that could theoretically host the events throughout the northeast, midwest, and even Pacific NW if the NHL ever wanted to just have a completely neutral Winter Classic as a test for hockey interest in that region. That should theoretically be more than enough for the Winter Classic to never get stale but, as I said, honestly see the NHL going down the path of just repeating the same teams over and over again even if it ends up killing the event in the long run.
Pittsburgh won't be in it anytime soon
Colorado sucks
Minnesota sucks
New jersey/nyi sucks
St Louis can't even make the playoffs, they lack a superstar player
Buffalo has already hosted one and they lack a superstar, but they are a far better team than most others suggested.
Philly is hosting this year
Chicago already hosted
Boston already hosted
So my guess for 2013 would be Detroit hosting st. Louis or columbus, depending if either is respectable by then
Is this serious? Maryland, DC and Virginia are all southern states. DC is a southern city. It is not northeast, that is Washington Post Magazine propaganda.Scratch geography off the list of things you're good at...
It's definitely not the in the sunbelt. And if you don't think the Winter Classic should tap into by far the wealthiest market in the nation then it's a good thing you're not in charge.
Detroit should get one in the near future. Maybe not next year, but it'd be great.
Question: when they have it in a baseball park, why don't they set up temporary bleachers in the outfield so that people can sit closer to the game?
I vote San Jose @ Detroit for the next winter classic. I think that's a splendid and marketable idea.
Question: when they have it in a baseball park, why don't they set up temporary bleachers in the outfield so that people can sit closer to the game?
The sense of entitlement from Wings fans never surprises.
What about a game in canada ? Ottawa, Toronto or Montreal ca be a good place for WC
No its the type of league, where almost everyone makes the playoffs. And it should be supporting its CHI, TOR, DET type teams in this event. Not teams like Pittsburgh who until 6 years ago had crappy attendance.
What amazes me even more is that people on here can't get this simple concept down....the NHL is a business & will act accordingly. It isn't a type of league where everyone gets a trophy either. The teams already involved in the rotation will stay there for one simple reason: money. So until, other teams either get really good or start to have a national presence, they will not get into the WC discussion...
The sense of entitlement from Wings fans never surprises.