Winter Classic might be cancelled

Where are they going to play an outdoor game East of Alberta?

Unless the NHL wants to shrink the size of the crowd (i.e. to 'Normal' crowd size for a hockey game) no venues in Canada exist that could house it.

The building formally known as 'Skydome' is winterized, and they can't open the roof this time of year (same reason why they will not open it for a baseball game in April, depsite it being 70 & sunny). The 'Big O' in Montreal has a roof too.... so it's not going to work.

BlueShirts said:
It's just a game, life will go on.

The Winter classic should only be played in Canada. The NHL has been darn lucky the past few years with the weather in the States.
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They are saying locally that they WILL attempt to play the game on Saturday..But Sundays forecast looks the best..
 
Go to Spectator Plaza tomorrow and Saturday in the mean time. Alumni do free signings. For example:

Pat LaFontaine
Hockey
Fri
12/31/10
S 3:00 Heinz Field
Pittsburgh, PA
 
You make a fair point with Regina & Winnipeg....... I think those stadiums hold in the 30k-35k range. Is that really big enough for this event though? (Granted, Fenway holds less than 40k.... so they wouldn't be much smaller).

Ivor Wynne, no way. I'm a season ticket holder there - but honestly, the place is a dump..... it holds less than 30k (though temporary stands have been added before).


I'd be really surpised to see the NHL stick an event like this in a non-NHL market.

The fact that it's become a big ratings boom for them in the USA..... I don't see the Jan 1 game coming to this side of the border ever. They'll probably just keep throwing us a bone every couple of years with a 2nd outdoor game (like the one in Calgary).

chadsexington said:
Taylor Field...whatever the Blue Bombers new stadium is called...Ivor Wynne...

Doesn't have to be in an NHL city. They'll draw regardless.
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They could always move the game to Michigan like the Vikings did when their stadium collapsed. I'm sure they would fill Michigan stadium if they did. I'd go for sure!
 
Dump or no dump...you'll still get a full house at Ivor Wynne regardless :)

I'm not looking so much at the seating capacity as I am the general ambience and the right environment for the game to be in.

The Field of Dreams is somewhere outside of MLB's market, yet it fosters a great environment for America's Pastime. I don't see why Canada's Pastime wouldn't work in an non-traditional market in the country.

The publicity and the atmosphere created by an outdoor game in a non-NHL market like Regina to me would trump the fact that Mosaic-Taylor Field only seats like 30,000 people. I guarantee people from outside the city and province would go out of their way to attend something like this if the right teams were playing.

30ranfordfan said:
You make a fair point with Regina & Winnipeg....... I think those stadiums hold in the 30k-35k range. Is that really big enough for this event though? (Granted, Fenway holds less than 40k.... so they wouldn't be much smaller).

Ivor Wynne, no way. I'm a season ticket holder there - but honestly, the place is a dump..... it holds less than 30k (though temporary stands have been added before).


I'd be really surpised to see the NHL stick an event like this in a non-NHL market.

The fact that it's become a big ratings boom for them in the USA..... I don't see the Jan 1 game coming to this side of the border ever. They'll probably just keep throwing us a bone every couple of years with a 2nd outdoor game (like the one in Calgary).
Click to expand...
 
Field of Dreams though, was created for a movie.... and became a tourist attraction / place to play exhibition games after that. I couldn't say for sure..... but I have a hard time believing that somone at the MLB head offices woke up one day and though that Dyersville would be a good place to play a "Legends" game (I know that's been done there). I'm sure the thought was more like "Let's do it at Field of Dreams! People love that movie, it'd be a great thing to do."

I get what you're saying though, and I do agree. Any of those CFL stadiums they would pack, for sure, for an NHL game. I just don't see why the NHL would want to have their Winter Classic in any of those markets, in front of 30-35k people, when they could hold it in an American Football (or baseball) stadium that holds 50% more.


chadsexington said:
Dump or no dump...you'll still get a full house at Ivor Wynne regardless :)

I'm not looking so much at the seating capacity as I am the general ambience and the right environment for the game to be in.

The Field of Dreams is somewhere outside of MLB's market, yet it fosters a great environment for America's Pastime. I don't see why Canada's Pastime wouldn't work in an non-traditional market in the country.

The publicity and the atmosphere created by an outdoor game in a non-NHL market like Regina to me would trump the fact that Mosaic-Taylor Field only seats like 30,000 people. I guarantee people from outside the city and province would go out of their way to attend something like this if the right teams were playing.
Click to expand...
 
But, and this was something I alluded to earlier, how do you hold something like this, with no alternative venue to hold it? If the weather goes bad that is. Move it inside sure, but what happens to all the extra people who purchased tickets to see it, and the cost for them to get there to see it? Once again, how does it get decided who gets in, and who eats the lost costs to all the fans who don't get in? The league has been lucky so far with this idea, but if it does get moved/cancelled in PA, or wherever else it may be held in the future, there are going to be a HUGE amount of people upset, and rightly so.
 
30ranfordfan said:
I get what you're saying though, and I do agree. Any of those CFL stadiums they would pack, for sure, for an NHL game. I just don't see why the NHL would want to have their Winter Classic in any of those markets, in front of 30-35k people, when they could hold it in an American Football (or baseball) stadium that holds 50% more.
Click to expand...

Ohhhh I see what you're saying now...I totally misunderstood.

Yeah...I completely agree. In a day and age where the NHL's business is attempting to grow SOUTH of the border as opposed to north, it makes no sense to host the Winter Classic itself in Canada. Those secondary games you mentioned, like the in Calgary, however, would be perfect.
 

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