Well, this is certainly interesting. MLive broke the news late last night after the game, but it appears that the Detroit Red Wings are in line to host one of the next two Winter Classics (New York City is the other). But, as Ansar Khan reasons, with the Rangers playing in this year’s Classic (in Philadelphia), it’s unlikely the NHL or NBC would have the Rags play two years in a row.
That kind of favoritism is reserved for the Penguins, after all.
Back on topic…
Khan continues that the Wings are pushing for Comerica Stadium — the other downtown arena owned by Mike Ilitch. The League will likely push for Michigan Stadium, thanks to its massive seating capacity and history with outdoor hockey games (the Big Chill of ’10 — where they announced that Curly Fries reigned supreme, bitches).
Detroit played in the 2009 Winter Classic and totally trolled on the Hawks in an arena famous for hosting losers: Wrigley Field. Buffalo, Boston, and Pittsburgh have hosted the other outdoor games in the United States. Philadelphia and the Rangers play at Citizens Park on January 2nd, proving that the NHL can’t even get “New Years Day Tradition” right. All they had to do was NOT play on any other day. But no… gotta find a way to fuck that up and kowtow to the vastly inferior NFL.
It’s no secret that the Red Wings have coveted a (home) Winter Classic since they began in ’08. And it sounds like Khan has some insider info that they may be closer than any of us would have thought two days ago.
Photo Credit: Christopher Zoladz
I feel the Wings could definitely sell enough tickets to justify the use of the Big House, but I would hope they would setup the rink differently than the Big Chill. There were a lot of bad seats for that game that could have been easily fixed. It will be interesting to see who their opponent would be, should this game happen. There’s lots of talk of the Wings moving to the East, or whatever they’ll be calling it then, and I’d like to see another original six match-up, preferably Toronto or Montreal. And if they happen to be in the same division come game time, it makes that much more sense.
I’d kill for either of those teams to play the Wings. I wonder if the NHL is hesitant to allow the Canadian teams since they have their own (lame) version of an outdoor game during the season.
I wasn’t at the Big Chill, but I’ve heard the same thing. Such a neat venue, but not conducive to maximizing the audience view. I actually heard similar complaints about Wrigley and the other Winter Classic games. It must just be one of those things you go to “for the experience,” as opposed to watching a game as you would at the Joe or any other indoor rink that’s designed for the game.
Mr. Ilitch is pushing for Comerica to keep the game IN Detroit, but I’m sure the League will be all over The Big House. How could they not?
The NHL might be hesitant to allow Canadian teams into the game, but if that’s the case I feel it’s one more example of Bettman just not getting it. As big of an event as the Winter Classic is, it could only be bigger and better if our brethren to the north were allowed out on the pond.
I agree wholeheartedly that the outdoor games are more of an event to experience than a game to enjoy. That’s exactly what I thought after the Big Chill. It was neat, something fun to do, but as far as watching the game not so great. I think one of the biggest problems with any of these outdoor venues is that IS hard to actually watch the game, and that’s a necessity when it comes to hockey. It’s what makes our game of Hockey so special, watching the whole play develop from one end to the other. Baseball and even football can be casually watched and usually are, whereas Hockey requires an attentive spectator to truly be enjoyed and I think that’s a big reason it’s so low in the ranks of sports.
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