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NHL Winter Classic

Swan Swan H Jan 01 2010 09:24 AM

Today the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers will play at Fenway Park in the NHL Winter Classic. My son was lucky enough to receive a call yesterday from a former co-worker from his time in Boston offering him a prime seat - $225 face value - for free, so he headed up there at 6:30 this morning. There is a lot of talk about New York getting a game, which if it isn't already is on the verge of becoming an annual event, and all the talk centers around Yankee Stadium. I think that it would be a great move for the Mets to push hard to have the game, if it is played in New York in the next few years, at Citi Field. Rangers - Canadiens, maybe? I would get it if they decided to do it at old Yankee Stadium, as the last two have been at Wrigley and Fenway, but I think that 'classic stadium' link does not apply to the new Yankee Stadium. I also think the configuration of Citi lends itself better to the hockey setup.

Frayed Knot Jan 01 2010 10:32 AM Re: NHL Winter Classic

Snow is headed for Boston (may already be there) which would make a great visual backdrop even better. This whole NYD series of outdoor games is the best idea the NHL has come up with since ... well, if they actually did have a good idea at some point in the past, it's since then.

Edgy DC Jan 01 2010 11:37 AM Re: NHL Winter Classic

The best part about it is that it's a game that counts in the standings --- not that NHL games count for all that much in the standings, but still. To throw a modest X-factor into a game but still make it count has got to generate interest. If the MLB Hall of Fame Game --- and now the Civil Rights Game --- did the same, it would be a jewel in the MLB crown.

Frayed Knot Jan 01 2010 02:04 PM Re: NHL Winter Classic

In a way, MLB has been too successful in recent years to go that route. No one wants to give up a home game to play in a neutral site or smaller venue. By going to outdoor games the NHL gains attendance. The only off-site games that MLB counts are the out-of-country games and they've all either involved either poor-drawing teams as the home squad (SD in Monterey, Expos in PR) or had the Japanese and increased advertising revenue (including on-uni ads) footing the bill - and even then the Yanx insisted on both of their Japan games being taken against TB's home starts so they wouldn't lose any.

Edgy DC Jan 01 2010 02:07 PM Re: NHL Winter Classic

Well, I like to think those two games I mention would be an exciting national television draw that brings enough exposure and revenue into MLB that they'd pay a team handsomely to forsake a home-home date.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jan 01 2010 02:07 PM Re: NHL Winter Classic

Problem is, I'm not sure baseball draws this sort of audience nationally any longer... at least not during mild temps, at midseason. (Part of the Winter Classic's success is that it takes place on a holiday where folks are mostly stuck at home.) GREAT frigging game, btw. After some valiant penalty-killing from the Flyers, Boston ties it with two minutes to go.

Frayed Knot Jan 01 2010 02:18 PM Re: NHL Winter Classic

Bruins win in extra innings!!

Ashie62 Jan 01 2010 04:08 PM Re: NHL Winter Classic

[quote="Frayed Knot":1zlk70so]Snow is headed for Boston (may already be there) which would make a great visual backdrop even better. This whole NYD series of outdoor games is the best idea the NHL has come up with since ... well, if they actually did have a good idea at some point in the past, it's since then.[/quote:1zlk70so] The last good idea the NHL has was to add a western division in 1967... Not much of a hockey fan anymore but like to see the Devils knock off the Rangers

Frayed Knot Jan 01 2010 05:37 PM Re: NHL Winter Classic

The last good idea the NHL has was to add a western division in 1967... Nah. Expansion itself wasn't a bad idea but they screwed that up too. First they fought the idea of doing it for far too long. Then, by the time they got around to it, they not only went way overboard but also botched the realigning process. The late Bill Chadwick used to say that hockey must be the greatest sport in the world because it survives despite the idiots who run it. And that was a long time before Gary Bettman was even on the horizon.

TheOldMole Jan 01 2010 06:33 PM Re: NHL Winter Classic

One of their really bad ideas was forcing everyone to wear helmets.

metsguyinmichigan Jan 01 2010 06:49 PM Re: NHL Winter Classic

Looks like fun event. And looking at the way the field is laid out, people are buying a ticket to say they were there -- but not to actually watch a hockey game. Some of those seats are miles from the rink!!!

Ashie62 Jan 01 2010 07:48 PM Re: NHL Winter Classic

[quote="Frayed Knot"] The last good idea the NHL has was to add a western division in 1967... Nah. Expansion itself wasn't a bad idea but they screwed that up too. First they fought the idea of doing it for far too long. Then, by the time they got around to it, they not only went way overboard but also botched the realigning process. The late Bill Chadwick used to say that hockey must be the greatest sport in the world because it survives despite the idiots who run it. And that was a long time before Gary Bettman was even on the horizon.

It was a GOOD idea to supplement the original six with a 6 team was..It was a bad idea to get up to 30 teams

Benjamin Grimm Jan 01 2010 08:29 PM Re: NHL Winter Classic

I think the Mets should play a home game at Madison Square Garden on the Fourth of July. Think about it: It would help Jason Bay's self-esteem by allowing him to hit a bunch of home runs. Because we know that he won't hit any this year at the cavernous Citi Field.

Frayed Knot Jan 01 2010 08:53 PM Re: NHL Winter Classic

[quote="Ashie62":3m6t18kh]It was a GOOD idea to supplement the original six with a 6 team was..It was a bad idea to get up to 30 teams[/quote:3m6t18kh] The fact that they felt they had to put all six new teams in their own division so as to ensure one of the newbies would reach the Stanley Cup final showed that they weren't confident enough in those cities to let them survive on their own. That they then compounded the problem by adding two more teams every few years after that until they had tripled in size in barely a decade showed how they over-shot the demand for hockey in the USA.

Ashie62 Jan 01 2010 11:00 PM Re: NHL Winter Classic

They couldn't really seperate the original. By luck or good foresight the '2nd six" worked out well...The Northstars were a natural..Philly also...Then came Vancouver, Buffalo and many since.

Swan Swan H Jan 02 2010 06:08 AM Re: NHL Winter Classic

They definitely overreached by allowing 16 of 21 teams in the playoffs. Now that it's 16 of 30 a playoff spot is somewhat more legitimate.

Frayed Knot Jan 02 2010 08:50 AM Re: NHL Winter Classic

[quote="Ashie62"]They couldn't really seperate the original.

Except that their goal wasn't really to keep the original six together (they wound up splitting them up soon enough anyway) it was to artificially point to the "success" of their new teams by trumpeting the fact that one managed to overcome all odds and reach the SC finals. Of course no one was fooled and they wound up cheapening the crown jewel of the sport's season. They did a similar thing years later when (as Swanie notes) they were so afraid that the four WHA teams they scooped up might go down the drain that they felt the need to expand their already over-bloated playoff system.

By luck or good foresight the '2nd six" worked out well...The Northstars were a natural..Philly also...Then came Vancouver, Buffalo and many since.

Again, that they chose to expand wasn't the problem, it was the way they went about it: first fight it forever and then over-indulge like a long-time priest who decides to forgo his vows and hit up a brothel. For the most part (at least in the early days) they picked the right markets as four of those 'second six' are still in place - plus the North Stars never should have moved but that's a whole 'nother set of problems caused by their delusion that expanding into sun-belt markets was going to net them national TV riches. The only one of those initial expansion teams that flopped was the Bay area Seals/Golden Seals and the league only went there (and to Charlie Finley and his white ice skates) for U.S. TV money - initially shunning the much better choice of Vancouver by figuring that that market was already covered by 'Hockey Night in Canada'.

Willets Point Jan 02 2010 01:02 PM Re: NHL Winter Classic

How 'bout a triple header with the Islanders hosting a game at Citi Field, the Rangers hosting a game at YSIII and the Devils hosting a game at the Meadowlands.

Frayed Knot Jan 03 2010 07:23 AM Re: NHL Winter Classic

I remember in the early days of the Devils franchise when a group of (3 or 4) guys decided to get themselves some publicity on the first night all three local hockey clubs all played at home and arranged some complicated travel arrangements in order to be in attendance for one period (or at least part of one) at each of the games. That said, the idea of the NHL's 'Winter Classic' is to make it an attractive stand-alone game for TV purposes so the league would have no intention of trying to play three at once. Also, with the NFL now scheduling reg season games into January, the Meadowlands is out unless they want to make it a President's Day special. And, with YSIII now slated to host a bowl game starting next year, NYPost columnist Larry Brooks suggests ... There is a baseball stadium in town other than the one in The Bronx, you know, and Gary Bettman knows it, too. Slap Shots has learned that if the NHL wants to bring the Winter Classic to New York on the first day of 2011, Jeff Wilpon already has notified the commissioner that the Mets are ready, willing and able to host it at Citi Field. "I've had several conversations with Commissioner Bettman and have informed him that we'd love to have the game," Wilpon, the Mets' COO, told us by phone on Thursday. "Gary has told me that he and his team will come out and do a site visit early in the year, so I know that we are going to be under consideration." Beyond that, Wilpon said he has spoken with Rangers CEO Jim Dolan and Islanders owner Charles Wang about bringing the Battle of New York to the nifty ballpark in Queens. "There's interest there," Wilpon said. "I know the Islanders very much would like to do something." NBC, whose partnership in the endeavor has been a significant factor in the Classic's success, isn't believed thrilled at the concept of presenting a single-market game to the national New Year's Day audience. But perhaps the event has become prominent enough as a stand-alone brand name that a New York-New York intramural battle can be attractive enough for the network the way, say, the Rose Bowl is still televised even if Oregon is playing in the game. And perhaps Bettman will understand the boost the Islanders' franchise would receive from being featured in such an extravaganza and award the game to them the way the commissioner awards Entry Drafts and All-Star Games to less traditional franchises that get a bump from hosting special events. although, he goes on to add, if they play the Winter Classic at Yankee Stadium, we'll find out if "the moat" freezes in the winter.

Willets Point Jan 04 2010 07:43 AM Re: NHL Winter Classic

I was mostly being fanciful, but in my idea the three games would be staggered not simultaneous.