NHL announces "outdoor game"

[2Xtreme21]

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Get ready for an NHL big chill on New Year's Day: Penguins at Sabres in an outdoor game at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

The league is set to announce next week that the Buffalo Sabres will host the Pittsburgh Penguins, a person familiar with the event told The Associated Press, in what would be the NHL's second outdoor game.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the NHL has not made the announcement official.

The NHL said Thursday it will "make a major announcement concerning a special event" at a news conference at the stadium Monday.

Several media outlets, including The Buffalo News, cited unidentified sources in reporting the planned outdoor game earlier this month.

The league's first outdoor game was at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium on Nov. 22, 2003, when 57,167 fans showed up to see the Canadiens beat the Oilers 4-3.

Ralph Wilson Stadium is home to the Buffalo Bills and has a capacity of 73,967 seats for football games.

The game will cap a home-and-home series between the Eastern Conference rivals. Buffalo plays at Pittsburgh on Dec. 29.

Buffalo is considered an ideal location to host the game, and not only because of its reputation for cold, bitter winters. The Sabres' attendance has risen dramatically: last season's Presidents' Trophy-winning team sold out all of its 41 regular-season games.

Located just across the border from Ontario and 90 minutes from Toronto, Buffalo also has the potential to draw many fans from the region. It's also an easy drive for Penguins fans, with Pittsburgh only a 3½-drive south of Buffalo.

Sabres players, reporting for the start of training camp Thursday, were informed by the team not to comment about the nature of the NHL announcement.

Seems kind of a waste. What exactly is the rationale? As someone who has sat outside for hockey games in the past and even played outside, it's not a very cozy experience...

 

[pyonir]

It's old school. That's the rationale. I like it. The NHL has to continue to do things like this in order to bring more and more fans into the game. Any kind of gimmick type thing like this will help to boost exposure, and maybe get people to watch a hockey game on TV that normally wouldn't.

 

[KLin]

I wonder when they'll play a NFL game outdoors? Wait a second...

 

[2Xtreme21]

Originally posted by: KLin
I wonder when they'll play a NFL game outdoors? Wait a second...

That'd be cool, but I'd bet it'd be even cooler if they played an MLB game outdoors.

 

[chuckywang]

Outdoor basketball would be cool.

 

[BeauJangles]

They did this a while ago and managed to pack 50,000 people into a stadium for the game. I think it was outside Calgary.

 

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
They did this a while ago and managed to pack 50,000 people into a stadium for the game. I think it was outside Calgary.

Read the article in the first post much?

 

[Mr Incognito]

Originally posted by: chuckywang
Outdoor basketball would be cool.

I agree.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: pyonir

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
They did this a while ago and managed to pack 50,000 people into a stadium for the game. I think it was outside Calgary.

Read the article in the first post much?

He's referring to an old-timer's exhibition game, I think names like Gretzky and Howe were on the rosters. Something like that.

Anyway, hockey started outdoors, it's nice to see it go traditional.

 

[theknight571]

They did this in East Lansing in 2001.

A Michigan - Michigan State hockey game played outdoors in the football stadium.... it drew 74,544 people.

"Cold War" @ Wikipedia

I'd like to see a rematch at Michigan Stadium... just to see if 110,000 people would show up for a hockey game.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: Steve

Originally posted by: pyonir

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
They did this a while ago and managed to pack 50,000 people into a stadium for the game. I think it was outside Calgary.

Read the article in the first post much?

He's referring to an old-timer's exhibition game, I think names like Gretzky and Howe were on the rosters. Something like that.

Anyway, hockey started outdoors, it's nice to see it go traditional.

Yeah, I knew a few people who went to the game and said it was awesome.

 

[GregGreen]

This will definitely sell out. There are definitely 75,000 people that would go see the Sabres for something like this. We've been talking about it here for a few weeks, everyone seems pretty excited about it.

 

[oogabooga]

It's been a pretty poorly kept secret. I think a lot of people have been hearing about it for awhile.

I would guess the rationale is that there has been enough murmuring among fans for something like this. I know I would LOVE to go to this game, but I probably can't afford too fly out to watch a game.