The NHL’s first Winter Classic was held at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo, N.Y., in 2008. A modest location. But then the NHL kicked it up a notch with Wrigley Field in Chicago in 2009 and Friday’s Classic to be held at Fenway Park in Boston. Can it get any better than Wrigley and Fenway for 2011?
After A Fenway Park Winter Classic, What’s Next?
↵Maybe not, but Big League Stew has a few suggestions for future Classic locations, including Yankee Stadium, the new Target Field in Minneapolis and Dodger Stadium in L.A.:
↵↵Yankee Stadium, New York: Watching the Rangers and Devils play in The House That Jeter Built would be great fun for anyone who’s not an Islanders fan, not to mention a big media win for Gary Bettman and Co. But as puck buddy Sean Leahy pointed out last week, we may have to wait for such a possibility. Yankee Stadium has a three-year commitment to host a college bowl game (starting next year). In order to have the necessary time to build the rink, the league will likely either have to hold the game on a different date or wait until 2014.
↵↵Comerica Park in Detroit would be intriguing, featuring one of the NHL’s most storied franchise in the league’s biggest regular season game of the year. AT&T Park in San Fran could be exciting, but the lack of snow might make the game similarly lackluster.
↵I think we all need to look bigger. Why are we only concentrating on the United States? If the NHL really wanted to create something spectacular, ship two teams over to Singapore to play on this bad boy.
↵That would be kicking it up about 100 notches.
