Mike Chen's Hockey Blog
Entries with the tag: Winter+Classic
Planning Future Winter Classics
by Mike Chen on 01/02/09 at 01:59 PM ET
Comments (8)
I should start off with a disclaimer that I don’t think this idea will necessarily please everyone, nor will it necessarily bring the biggest ratings and/or revenue to the NHL. Heck, I’m not even sure I’d vote for it if I was on the Board of Governors but it’s an idea that got me thinking after it popped in my head, so it couldn’t have been the worst idea in the world. At the very least, it’s an interesting idea that tries to fulfill a few different things.
That being said, here’s a proposed way to spread the Winter Classic love around the league without getting into arguments about what’s a hockey market and what’s not (re: who “deserves” it and who doesn’t). It’s also a way to not kill the Golden Goose of the WC through overexposure.
What if the Winter Classic becomes an every-other-season regular season contest between the last two winners of the Stanley Cup? The team with the better the overall head-to-head record over the past two seasons has the option to host (and considering the revenue/publicity, who would turn it down?).
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Winter+Classic,
A California Classic?
by Mike Chen on 12/31/08 at 01:05 PM ET
Comments (16)
On the eve of the Winter Classic (oh, there’s something about a new calendar year happening tomorrow too), I took a look out the window to the gray skies and morning frost of this early Northern California day and pondered whether the NHL would ever bother trying something like that in Sharks territory. I know Sharks ownership actually inquired about it, including proposing a few feasible locations, but I imagine a California Winter Classic is way, way down on the NHL’s selection list. If it ever happened, I’m guessing we’d have already exhausted the Original Six and Canadian teams several times over.
Still, just like Jim Carrey said in Dumb and Dumber, the fact that the league actually listened to the Sharks means that there is a chance. Ok, but are the logistics feasible?
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: San+Jose+Sharks, Winter+Classic,
