This came up last year. Apparently the issue is that no one was sure whether the plumbing would work in the winter.

Outdoor hockey would seem to be much more fun to play than to watch.

Which puts it one up on outdoor basketball.

Would the game be on YES or MSG?

Aren't the Yankees (Mets too) and the Garden direct competitors now that they have their own TV channel? With tiny Dolan running the 34th street frauds into the ground, why would anybody help him?

Yankee Stadium? Fenway Park?

Do these places ever get used for anything in the winter normally? There might be unforeseen consequences, like the plumbing concern in #1.

Also, the picture accompanying the article is hilarious. I had no idea the projected scenario involved 50-foot-tall hockey players, or a rink that is tilted at a 30-degree angle.

I'm not sure the rink at Rockefeller Center is big enough for NHL hockey. It's pretty teeny.

The NHL should really do a handful of outdoor games a year. That game in Buffalo was the first NHL game I've watched in years, I used to be a huge Red Wings fan back in the Scotty Bowman days.

The NHL should really do a handful of outdoor games a year.

No way. They should keep it to one-per-year, just so it's an "event".
If you do it too often, it loses it's luster.

50-foot-tall hockey players, or a rink that is tilted at a 30-degree angle.

These are actually related; notice how the players (and therefore their substantial weight) are largely grouped toward one side of the rink.

What kind of shape will Yankee Stadium be in around that time? Won't they be in the process of dismantling it by then?

No way. They should keep it to one-per-year, just so it's an "event".
If you do it too often, it loses it's luster.

Agreed. I still think that my corporate overlords really screwed up Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? a couple of years ago by overexposing it.

I think it could still be a ratings winner today if they had held it to once a week. And the other shows that they ushered off the schedule for endless Millionaire airings could have taken root and grown.

Sounds like something out of a Pace Picante Sauce commercial.

I think it could still be a ratings winner today if they had held it to once a week. And the other shows that they ushered off the schedule for endless Millionaire airings could have taken root and grown.

Actually, I think they should have done it in one week bursts, ever 4 months (including the summer).
By having it on every week, they made it too common-place.
Reducing the frequency gives them the option to hype it up. Make a small change in the format (celebrity, college, senior citizen, sports-only, etc), and each time would be an event. Run hot for a week, then let it cool down until people almost forget about it, then turn on the burners again.

Same with the outdoor hockey. You only play one game, once a year, and put the hype-machine into overdrive. Choose your teams/locations well (hot young players, or old storied teams). DON'T waste any existing rivalries (Toronto/Montreal, Toronto/Ottawa, NYI/NYR, NYR/NJ, etc) because they have their own hype.

My next choice: Chicago vs Columbus in Soldier Field, or NYR vs Minnesota in Yankee/Giants Stadium.

could someone more familiar with hockey explain to me the appeal of outdoor games? seems to me like you'd just freeze your ass off.

could someone more familiar with hockey explain to me the appeal of outdoor games? seems to me like you'd just freeze your ass off.

Good question. In Canada, there is a huge mythology picturing outdoor hockey as a game that we all supposedly played as kids and as the "real game of hockey". There's all sorts of literature that feeds this in people's minds. Playing an NHL game outdoor harkens back to that mythology and helps to erase the fact that these are millionaire players, most of whom are not even Canadians. I agree that watching the game in sub-zero weather must be pretty uncomfortable, but if it's a sunny day and you have access to warm drinks, why not. The fact that you can pack 50,000 + spectators into the venue as opposed to the usual 15-18,000 is quite appealing to the league and teams, not to mention the broacasters who can reach an audience of kids who will watch with their nostalgic parents and will soon turn into grown-up hockey fans.

On the other hand, the mythology is becoming increasingly distant from reality. I did play some outdoor games when I was a kid (in the 1970s) but these have pretty much disappeared by now. The Globe and Mail recently ran an article on the disappearance of the backyard rink (another big Canadian myth) and interviewed a few current NHL players who said they had never played a game out-of-doors in their life. Global warming is contributing to that, as the outdoor skating season is shortening all the time, even in cold parts of Canada. In warmer cities like Toronto and Vancouver, there is no such thing as an outdoor rink anymore, if there ever was.

My own memories of playing outdoors are mostly of being incredibly cold. Not being one of my team's better players, I'd play one or two shifts a period only, the rest of the time being spent standing in a snow-bank outside the rink becoming increasingly frozen. At least those on the ice could move around to keep warm, but for us bench warmers, it was just bitterly cold.

On the other hand, the mythology is becoming increasingly distant from reality. I did play some outdoor games when I was a kid (in the 1970s) but these have pretty much disappeared by now. The Globe and Mail recently ran an article on the disappearance of the backyard rink (another big Canadian myth) and interviewed a few current NHL players who said they had never played a game out-of-doors in their life. Global warming is contributing to that, as the outdoor skating season is shortening all the time, even in cold parts of Canada.

I agree with you on the whole Philippe, but I still think (besides the abnormally large number of molten-hot attractive women) the coolest thing about living in Montreal is the huge number of outdoor rinks. If I were more hardcore, I could scoot over to Parc Mont Royal across from the Tam-Tam monument to watch some really cool pick-up outdoor hockey pretty much most of January and February.

Red Wings.
Maple Leafs.
Michigan Stadium.
100,000 fans.
That is all.

I was in Buffalo for the game (drove down from Toronto). It was a cool thing to do once, but you won't see me in line to do it again.
We had good seats, but were still farther away than in any hockey arena. With the snow, you could barely see. And it was frakin' cold by the third period.
Also, the game itself was pretty bad, the players really struggled with the conditions. This was readily apparent upon seeing Pittsburgh two nights later at the Igloo. It was like somebody hit the fast-forward button.

I'd much rather see Hopkins fight Calzaghe in Yankee Stadium before it goes away. At least there is a rich history of boxing there, unlike hockey.