Winter Classic goes Hollywood??

“Welcome to the 2011 NHL Winter Classic, Live from Dodger Stadium in Sunny Los Angeles California”

Not exactly what you would picture for a place to hold and outdoor game eh? Well I’m convinced that this could take the gold mine that is the Winter Classic and make it something really unique and special.

Despite the poor editing of my previous post, that is not a typo I did in fact say 2011. Because its almost a foregone conclusion and a great idea to have the next one at New Yankee stadium, with the Rangers and Bruins playing. Both teams play in big markets and both franchises have become relevant in their respective markets, not to mention New Yankee Stadium will be a great backdrop for a game.

But for 2011 its got to be in LA with the Kings playing..... the Washington Capitals. The Kings have a young team that should be a genuine playoff team by then with some great young talent, and the Capitals are already becoming an elite team and they have Ovie to boot. So it’s a chance to get your biggest player and your 2nd biggest market on a major national stage.

“Hey Andrew Hockey is played on ice, LA isn’t exactly cold even in January”

This is where the beauty of this game lies. How cool will it be to be playing ice hockey, outside, in 25degree LA weather? Think about it, the fans are in shorts and t-shirts while the players are playing on a sheet of ice. The visuals/ intrigue to see if it will work will attract a lot of people to watch this game, not to mention Ovie clearly already knows how to dress for this kind of weather.

“Well that’s nice and all but you’re forgetting that ice melts when its hot, clearly you have forgotten some basic science here”

http://www.mexicopremiere.com/?p=839
Its been done, and in Mexico none the less. If they can make an ice rink that is much larger than an NHL rink, with 1000 people on it at a time stay cold, they can sure do it in LA 85ftX200ft with 15 guys in the ice. It won’t be cheap to do as the rink in Mexico used 10 regular ice machines on at all times to keep the rink frozen. So clearly they will need to spend extra money to make it work. Not to mention there are a lot of risk tradeoffs with the games in a cold climate

Game in cold area- game in LA

Injuries due to muscles being cold- injuries to dehydration ( some extra Gatorade can help this)
Excess snow- Excess rain

sun can be a factor- sun can be a factor this is why in any of these games the direction of the rink is important

fans bundled up and freezing- fans get a sunburn

So that’s where I think the next game should be , feel free to comment/ criticize this idea I want to see what other ideas people have. (possibly same teams but at the Washington monument) just an idea