NHL Winter Classic Set For 2014, League Wants More Outdoor Games

The 2014 NHL Winter Classic will feature a match-up between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs and will take place on New Year’s Day, but the NHL isn’t stopping there. After the press conference to unveil the 2014 Winter Classic, NHL chief operating officer John Collins made it known that there is much more to come.

According to Nick Cotsonika of Yahoo Sports, Collins and the NHL could hold multiple outdoor games as early as next season. Collins acknowledged that the league wants more outdoor games after the 2014 Winter Classic press conference at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan on Sunday.

“It’s not necessarily a new conversation,” Collins said at the press conference. “We’ve been looking at this and talking about this for a while. But I think now we’re looking at it real hard.”

According to The Fourth Period, the league is already set to announce another outdoor game at Dodger Stadium with the Los Angeles Kings and an unidentified opponent for next season. With the Red Wings and Maple Leafs match-up set in stone, the NHL can now focus on other outdoor opportunities to give more fans the ultimate experience while bringing in more revenue.

The Red Wings and Maple Leafs were scheduled to play their Winter Classic at the University of Michigan’s “Big House” on January 1, 2013, but the event was cancelled due to the lockout. Now the game is back on, set exactly a year later, and is expected to bring in a crowd of over 110,000 to watch the game and break a Michigan Stadium record.

The event is also expected to bring in over 250,000 people to its Sirius XM Winter Classic Festival that coincides with the game in Ann Arbor, Mich. The league will surely generate a lot of money from the classic, as the five previous have each been considered a one-of-a-kind experience for hockey fans.

The Red Wings-Maple Leafs rivalry dates back to the 1920s and is one of the most famous in all of the NHL. The two teams will battle through the cold on New Years Day in 2014, and there’s a good chance it will be snowing in Ann Arbor. Either way, this game isn’t getting cancelled again, and it looks like more outdoor games are on the way.

Will the NHL have multiple Winter Classics next season and continue to grow with its newest tradition looking forward?