2012 Winter Classic

The NHL recently announced the location and the participants of the 2012 Winter Classic with this year's event being at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia between the Flyers and the New York Rangers.  Previous years games have been good games and the event has been fun to watch and has brought a lot of positive attention to the sport.  Last year HBO produced a great 4 episode "24/7" series that was a behind the scenes look at the Capitals and Penguins who were last year's teams, following them for several weeks prior to the event itself.  The show was an incredible look at hockey beyond the ice and will be done again this year for most likely these two teams.  This year should be another good game and fun event, however it isn't free of criticism.

The largest issue with the Winter Classic actually has little to nothing to do with the event itself.  Rather the largest problem, and the biggest criticism I have for NBC, is the teams they choose.  I realize that they need ratings, and successful teams will bring ratings so teams like Atlanta, Florida, and Columbus will be left out, and I realize that larger markets will draw bigger share so places like Phoenix will get left out, but NBC seems to only recognize a few teams even on their regular game broadcasts.

Tune into any NBC game and you'll generally find either Boston, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington Chicago or the Detroit Red Wings involved.  Notice that those are all east coast teams and only two of those are actually in the Western Conference (but still in the eastern time zone)?  Other teams have never gotten network attention and likely won't, which is a shame because the league is 30 teams, not 7 plus a few opponents.

The second big problem that many fans have with the Winter Classic is the NHL doesn't appear to be trying to get all teams involved at some point, rather they are using those main teams as well in deciding who will play in the league's premier regular season event.  Look at the participants leading up to this year ... Buffalo vs. Pittsburgh, Chicago vs. Detroit, Boston vs. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh (again) vs. Washington, and now this year Philly (again) vs. the Rangers.  You'll find all seven of the NBC teams on that list with two teams getting in for the second time where only one team not of those seven has been in it.  Rumor has it that Washington has been told they will get to host in the next few years too, so another of those seven getting a second game while thus far 22 other teams haven't played in it ... and yes the Heritage Classic is similar but between two Canadian teams, however it also doesn't have the "national spotlight" of the Winter Classic.

Sure, market size and team success will play into the decision and I understand that from a business standpoint, and weather plays a part as well ... though they have played an outdoor game in Las Vegas so it can work ... however before we go having the NBC darlings playing in multiple games it would be good to see other teams worked into the mix as well.  Perhaps in the future we could see Denver host Dallas, or Los Angeles and Anaheim or San Jose in a game (again, they have played such a game in Vegas many years ago).  However I won't hold my breath that a game occurs anytime soon in anything that isn't a "major market" (which means east cost mostly) or between teams that don't include at least one of the "big 7" for NBC.