| NHL Winter Classic | |
| Headerstyle: | background:#ccf; |
| Label2: | First played |
| Data2: | January 1, 2008 |
| Label3: | Times held |
| Data3: | 15 |
| Label4: | Teams participated |
| Data4: | 16 |
| Label6: | Most wins |
| Data6: | 3: Boston Bruins |
| Label7: | Most recent |
| Data7: | January 1, 2024 |
| Label8: | Most recent winner |
| Data8: | Seattle Kraken |
| Label9: | Next game |
| Data9: | December 31, 2024 |
| Label10: | Teams Playing |
| Data10: | St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks |
| Belowstyle: | background:#ddf; |
The NHL Winter Classic (French: La Classique hivernale de la LNH) is an annual outdoor ice hockey game played during the National Hockey League's (NHL) regular season on or around New Year's Day. It is generally held in a football or baseball stadium in the United States in an area with a resident NHL team, though for most of the game's existence, they are usually played in a baseball stadium to avoid scheduling and logistical conflicts with football stadiums during the National Football League regular season. The Winter Classic is distinct from the league's two other series of outdoor games, the NHL Heritage Classic and the NHL Stadium Series. The first Winter Classic was held in 2008 at Ralph Wilson Stadium (now Highmark Stadium) in Orchard Park, New York, between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins. Fifteen Winter Classics have been held as of January 2024. The most recent game was played during the 2023–24 NHL season at T-Mobile Park, with the Seattle Kraken defeating the Vegas Golden Knights 3−0.
After the success of the Cold War at Michigan State University in 2001 and the 2003 Heritage Classic, the NHL's first regular season outdoor game, the league inaugurated the Winter Classic in 2008. It eventually caught on as a league tradition and has been played every year since except for 2013 (due to the 2012–13 NHL lockout) and 2021 (due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The 2014 game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings set a new NHL attendance record of 105,491. The Winter Classic has been contested only in the United States, while the Heritage Classic has been held exclusively in Canada. The Winter Classic featured only American teams for its first five games, until the Maple Leafs' appearance in 2014.
Along with the NHL All-Star Game, the Winter Classic is considered one of the NHL's premier events; with matchups generally booked to showcase the league's most popular teams and players, the event garners the league its highest attendance and among its highest television ratings. The event is typically promoted as a return to the sport's outdoor roots, meant to evoke memories of pond hockey. Its popularity has led to the scheduling of additional outdoor hockey games, both in the NHL and other leagues worldwide. In May 2014, the SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily named the Winter Classic its "Sports Event of the Year," the second time in five years the Classic has won that distinction.[1]
The Winter Classic as a television event was presented by NBC Sports Executive VP Jon Miller. He pitched the idea to the NHL in 2004 "but they didn't find the concept workable."[2] In December 2006, Miller found an ally in then Executive VP/Business & Media John Collins, who embraced the idea.[3] [4]
The first Winter Classic was held January 1, 2008, between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, New York. The game had a then-NHL-record crowd of 71,217 fans in attendance. The success of the 2008 NHL Winter Classic led the NHL to schedule a second one for 2009, held at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, on January 1, 2009, matching the Detroit Red Wings against the Chicago Blackhawks. That game had the highest American television ratings of any hockey game in 33 years.
Weather has proven to affect the game, with the 2011 and 2012 classics being delayed due to rain and other weather. Outdoor effects of wind and sun glare may give an unfair advantage to one team, so the NHL sometimes modifies the third and overtime periods. In this case, play is stopped at the midway point and teams switch directions. This option was exercised in 2008, 2011, 2014, and 2018. The 2008, 2014, and 2018 games also featured the teams switching ends halfway through the five-minute overtime period for the same reason. In 2008 and 2014 the games went into a shootout, where both goaltenders alternated defending the same goal, rather than the normal practice of defending opposite goals.
The Winter Classic was made a part of the NHL schedule through at least January 1, 2021, as part of the league's television contract, initially with NBC and Versus, then just NBC after Comcast (the parent company of Versus) bought NBC and merged Versus into the NBC Sports banner.
The 2012 Winter Classic in Philadelphia was not played on New Year's Day, as that fell on a Sunday in 2012 and conflicted with the NFL's final week of regular season games. Instead, following precedent set by college football's bowl games (which move their games to Monday when January 1 lands on Sunday) and to prevent the risk of a weather delay pushing the game into the timeslot for NBC Sunday Night Football, the game took place on January 2, 2012. The game was played at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies. Neighboring Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, was reportedly preferred, but as the Eagles hosted a home game on January 1, the NHL could not undertake the required week-long renovations needed to construct the outdoor playing arena. The New York Rangers defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3–2.The sixth Winter Classic was scheduled for Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor in 2013, with the Detroit Red Wings hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs in an Original Six matchup. However, the 2012–13 NHL lockout disrupted the season, leading to the game's cancellation on November 2, 2012.[5] The matchup was rescheduled for the 2014 Winter Classic, at the same venue with the same participants.[6] It was the first time a Canadian team participated in the Winter Classic. An NHL-record total of 105,491 tickets were sold, greater than the Guinness World Records-certified world-record attendance of 104,173 at The Big Chill at the Big House, also held at Michigan Stadium.[7] However, on January 24, 2014, an NHL source reported that the certified attendance, based on tickets scanned at the venue, fell short of the world record.[8]
In 2017, the Winter Classic was the second of two outdoor games to be held over the New Year's weekend, with the NHL Centennial Classic being held in Toronto on January 1 and the Winter Classic following on January 2. The St. Louis Blues defeated the Chicago Blackhawks by the score of 4–1, scoring 3 goals in the third period.
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the first Winter Classic, the NHL announced on May 10, 2017, that the Buffalo Sabres would take part in the 2018 game against the New York Rangers at Citi Field. Due to a 1982 agreement with New York City and state tax laws that give their home arena Madison Square Garden tax-exempt status, the Rangers must not "cease playing" home games at MSG (which is generally interpreted as meaning playing a home game at any other venue), and thus Rangers hosted the game but played as the visiting team. The arrangement gave the Sabres only 40 games for the 2017–18 season in their home city of Buffalo, while the Rangers played 42 games (not counting away games against the New York Islanders) in New York City. The NHL had used a similar policy for the Rangers in the 2014 Stadium Series and the 2011 NHL Premiere.[9] [10] [11] The game was played on January 1, 2018.On November 18, 2017, the NHL announced that the Chicago Blackhawks would host the Boston Bruins in the Winter Classic scheduled for January 1, 2019. The game was played at Notre Dame Stadium, in Notre Dame, Indiana, and was the first instance of a Winter Classic being played in a different state and media market than the host team - the stadium is located less than from Chicago but is served by television stations in South Bend.[12]
The NHL announced on January 26, 2019, that the Dallas Stars would host the Nashville Predators in the 2020 Winter Classic at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas.[13] It would be the first Winter Classic to take place at a warm-climate city and the first outdoor game for both the Predators and Stars. The Stars won the game 4–2 in front of 85,630 fans, the second largest attendance in an NHL game behind the 2014 Winter Classic.[14]
The league originally announced on January 1, 2020, that the 2021 NHL Winter Classic would feature the Minnesota Wild at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[15] The league later confirmed the St. Louis Blues as the opponent. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the conclusion of the 2019–20 season to September and postponing the start of the following season, the event was moved to 2022 at its earliest.[16] With a temperature of -5.7 °F at puck drop, the 2022 Winter Classic became the coldest outdoor game in NHL history as the Blues won 6–4.[17]
In 2021, the NHL ended its relationship with NBC and signed new agreements with ESPN and TNT. As ESPN has a full slate of college bowl games on New Year's Day, TNT will hold rights to the Winter Classic throughout the entire broadcast contract.[18]
On February 4, 2022, the NHL announced that Fenway Park would be the site of the 2023 NHL Winter Classic. As a result, Fenway Park became the third outdoor stadium to host multiple outdoor games, and the first to host two Winter Classics. On April 13, 2022, the Penguins were announced as the opponent with the game being held on January 2 (as January 1, 2023, falls on Sunday).[19] [20] The Bruins won the game, 2–1.[21]
On January 2, 2023, the day of the 2023 Winter Classic, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced on the game's pregame show that the Seattle Kraken would host the 2024 edition of the Winter Classic at T-Mobile Park, playing against the Vegas Golden Knights. This was the first Winter Classic to be held on the American West Coast and the first between Pacific Division opponents.[22] This was also be the first Winter Classic, and the second NHL outdoor game, to take place in a retractable roof stadium. Due to Seattle's rainy climate that may affect ice conditions, organizers planned on closing the T-Mobile Park roof in case of heavy rainfall.[23] The game ended with the Kraken becoming the first team to earn a shutout in a Winter Classic, defeating the Golden Knights 3–0.
On February 7, 2024, it was announced that the 2025 NHL Winter Classic will take place at Wrigley Field in Chicago, with the Chicago Blackhawks facing the St. Louis Blues. Wrigley Field joined Fenway Park as the only two-time hosts of a Winter Classic, and it will also mark the first repeat matchup in a Winter Classic, with the Blackhawks and Blues previously facing off at Busch Stadium in 2017.[24] It was then announced that the game would take place on December 31, 2024, which marked the first and only time two Winter Classics were held in one calendar year, and the first Winter Classic to take place on New Year's Eve.[25]
Due to the popularity of the event, every NHL team has requested to participate in the Winter Classic either as the host or the visiting team. While proposals have been made for nearly every outdoor National Football League (NFL) stadium to host, with the end of the NFL season taking place at the same time of the Winter Classic followed by the NFL Playoffs starting the following week, in order to host the game the stadium's NFL team would have to play a Thursday Night Football game in Week 16 followed by an away game in Week 17 to even consider the possibility of hosting (as was the case for the 2011 game). Stadiums with natural grass fields such as Acrisure Stadium have already ruled out this possibility as there would be no time to resod the field or correct any other field damage caused by the game. The tight timeline would also rule out the ability for other support events such as alumni games or local college/lower level hockey games as the rink would have to be de-constructed immediately after the Winter Classic to ensure venue availability for NFL Playoff games.
While some NCAA College Football stadiums are unavailable to host due to already existing bowl games, most of these games are held in warmer weather climates opening up the possibility of the largest Big Ten Conference Stadiums such as Michigan Stadium (which hosted in 2014), Ohio Stadium, Beaver Stadium, and other large stadiums such as Notre Dame Stadium (which hosted in 2019). Most Major League Soccer soccer specific stadiums have seating capacities significantly lower than the other available facilities. With Major League Baseball (MLB) in its offseason and with few other uses for its stadiums during winter, more MLB stadiums have hosted than other type of venue and are expected to be contenders for hosting most future Winter Classics.
Non-sports venues like the National Mall or Central Park have also been proposed, but present logistical challenges the league is unlikely to want to overcome given the other options available. [26] [27] [28]
| Team | Appearances | Last | Wins | Losses | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Bruins | 4 | 2023 | 3 | 1 | |
| Chicago Blackhawks | 4 | 2019 | 0 | 4 | |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 3 | 2023 | 1 | 2 | |
| St. Louis Blues | 2 | 2022 | 2 | 0 | |
| New York Rangers | 2 | 2018 | 2 | 0 | |
| Washington Capitals | 2 | 2015 | 2 | 0 | |
| Detroit Red Wings | 2 | 2014 | 1 | 1 | |
| Buffalo Sabres | 2 | 2018 | 0 | 2 | |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 2 | 2012 | 0 | 2 | |
| Dallas Stars | 1 | 2020 | 1 | 0 | |
| Montreal Canadiens | 1 | 2016 | 1 | 0 | |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 1 | 2014 | 1 | 0 | |
| Seattle Kraken | 1 | 2024 | 1 | 0 | |
| Minnesota Wild | 1 | 2022 | 0 | 1 | |
| Nashville Predators | 1 | 2020 | 0 | 1 | |
| Vegas Golden Knights | 1 | 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| Teams | Win | Loss | Total | Year(s) won | Year(s) lost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Bruins | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2010, 2019, 2023 | 2016 | |
| New York Rangers | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||
| St. Louis Blues | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||
| Washington Capitals | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2008 | 2011, 2023 | |
| Detroit Red Wings | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2009 | 2014 | |
| Dallas Stars | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Montreal Canadiens | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Seattle Kraken | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2024 | ||
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Chicago Blackhawks | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2009, 2015, 2017, 2019 | ||
| Buffalo Sabres | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2008, 2018 | ||
| Minnesota Wild | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2022 | ||
| Nashville Predators | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2020 | ||
| Philadelphia Flyers | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2010, 2012 | ||
| Vegas Golden Knights | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
For the Winter Classic, participating teams typically wear throwback, or retro-style sweaters, and occasionally retro-styled equipment. The throwback sweaters are popular with fans, and teams have often continued to wear them after the Winter Classic. The Penguins and Blackhawks made their Winter Classic sweaters their alternates the following season. The Flyers went a step further and made their 2010 Winter Classic sweaters their permanent road sweaters, beginning with 2010–11. The Sabres had already been using a variation of their throwback sweater prior to their appearance (that particular season, there were no third sweaters anywhere in the league) and adopted a slightly updated version of the sweaters as their main uniform in 2010–11, while the 2011 contestants, the Penguins and Capitals, wore their classic uniforms as third jerseys in 2011–12. The Capitals continued to do so through the 2014–15 season, the same year the Flyers adopted their 2012 Winter Classic sweaters as their third jerseys.
The Winter Classic has proven to be a ratings success for the league in the United States and is regularly the league's most watched regular season contest (in the US), rivaling the ratings for the Stanley Cup.
The 2014 Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs had a television viewership in the U.S. and Canada of 8.2 million television viewers, a North American record for a regular season game; in addition to setting an NHL-record paid attendance of 105,491.[47] Sportsnet's Chris Johnston said, "The feeling when the players walked into the 87-year-old stadium in front of more than 100,000 fans was truly something special. The biggest and best Winter Classic of them all lived up to its advanced billing." The game went down to the wire, ending in a 3–2 Toronto victory in a shootout.[48]
Despite the overwhelming popularity of the original Heritage Classic between the Montreal Canadiens and the Edmonton Oilers in 2003, the popularity of the Winter Classic in Canada is not as high as it is in the United States. On Canada's CBC Television network, the Winter Classic has lower ratings than its weekly regular season telecasts Hockey Night in Canada. This has been attributed to the lack of Canadian teams in any of the Winter Classics and has led to both the revival of the all-Canadian Heritage Classic and the scheduling of the Maple Leafs in the 2014 Winter Classic and the Canadiens in the 2016 edition. Nevertheless, the Winter Classic continues to air on Canadian television, but since 2016 the games are moved to Sportsnet. In addition, Sportsnet elected to simulcast the American broadcast feed of the Winter Classic as opposed to sending their own broadcast crews, except when a Canadian team is involved (as was the case in the 2016 Winter Classic featuring the Canadiens).
The Winter Classic games ranked among the most watched regular season NHL games on NBC when the network held the national U.S. broadcast rights from 2005 to 2021. Early entries in the Winter Classic ranked among the highest ratings for professional hockey in the U.S. since the 1970s, prior to that, the highest rating for an NHL game since then had been Wayne Gretzky's final game, which aired on Fox in 1999. Winter Classic viewership peaked in 2011 (due to it being rescheduled to primetime) and, with the exception of one-year bumps in 2014 and 2019, has been in a mostly steady decline since then.
TNT holds the rights to televise the Winter Classic from 2022 to 2028. The 2022 game thus became the first time that the Winter Classic aired exclusively on American cable television. 1.36 million people watched the game on TNT and it earned a 0.6 rating. This rating was a decline of 48% from the 2019 edition. However, the game had the widest audience in history of any NHL regular season game broadcast on cable. This was surpassed by the 2024 Winter Classic, which was viewed by only 1.1 million people (0.4 rating) combined on TNT and truTV. Starting with the 2025 Winter Classic, the game would take place on New Year's Eve to avoid competing with the newly-expanded College Football Playoff bowl games.
| Year | Rating | Viewers | Network | Ref(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 2.2 | 3.75 million | NBC | [49] | ||
| 2009 | 2.5 | 4.40 million | NBC | |||
| 2010 | 2.1 | 3.68 million | NBC | |||
| 2011 | 2.3 | 4.50 million | NBC | |||
| 2012 | 2.1 | 3.73 million | NBC | |||
| 2014 | 2.5 | 4.40 million | NBC | |||
| 2015 | 1.9 | 3.47 million | NBC | |||
| 2016 | 1.6 | 2.78 million | NBC | |||
| 2017 | 1.5 | 2.56 million | NBC | [50] | ||
| 2018 | 1.4 | 2.48 million | NBC | [51] | ||
| 2019 | 1.9 | 2.97 million | NBC | [52] | ||
| 2020 | 1.1 | 1.96 million | NBC | [53] | ||
| 2022 | 0.6 | 1.36 million | TNT | [54] | ||
| 2023 | 0.6 | 1.77 million | TNT | [55] | ||
| 2024 | 0.4 | 1.1 million | TNT truTV | [56] |
In 2010, the NHL and HBO announced a four-part documentary series as part of the build-up to the 2011 Winter Classic. The series, entitled 24/7: Road to the NHL Winter Classic, gave HBO exclusive access to the teams that were participating in the game.[57] HBO went on to air two more editions in 2012 and 2014.[58] [59]
For the 2015, 2016 and 2017 Winter Classics, the NHL partnered with Epix to air another series of four-part documentaries. The first two editions carried the Road to the NHL Winter Classic brand,[60] [61] but the 2017 edition was retitled Road to the NHL Outdoor Classics with the inclusion of the NHL Centennial Classic as part of the buildup.[62]
Starting with the 2018 Winter Classic, the NHL opted to distribute the Road to the NHL Winter Classic series to its broadcast partners. In addition, each episode was made available on NHL.com and the league's social media pages.[63] [64] [65]
From 2010 to 2020, episodes of the series were produced by Ross Greenburg in conjunction with the NHL. Beginning in 2021, NHL Studios will oversee production of the series, with Steve Mayer as executive producer, and Jay Nelson and Steve Stern as producers.[66]
For the 2022 edition, the Road to the Winter Classic was aired as a five or eight-minute segment on the NHL on TNT postgame show as opposed to a standalone episode during the Greenburg era. Unlike previous seasons, the season finale did not include highlights of the Winter Classic itself. Each episode was made available on the Bleacher Report YouTube page.[67]
The Road to the Winter Classic series did not return for the 2023 edition, but in 2024, the NHL resumed producing four half-hour episodes of the series, albeit without the highlights from the game itself. The series was produced by Radan Films and NHL Productions.[68]
Its popularity in the United States led to the American Hockey League adopting a similar contest in 2010, the AHL Outdoor Classic, which it continued to organize each season through 2017–18. Both the Winter Classic and the earlier Cold War contest helped repopularize outdoor hockey at the college and university level, and several college organizations, minor and junior hockey leagues hold outdoor games each year. The Winter Classic also led to the revival of the Heritage Classic, an outdoor game featuring only Canadian NHL teams; and the creation of the NHL Stadium Series, another regular season event held at an outdoor venue.