Capitals to host Winter Classic in 2-3 years

What wasn’t surprising in Gary Bettman’s “state of the NHL union” address yesterday was the announcement that the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins will face off next New Year’s Day at Heinz Field.

This had been rumored for months and the announcement was a formality. Having the Capitals and the Penguins in the Winter Classic shows that the NHL is going to use its signature regular season event to promote the teams and players that people want to see. If some are upset that the Penguins get to play in the event twice before some teams are a part of the event at all, then too bad. The Winter Classic is about ratings. Nothing will draw more ratings than the Capitals and Penguins, two teams that feature Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.

When it was becoming clear that this rumor would become a reality, my excitement was tempered, given that the Capitals had just lost in the first round of the playoffs. I was thinking that however cool an event like this is, it’s not going to help the Capitals win when it matters.

But this really will be a very cool event to see the Capitals in this coming New Year’s Day. The Capitals and Penguins always produce highly entertaining, fast paced games. I’m sure I’ll get more excited for the event as the NHL’s practice games for the playoffs regular season gets underway and January 1, 2011 approaches.

An intense rivalry in front of 65,000 fans should be awesome. But it won’t be all Pittsburgh fans — all Capitals’ full-season ticket holders will have an opportunity to buy tickets for the game at Heinz Field.

Also of note will be the question of what particular throwbacks the Capitals will be wearing for the Winter Classic. I vote for the red sweaters with white pants.

What was a true surprise to everyone, and what really has me excited, was the announcement that Washington will host a Winter Classic in the next 2-3 years. I was so surprised when I read about this that I had to read the report from multiple outlets in order to report it. I just could not believe that Bettman would announce that the Capitals would be in two of the next three or four Winter Classic events.

Capitals’ beat writer Tarik El-Bashir was on Comcast SportsNet on Friday (the El-Bashir video is down a little bit in the video queue if you click on that link) with Russ Thaler and explained that the Capitals, since they’re getting shipped to Pittsburgh this year to play before front of tens of thousands of Penguins’ fans, wanted to be guaranteed by the NHL that they would host a game in the next 2-3 years as reciprocation.

My first thought when I came to grips that the Capitals would be hosting a Winter Classic? Well, how do I get tickets? And where’s it going to be played?

Tickets will probably cost an arm and a leg for those who aren’t season ticket holders – I assume they’d be offered the tickets at face value, which I’m sure would be plenty expensive, just not the kind of prices you’ll see on the secondary market. I hope I have a bundle saved up at that point.

The Winter Classic is a spectacle that a hockey fan probably should try to attend at least once. For a view of the game, watching on high definition television is the way to go — sitting in the upper deck of Nationals Park or FedEx Field and trying to pick out the puck probably isn’t ideal for watching hockey. But still, it’s a very neat spectacle.

As far as where it could be played, the venues that are being tossed around are FedEx Field, Nationals Park, RFK Stadium and the National Mall. All of these venues have their perks. All of them have their downfalls.

With FedEx Field, the Capitals could jam almost 100,000 people into the stadium for a hockey game, and a football stadium makes for better sightlines for the fans in attendance. The downside is that FedEx Field isn’t even in Washington, DC, it’s owned by Dan Snyder, and it doesn’t have much charm at all — it’s just a big, ugly football stadium in the middle of a parking lot. Metro access also isn’t the greatest.

But most of the downside is that FedEx Field owned by Dan Snyder. Probably should stay away from that.

With Nationals Park, which El-Bashir said was the most likely venue to host the game, the NHL would get a nice new stadium to work with and it’s actually in Washington. Also, fans get easy access to the park via the Metro and the block between the Navy Yard Metro stop and the centerfield gate would be a great place for the NHL to set up shop as far as selling merchandise. The downside is that because it’s a baseball stadium, the sightlines wouldn’t be great for fans at the park.

Next on the list is RFK. Look, RFK is old and it’s is a dump. The concourses are extremely cramped. But boy, the Capitals could pack that place and RFK can get awfully loud. The place legitimately shook for some Redskins’ games back in the day. Also, easy access for fans via the Metro. Not much of a neighborhood for the NHL to set up shop, though.

Finally, we have the most intriguing possible venue for the Winter Classic – the National Mall. Personally, I don’t see how any of the logistics could possibly work. The NHL would have to make do with some odd-ball seating arrangement and I’m not sure if putting 500 porta-potties on the Mall would work. I’m not sure where the players would get dressed (in a Smithsonian museum? That’d be badass). Nevertheless, hear me out.

It’s a cold New Year’s Day. There’s snow on the ground with some flurries sprinkling down. Ovechkin bursts down the left wing with the score tied in the third period before the shadow of the Capitol building that’s cascading down on the rink. A look at the other end of the rink, one can see the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial in the distance. Massive crowds encircle the perimeter of the rink. It’s a made-for-television event, as the NHL draws insane ratings in this picturesque environment.

Like I said, the logistics aren’t friendly for this type of endeavor. Maybe the NHL would just scratch putting any stands up at all and tell fans to encircle the rink at their own peril free of charge, but make up for the loss in revenue by charging much heftier advertsing rates given the ratings that would eniviteably occur with a game on the National Mall. Fans at the Mall could follow the game with the Obama-inauguration type of big screens and would have easy Metro access at multipe stations. I’m just spitballing here.

A National Mall event would be an extremely risky manuever, but if it pays off, it would be absolutely huge. Personally, I’d love to see the NHL take a gamble and try to hit it out of the park with a game on the National Mall. But I foresee the NHL going the safest route, which is Nationals Park.

(UPDATE: In his blog, owner Ted Leonsis writes that an outdoor game on the Mall would never happen. Like I said, it’s a logistical nightmare, but it sure would be cool if it worked).