Big Lead Sports Bar

5/28/2010

WINTER CLASSIC COMING TO THE BURGH



Many people thought this would happen, and today, it will become a reality: the 2011 Winter Classic is officially coming to Pittsburgh, with the opponent being the Washington Capitals. The matchup will be formally announced by Gary Bettman at a press conference today in Chicago.

Critics will point to the Penguins' presence in the game in 2008 as overexposure; but network suits and league officials surely realize that a contest featuring their top three stars in chilly conditions on New Year's Day could be a ratings bonanza and an overwhelming financial success. It's simply too good a proposition to pass up, critics or not.

From another angle, this is a huge boom for the city of Pittsburgh, which again gets a three-hour commercial in front of a national audience, as well as the numerous benefits to area hotels, bars, and restaurants that will be significantly busier than usual. 

The Winter Classic, which has been played in Edmonton (2003, as The Heritage Classic), Buffalo (2008), Chicago (2009) and Boston (2010) will add a second game this year, with Montreal traveling to Calgary sometime in February for a meeting at McMahon Stadium. So the complaints of Pittsburgh getting a second invitation to the Classic will likely be dulled a bit with the inclusion of a separate game for Canada.

The announcement is a bit of great news for the city, the team, and Penguin fans in the wake of a disappointing end to their 2009-10 season. On top of everything else, I'm guessing it will become one of the hottest tickets in the history of Pittsburgh sports, so even the "freelance ticket brokers" will be celebrating even more than usual on New Year's Day.


Email your feedback, questions, and tips Mondesishouse@gmail.com

10 comments:

expectingrain said...

The only thing that would be better than this is if the game was Penguins/Flyers at Beaver Stadium.

Rege said...

I'm glad it is in a football stadium again. I was keeping my fingers crossed for Pens vs Jackets in the Shoe in a few years. I still feel like this is way too soon to be recyling teams. question is what jerseys will the team be wearing? My vote goes for the 80's mustard yellows.

JeremyT said...

Rege, you got the idea about the jerseys. Would be sweet and would sell well to the public.

Steve said...

I'm just glad it wasn't at PNC Park. Yeah, I know, the skyline, blah...blah..blah! Nutting and the organization deserves nothing, let alone parking and concession revenues to go with whatever else these venues get from the NHL in terms of revenue for hosting the event.

BurressWithButterflywings said...

what if we went with these:

http://assets.sbnation.com/imported_assets/50887/2526spring.jpg

Rege said...

I was at the 08 WC and I just see no way to replicate the hype that was around that game. I remember the NYE party i was at, everyone had tickets the weather report was looking bleak. Nobody was drinking had so not to be hung over in the morning. New Year's day morning felt like x-mas as a 6 year old. We got dropped off at the Ralph at 9AM partied to game time then got picked up at 9PM frozen stiff. Got some good footage of the game on my camera. i refused to tape the SO, I was too scared of the jinx factor.

My only request for this year's game is we need a old timers game also.

Steve said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Steve said...

Rege - No one was drinking the night before and it felt like Christmas? We obviously come from different backgrounds.

Rege said...

Good One Steve- There's drinking then theres DRINKING. People buffalo only know the one extreme, so by their standards it was tame. You get my picture. For how much some of these Sabres fans paid for tickets it was a smart move. the tweve hour bender the next day would have brought anyone to their knees if hungover.


know my x-mas analogy was weak, but it's really difficult to put into a perspective what that morning felt like.

Papa Eo said...

I imagine this will go down in history as the biggest spectacle of drunken yinzers in the history of the city and I could not be more excited for what that means for the New Year's Day atmosphere.