Behind the Choice of Venue for the NHL 2024 Winter Classic

The Seattle Kraken will host the 2024 NHL Winter Classic when the Vegas Golden Knights come to town following some New Year’s festivities.

While “original six” teams are usually a mainstay of the NHL’s premier regular season event, next year’s matchup will be between the two newest NHL franchises. It will also be Vegas’s second outdoor game following the 2021 Lake Tahoe series, even though no fans were in attendance for that one.

Some hockey purists aren’t necessarily thrilled with the selection. Why do the two newest teams get the Winter Classic when there are so many other NHL teams who’ve waited longer to play in a Winter Classic of their own?

So far, Seattle and Vegas have both met or exceeded expectations as new hockey markets. Both teams rank in the top ten for attendance in terms of capacity sold. Not to mention, Seattle is a very “wintery” city which should provide a nice backdrop for the cold sport of ice hockey.

That is, of course, if it doesn’t rain.

The NHL’s newest teams will play the next Winter Classic at T-Mobile Park.

Dan Rosen addressed the selection of teams in his latest NHL.com mailbag segment. Specifically, he answered why Vegas was chosen as Seattle’s opponent instead of the Vancouver Canucks.

The simple answer is that the Canucks haven’t built a “historic” rivalry with Seattle yet. Plus, having Vegas gives the game a more “national” feel it would lack if the two teams featured were from the Northwest.

Next year’s game will take place at T-Mobile Park, a baseball field that’s home to the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball.

Some would prefer the game to be held in a football stadium. Specifically, some wanted the game to be held at the University of Washington’s Husky Stadium, which is well-noted for its picturesque mountain and lake views.

That would have been a perfect backdrop for one of the NHL’s tent pole events.

A variety of factors most likely lead to the league choosing the Mariners’ home, although they haven’t specifically stated why. First, the league likes having the stadium for two weeks to set up and build ice rinks.

A Chicago Tribune article from 2018 states it takes “about a week” to make the ice, while an NHL.com article about the 2020 Winter Classic said the ice-making crew was together for three weeks.

There could have been scheduling conflicts with Seattle’s football stadiums considering New Year’s Day is still NFL and kind of college football season.

Second, T-Mobile Park has a retractable roof. The league wants to play the game with the roof open, but the rink and ice-making equipment would be safe from the elements in the event one of Seattle’s infamous rainstorms comes through in the days before.

Mention of T-Mobile Park’s roof was specifically mentioned in Dan Rosen’s article on the matter for NHL.com.

The third reason is pure speculation on my part on the whole “why did they choose a baseball stadium over Husky Stadium?” debate. The NHL has used college football stadiums before. In a few weeks, they’ll use another football stadium for the Washington Capitals vs Carolina Hurricanes Stadium Series game.

T-Mobile Park is a professional, major league stadium. Perhaps in addition to the fact the field didn’t have any scheduling conflicts, the NHL preferred the amenities. No offense to Husky Stadium, but it isn’t hard to believe T-Mobile Park has nicer locker rooms, luxury seating, broadcast areas, etc.

Seattle was the obvious choice over Vegas to host. Even though Vegas was the site of the first-ever outdoor NHL game, a preseason game between the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers in 1991, Las Vegas lacks in Winter Classic arena options.

Vegas does have the NFL’s newest stadium with the Las Vegas Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium. Unfortunately, the Raiders might still be using it come Winter Classic time.

Allegiant Stadium also has a permanent roof, as opposed to T-Mobile Park’s retractable one. You can’t really have a Winter Classic if there’s a 100% chance the game will be “indoors”.

Vegas has no other options other than Allegiant. Even their local college team, the UNLV Rebels, share Allegiant with the Raiders. Maybe if the Oakland Athletics move to Vegas and a new MLB stadium is constructed that will be an option, but that’s still years away from even being a reality.

Speaking for myself, I’m excited for next year’s Winter Classic. If Seattle can continue to be as successful as they’ve been in their sophomore season, it should be a good matchup. Seattle has a long hockey history, even before the Kraken, that’s sure to be shown off.

Vegas has quickly built one of the NHL’s greatest fan bases, and they’ll be sure to travel well to watch them. Let’s watch it and enjoy it, even if the Boston Bruins/Chicago Blackhawks/Detroit Red Wings/New York Rangers aren’t involved in this one.