by Luke Rasmussen

Created on: March 21, 2009   Last Updated: March 22, 2009

The NHL Winter Classic has become a very popular event in the last couple years. You could even go as far as to say, it's the Super Bowl, for the NHL. This will be the sought-after event for NHL teams, probably even more so than the NHL All Star Game.

An article in the Sports Business Journal recently discussed the Winter Classic, and asked the question of whether or not the Winter Classic was taking all the attention away from the mid-season All Star Game. The article seemed to think that the Classic was in fact taking attention away from the All Star Game.

The reason I compare it to the Super Bowl is because, the Winter Classic will never be in Atlanta, Dallas or Tampa. This is the event that's for the cold-weather cities: Minneapolis, Detroit, Buffalo (who has hosted a Winter Classic). Sure, Minneapolis and Detroit have hosted Super Bowls, but they had to pull the arms of NFL executives to come up to their small domed stadiums.

The NHL All Star Game seems to be losing lots of ground. First of all, we missed two in a row. The 2005 game was cancelled because of the lockout that took the whole season; and 2006 wasn't played because of the Olympics in Turin, Italy. There won't be a 2010 All Star Game either, because of the Olympics in Vancouver.

The Winter Classic seems to be the genius brainstorm of the marketing and PR folks at the NHL, believing that people would rather sit outside and watch a game that counts, rather than sit inside and watch shooting drills and high-offense games that are just for exhibition. TV ratings are high for the Winter Classic, which is surprising, because Jan. 1 belongs to college football. If there was one mistake made with the Winter Classic, the date would be it.

That's just my opinion. Obviously, people watch the Classic.

And, in tough economic times, the Classic might be better than the All Star Game. The All Star Game is more than just a game, it is a week-long event, riddled with receptions, interactive fan fests, celebrities, concerts - and oh yes, an exhibition hockey game. Except for making Wrigley Field hockey-compatible, the city of Chicago (host of the 2009 event) didn't spend a whole horde of cash.

Had they hosted the All Star Game, they would have to set hotel rooms aside, rent out the convention center, make room for the media, deck out the United Center, and more.

All Star Games, not just in the NHL, tend to favor the bigger cities, with the bigger and newer arenas or stadiums, with the gigantic convention centers, etc. The Winter Classic is a simple game, outside, with 40,000+ in attendance, watching good hockey - without the pressure of having a nice, shiny arena and the biggest convention center and all the parties and everything that comes with an All Star Game. Just hockey.

You can't ask for more than that.

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