Las Vegas, Yankee Stadium, Rose Bowl may host NHL outdoor game

The Las Vegas Strip, Yankee Stadium and California's Rose Bowl are on the list of potential sites for the National Hockey League's annual outdoor game, NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins said.

The league is evaluating potential locations of future outdoor games two weeks after this season's edition, between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks at Wrigley Field on Jan. 1, drew the highest television ratings for the NHL in 34 years.

"This is really kind of becoming a destination event for hockey fans, but also sports fans," Collins said in a telephone interview. We want to "open it up to the masses."

NHL representatives recently visited Las Vegas in part to gauge the feasibility of staging a Jan. 1 game on Las Vegas Boulevard South, the area known as "the Strip," Collins said.

The NHL last played in Las Vegas in September 1991. The Rangers and Los Angeles Kings played an exhibition game on an outdoor rink in 85-degeee temperatures at Caesars Palace in front of 13,000 fans and a swarm of flying insects.

A Jan. 1 date would likely make for better playing conditions. Prior to this year's game, the NHL also spent more than $1 million on a custom-made refrigeration truck and other equipment, allowing for better control of the ice surface.

"The new rink opens up a lot of opportunities," Collins said. "We might even be able to have a night game out at the Rose Bowl."

The NHL has expressed interest in possibly putting a franchise in Las Vegas some day. The city, under Mayor Oscar Goodman, has made getting a major professional sports team a priority. It hosted the 2007 NBA All-Star Game.

Among the other cities expressing interest in hosting the outdoor game are Detroit, Washington, Philadelphia and Minneapolis. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has been approached by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell about staging a game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins at Penn State University's Beaver Stadium, Collins said.

Because it's difficult to plan a game without knowing if a city's National Football League team will be competing in the playoffs at the time, the league is focusing on baseball stadiums and other non-NFL venues.

"Of course, New York would be high on the list," said Collins, who joined the NHL in 2006 and previously worked as president of the NFL's Cleveland Browns. "But we also think Boston could be a really special market, and Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Denver, Montreal, Toronto. There are so many different places."

The NHL had discussed staging this year's game at the old Yankee Stadium, with the New York Rangers as the host team. When that plan fell through, the league decided on Wrigley Field, the 95-year-old home of baseball's Chicago Cubs.

The Wrigley game, shown on General Electric Co.'s NBC network, was the third regular-season game held outdoors. Last year's game on Jan. 1 during a snowstorm in Buffalo drew the best regular-season ratings since 1996.

The NHL likely will begin requiring cities interested in hosting the game to bid for it, a process used for the NFL's annual Super Bowl. The league likely will begins scheduling the games two years in advance as well to allow for better marketing by the league and host city, Collins said.

No official discussions have been held with interested cities, yet, Collins said.

"All of these places are fabulous and we should and will get to all of them," he said. "If I had my way, I'd play all the games outside."

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