Earlier this week the Los Angeles Times reported that there have been discussions between the Los Angeles Kings and the National Hockey League over hosting a future outdoor game in the city, perhaps as an additional Winter Classic event. The Fourth Period also wrote in February of the possibility of Los Angeles hosting an outdoor NHL game.
Outdoor games in warmer climates have been held before; an exhibition game between the Kings and New York Rangers was held on a temporary rink in a parking lot adjacent to Caesar’s Palace in 1991 and held up considerably well. Mexico also defeated Bulgaria in the 2011 Division III World Junior Championships on an outdoor rink set up on the Zócalo, Mexico City’s main square.
While the images of a palm tree-silhouetted sunset amidst Chavez Ravine’s rolling hills would make Dodger Stadium seem like an ideal home for a Southern California-hosted outdoor game, the iconic Los Angeles Coliseum, which hosted an announced 115,300 fans for a Dodgers-Red Sox exhibition in 2008, could be another serious option.
The league is committed to hosting a Detroit Red Wings – Toronto Maple Leafs Winter Classic in 2014 at Michigan Stadium, keeping in line with the northeast and Midwest geographical footprint of NHL-hosted outdoor games in the United States. Edmonton (November, 2003) and Calgary (February, 2011) have also hosted Heritage Classic outdoor games, both featuring the Montreal Canadiens as the visiting team.
The only outdoor game to have been hosted in the Pacific Time Zone was a Western Hockey League game between the Spokane Chiefs and Kootenay Ice. The game was played in front of 7,075 fans at Spokane’s Avista Stadium, the home of the short season Single-A Spokane Indians of the Northwest League.
I spoke with the Los Angeles Kings President, Business Operations Luc Robitaille in San Jose on Thursday about the possibility of the Kings hosting an outdoor game.
Robitaille on Los Angeles hosting an NHL outdoor game:
“I’m a big believer in bringing an outdoor game into L.A. I played in 1991 in Vegas. 85 degrees, and we had pretty good ice. So I’m a believer in it. So it’s certainly something that I think would be great for our franchise. I know our fans would support it. I know L.A. would support it, and so if the league needs anything from us, we will do whatever it takes. We would love to have an outdoor game.”
Robitaille, on whether the league wants to have an outdoor game in Los Angeles:
“I think the league’s exploring different options. They’re looking at different ways, and they’re trying to explore the outdoor experience. They understand, too, I think, that the systems are a little bit better now. They’re looking at different ways.”
Just let me know when and where….. sounds like a lot of fun!
Oh and by the way…. FIRST!
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I’ve heard this rumor since they started talking about the realignment earlier this season. I think it would be SO cool to have an outdoor game.
There’s an outdoor rink at LA Live that’s managing to hold up fairly well in LA’s weird weather fluctuations so I think it could be possible for the ice to be playable (not sure what it’d take but it certainly *seems* possible)
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I already have an idea of what @ DesterKing is thinking…
This time maybe a temporary rink in the parking lot @ COSTCO?
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DesertKing Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:00 am
@jess,
Hockey in So Cal? You got to be kidding, there is no hockey on the west coast of the United States. The only thing we are good for is nachos, in large quantities and massive varieties. Viva los nachos!
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shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:09 am
@DesertKing, We here in the sunbelt don’t know what “hockey” is. Isn’t it some weird ass Canadian sport like broomball? I mean curling? (They’re 1 in the same aren’t they? Broom ball = curling?)
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Dunno, last time I saw Bettman get asked about it, he laughed it off like it was an absurd idea.
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shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 9:35 am
@KC23, That’s only because he didn’t think of it first. And he’s not much of a big picture kinda guy or so it seems
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tornado12 Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 9:59 am
@KC23, it wasnt a laugh it was a sneer as only evil load can accomplish…BEST…COMMISH…EVER!
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DesertKing Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:01 am
@tornado12,
Just ask him.
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KC23 Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 2:20 pm
@tornado12, I stand corrected. Seriously, I think you’re right.
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They did it with Gretz in Vegas on a hot night, they can for sure pull it off here. Bring on the Ducklings!!!
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To give a really cool feel, go get all of the snow making machines from the local ski resorts, space them around the stadium, and fire them up!
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shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:08 am
@DesertKing, I like that idea!
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jess Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:16 am
@DesertKing,
Snow making machines only work when it’s cold enough, but we could do smoke machines, cause hey, it’s hollywood.
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DesertKing Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:44 am
@jess,
kill joy
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well.. earlier this year Croatia made 3 outdoor games… aproximatly 100 meters away from Sea.. (in Roman Amphitheathre – Pula http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y7lwTUA3j0 )
so.. no legitimate excuses are allowed..
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SO… Reports from this morning’s skate indicate that everyone’s favorite top prospect could crack lineup tonight. COULD. Won’t know until the song is over
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It will sell out in minutes if it happens. Dodger Stadium would be perfect with the San Gabriel Mountains and the palm trees in the background.
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shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:13 am
@Kopi Bryant, While they have traditionally been held in baseball stadiums, I’d like LA to be stubborn and different and hold it at like the Colosseum or something. Why? Because I’m a native Angeleno and I like to do things my own way!
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Kopi Bryant Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:17 am
@shiny,
Well it looked like they have gone away from baseball stadiums and have chosen football stadiums the last couple years probably because they can make more revenue from ticket sales so the Coliseum and/or Rose Bowl are going to be an option
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shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:23 am
@Kopi Bryant, I do like the idea of the Colosseum. Rose Bowl is too out far away, wouldn’t generate enough revenue.
luc20rules Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:04 am
@Kopi Bryant, How about actually getting an NFL team and having it at Farmer’s Field. Then using the shiny new venue to have the Winter Classic.
Kopi Bryant Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 12:02 pm
@Kopi Bryant, Farmers Field might not even get built.
Kings vs Ducks !!! Dodger Stadium ??? Awesome right?? The date that was discussed was right before the players leave for the Olympics !!! 50,000 fans yelling….GO KINGS GO !!!!
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Forum Gold Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:02 am
@Neil, With the Forum Blue uni’s. GO KINGS GO!!!
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Well it looked like they have gone away from baseball stadiums and have chosen football stadiums the last couple years probably because they can make more revenue from ticket sales so the Coliseum and/or Rose Bowl are going to be options.
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Kopi Bryant Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:18 am
@Kopi Bryant, My bad about the double reply
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shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:23 am
@Kopi Bryant, How dare you, sir! So I’m going to reply to both. Why? I haven’t eaten breakfast yet and it’s going to my head
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jess Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:18 am
@Kopi Bryant,
Or how about Sunset & Vine?
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Neil Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:26 am
@jess, Players/Fans would be distracted…might even know some of the fans hanging out there….
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Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:56 am
@Neil, And by “fans” you mean……….
Mid Summer Classic…..oh I forgot……This aint Baseball…
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Neil Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:18 am
@Neil, “Fall Classic”….Oh man..Baseball again…
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Neil Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:19 am
@Neil, “Spring Classic”…..Yes that its!!!!
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Neil Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:19 am
@Neil, Now I feel like the “Night Crew” talking to myself !!!!
shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:21 am
@Neil, Too bad there aren’t any seasons that start with “C.” Alliteration, man, it makes all the difference!
Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:55 am
@Neil, Does it actually have to be “classic”? Wouldn’t the East Coast Bias expect something more “epic” or “extreme”……..dude?
I’d buy tickets to that game.
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luc20rules Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:07 am
@CB14, I’ve heard that season ticket holders get first crack and that in Detroit they were given tickets much worse and they cost 3 times as much as their regular seats 10 rows off the ice. Granted change in venue no seat is probably that good outdoors.
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@jess called it. Bernier is starting tonight (or at least he left the ice first)
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LVKINGS88 Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:58 am
@shiny, Who didn’t call that,it had to happen.
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Gotta do it at Coliseum or Rose Bowl. Looks lame when they do it in baseball stadiums with all that space between fans and ice. Fill that bowl with 1000,000 Kings maniac fans and we will rock that place!!
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King Cobra Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:33 am
@King Cobra, 100,000 little to excited
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Tyler Toffoli to get his first start tonight as an LA King.
Projected lineup here…
https://twitter.com/KingsNewsDaily/status/312977739999232001
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goldielocks Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:41 am
@Paul Armbruster (KingsNewsDaily.com),
Thanks Paul.
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goldielocks Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:44 am
@goldielocks,
And Bernier in it seems.
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KingsGal23 Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:57 am
I have an extra ticket to the game tonight. No charge for the ticket as long as your a Kings fan!
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puck73 Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:00 am
@Paul Armbruster (KingsNewsDaily.com), It makes sense. Toffoli is a top 6 player, and he is going to be playing on a line with 2 of the best in the business currently. Also glad to see Penner in still as well. He is not scoring a ton of goals but he is playing very physical and creating space.
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bbb7 Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:02 am
@Paul Armbruster (KingsNewsDaily.com), I dont think Toffoli and Carter on the same line makes much sense unless the center is a supreme playmaker (which Richards is not) but it’ll be good to see what the kid has. No pressure, TT, just backcheck and let your linemates do the work.
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shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:11 am
@bbb7, Well Carts is going to be the playmaker on this line so we’ll see how it all works out tonight
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goldielocks Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:14 am
@shiny,
I thought Carts should be used as off winger though.
Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:18 am
@shiny, Not sure why we’d want the with all the goals to be he play maker but, I trust you.
PS Richards’ head ain’t right. He’s taken a step or two back since the non-call. IMHO
shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:18 am
@goldielocks, That’s what I would’ve thought but everyone is reporting Carts will move to Center and Richards over to LW. I’m not sure how Richards will be as a winger. I think he’s better as a center but guess we’ll see tonight. What’s the worst that can happen with this experiment, we lose?
shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:19 am
@Paul Armbruster (KingsNewsDaily.com), So now this begs the question – who will score first, Drew Doughty or Tyler Toffoli? It’s the battle of alliterate names!
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Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:32 am
@shiny, Well considering that I expect Tiffoli to actually release the puck…..I’m going with Tiffoliage.
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shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:42 am
@Harrison Merkin, What, no big wind up like Doughty does? Admit it, you’ll miss that wind up when it finally goes (5 years in the NHL and he still can’t get rid of the dang thing. Someone must like it)
Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:51 am
@shiny, Snap shot Drew. Please. Hell JJ used to just flick it at the net. Sun shines on a dogs ass every now and again no?
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Why not “Bikini and Ice”? or “Beyond the sea classic”?
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Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:09 am
@goldielocks, Because both of those ideas are horrible.
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goldielocks Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:13 am
@Harrison Merkin,
Yea … you don’t want to see Dustin Penner in bikini …
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shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:15 am
@goldielocks, Quite honest, I don’t wanna see any of those guys in a bikini, right?
Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:16 am
@goldielocks, See below
must have clicked the wrong button. Morning thumbs.
Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:20 am
@goldielocks, I pretty sure Slava and A-Mart could pull off the banana hammock and you can’t tell me that Greener wouldn’t just crush a thong.
shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:21 am
@Harrison Merkin, LOL, I don’t want to see ANY of them in a unitard either. That’s just awkward LOL (though if anyone on the team could pull it off, I bet you it’d be Stoll or Carter)
Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:25 am
@goldielocks, Pretty sure my sister in law would pay good money to see Carts in a bikini. Godd money as in dolla dolla bills. Now coming to the stage………
shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:27 am
@Harrison Merkin, Well he is a very pretty man. The ladies do love him for a reason
Neil Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:31 am
@goldielocks, but the Carls Jr. girl……
shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:43 am
@Neil, no one wants to see her in a bikini. Everyone wants to see her in nothing at all.
The cost of putting on something like this will be enormous. Those costs will be passed onto the fans in the form of outrageous ticket prices, concession fees and parking.
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King Cobra Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 10:58 am
@bonvivant, BuzzKill….
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Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:03 am
@bonvivant, Much like any one-off event worth seeing.
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shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:13 am
@bonvivant, Yeah what’s your point? We all know the cost will be passed on to the fans. It usually is. The costs at Staples Center are always outrageous and that’s a permanent venue
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KC23 Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 2:27 pm
@bonvivant, The event gets far more TV commercial revenues and then there is the 3 to 5 times the quanity of seats that can be sold to enter into the equation.
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Put the Palm Tree at center ice and see the players skate around it ..during the game..and then see Brown nail someone right into the palm tree…Go Kings Go !!!!
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@goldielocks, A unitard maybe but, a bikini? No.
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according to some bloggers…Stoll,Penner,King,Nolan, Quick,Marty, and others all are terrible hockey players……so with all that garbage the Kings are only 2 points out of third !!!!
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Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:22 am
@Neil, Well Neil. It’s clear that you’re missing the point. Clearly the rest of the conference save for the Ducks and Hawks (in that order) suck more. See. It’s all better now.
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shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:25 am
@Harrison Merkin, See, I knew this team couldn’t be that good. It’s just that 14 other teams in the same conference suck more than we do! It all makes sense now. Phew, I’m glad we got that cleared up
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Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:27 am
@shiny, Team work makin the dream work shiny. We’re unstoppable!
shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:24 am
@Neil, Trade ‘em all! We need to dump these young kids on D, too. Screw patience! We need to immediately bring in veteran forwards and defensemen like Jarome Iginla and Robyn Regehr and Miika Kiprusoff!
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Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:26 am
@shiny, I miss Dan Cloutier.
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Neil Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:32 am
@Harrison Merkin, giving away Hickey has set this franchise back 5 years…
Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:36 am
@Neil, I thought drafting Hickey in the first place is what set this franchise back 5 years.
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I’ve always said, put the game on the beach at Malibu. Construct a rink and bleachers and the site of the sun setting on the beach and a hockey game, would blow all other Winter Classics out of the water in shear beauty.
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shiny Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:45 am
@Mike J, That would be epic but 1) zoning laws in Malibu are a bitch to get around and 2) there’s no place to put the rink. Perhaps the parking lot at Zuma beach… But still, see #1.
Now you’ve got me dreaming of hockey by the beach. Those two images don’t mix well LOL
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Harrison Merkin Reply:
March 16th, 2013 at 11:48 am
@shiny, Not unless you gotta ball and a trash can eh?
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I like Jim Fox’s idea – put the rink on the beach. The audience would be smaller but it would be soooo cool. Ticket prices would already be unaffordable – especially in LA for a special event like that so not like I could afford it on the beach or at the Coliseum.
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Would go for sure, hope they can come up with someting in the future
Go Kings Go!
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regarding outdoor game in la ….. why ….. who cares …. this is the national hockey league … not ringling brothers and barnimum bailey …………. okay well …. the bailey part i guess
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