Article: It's Time to Move All of Hockey Day Minnesota Outdoors

[Justin Wiggins]

View full article

[Up North Guy]

Serious question: Will there actually be a HDM in the future? Isn't that owned by Bally? What happens when Bally dies? I am not sure but seems like an important question. Perhaps the Wild own the concept. Does anyone know?

[mnfaninnc]

It looks like it is a Minnesota Wild concept with other partners. Bally is one of those partners, but I don't think they own the rights. I would think whoever negotiates the next regional Wild deal would then be a partner. 

[mnfaninnc]

Justin, this is a great idea! It is outside of the box and a definite tip of the cap to The State Of Hockey. I'd like to propose something a little different. It looks like some college venues also have indoor games. What if the Wild were able to host the outdoor game touring around some of the outdoor stadiums of the D-1 college stadiums? I'm not sure what their football capacity is, but perhaps it's big enough to host? 

Why, in the biggest sport in the nation, do the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys get to host a Thanksgiving Day game? How did that become a tradition? Why couldn't the NHL take a page out of their playbook and start something like this? 

I would think having a major college game (men's and women's) at the same outdoor venue would be a win for the state, but this would probably have to rotate around. It also might require more festivities being on a Friday evening?

I suppose there would be increased costs trying to retrofit a rink into different stadiums each year, but I'd also think that a lot of the equipment would be reusable. I do think this should be presented to the NHL. Now, if I'm not mistaken, in our Stadium Series and Winter Classic, I believe that was the NHL putting it on and all gate went to the NHL, not the Wild. Since this would be regional, how do you make it so it's a real Wild homegame?

[MrCheatachu]

Am I in the minority to not appreciate the outdoors game?

To be fair, I've only attended one a long time ago (Badgers vs. Buckeyes @ Lambeau Field in '06) but it sucked as a fan.  The rink was too far away, and the angles just didnt work to see the action so I was stuck craning my neck to look at the Jumbotron, which didnt do a great job in following along with the game.

Maybe they've figured it out in the past 20 years, but I think that if you made it an annual thing, you'd see the ticket sales dip and the enthusiasm from fans dwindle.  

There's a difference between NBC vs. TNT, but the viewership for winter classics is also not trending in the right direction.

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2024/01/nhl-winter-classic-least-watched-opposite-rose-bowl/

Edited January 29 by MrCheatachu

[Justin Wiggins]

59 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

Am I in the minority to not appreciate the outdoors game?

To be fair, I've only attended one a long time ago (Badgers vs. Buckeyes @ Lambeau Field in '06) but it sucked as a fan.  The rink was too far away, and the angles just didnt work to see the action so I was stuck craning my neck to look at the Jumbotron, which didnt do a great job in following along with the game.

Maybe they've figured it out in the past 20 years, but I think that if you made it an annual thing, you'd see the ticket sales dip and the enthusiasm from fans dwindle.  

There's a difference between NBC vs. TNT, but the viewership for winter classics is also not trending in the right direction.

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2024/01/nhl-winter-classic-least-watched-opposite-rose-bowl/

You are 100% right here. It's why I acknowledged the fatigue of too many outdoor games in the article. It's a serious concern, not only for this proposal, but also for the future of the Winter Classic. But I also think if you make the Hockey Day MN game only a regional thing, it could work because of the tradition it would start. I think it would be like going to a Twins game in the Summer - sure, lots of people are there, but it's more a social event than people actually hanging on to every pitch, or in this case, every face off. 

[snocat_trf]

There's Lake Baudette in Minnesota???

[MacGyver]

I also wondered about the fate of HDM with the demise of Bally. Details of the Amazon investment in Bally and exactly what Amazon plans on streaming is yet to be determined. But I don't see Amazon interested in streaming something as localized as HDM with the exception of the Wild game. One of the local networks would certainly pick it up as a wealth of advertising revenue would be available.

I think the same would be true if a local network broadcast all the Wild games over the air. Plenty of ad revenue and increased viewership. Precisely what the NHL needs. People are getting away from cable and satellite and going to specific streaming services at a greatly reduced cost. I did this a couple years ago. All I have is Amazon Prime and Bally Sports app. I don't see any TNT games or NHL network or ESPN games and frankly don't miss it. Between what I already have for streaming and what I get on my antenna that's more tv than what I need at about a tenth of the cost. More people are discovering this same thing. 

Personally I like HDM as it is. High school outdoors and the rest indoors. By moving everything outdoors attendance would suffer.  Particularly if the outdoor conditions are less than ideal.

[Up North Guy]

20 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Justin, this is a great idea! It is outside of the box and a definite tip of the cap to The State Of Hockey. I'd like to propose something a little different. It looks like some college venues also have indoor games. What if the Wild were able to host the outdoor game touring around some of the outdoor stadiums of the D-1 college stadiums? I'm not sure what their football capacity is, but perhaps it's big enough to host? 

Why, in the biggest sport in the nation, do the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys get to host a Thanksgiving Day game? How did that become a tradition? Why couldn't the NHL take a page out of their playbook and start something like this? 

I would think having a major college game (men's and women's) at the same outdoor venue would be a win for the state, but this would probably have to rotate around. It also might require more festivities being on a Friday evening?

I suppose there would be increased costs trying to retrofit a rink into different stadiums each year, but I'd also think that a lot of the equipment would be reusable. I do think this should be presented to the NHL. Now, if I'm not mistaken, in our Stadium Series and Winter Classic, I believe that was the NHL putting it on and all gate went to the NHL, not the Wild. Since this would be regional, how do you make it so it's a real Wild homegame?

One drawback is the cost of winterizing the stadiums. It has been done for Target Field and Huntington Bank Stadium. I am not sure if that would be an annual requirement or if doing it once would suffice.

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, MacGyver said:

I don't see any TNT games or NHL network or ESPN games and frankly don't miss it. Between what I already have for streaming and what I get on my antenna that's more tv than what I need at about a tenth of the cost. More people are discovering this same thing. 

This is very opinionated on my behalf, but, even with streaming services, they give you these channels that really don't have much interesting content, at least for me. It seems like there are certain networks that have one or a couple of good shows and they expect you to pay a monthly fee. And who was even paying a monthly fee when the writers and actors were on strike and there was no new content?

For me, Netflix subscription came with my phone plan, Paramount+ was free for a year, but once it cost me, it was eliminated. Disney bundle was the only thing I paid for (hockey out of market, and I have small grandkids for Disney). Most of the time I'm watching rerun shows because most of the current content is just sad! I have no idea how anyone caved into the writers guild, they're simply terrible these days. AI will probably write better scripts! Actors aren't that much better either.

I had Directv and loved it when I was getting NFL Sunday Ticket. But, I got like 200 channels and really only watch a handful. So that means I paid for a whole lot of content I was not interested in. Why? And why wouldn't they offer me a package where I could just choose 20 channels that I'd watch? My suspicion is that 150 of those channels would go under if people like me weren't subsidizing them. Conclusion: I do not miss Directv and didn't as soon as I cut it out. I did enjoy the cost savings right away (and even then, I went to YouTubeTV and then to nothing when they got too expensive). Directv kept sending me mailers about missing them and "special" deals to come back. Still too expensive. 

[Up North Guy]

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

This is very opinionated on my behalf, but, even with streaming services, they give you these channels that really don't have much interesting content, at least for me. It seems like there are certain networks that have one or a couple of good shows and they expect you to pay a monthly fee. And who was even paying a monthly fee when the writers and actors were on strike and there was no new content?

For me, Netflix subscription came with my phone plan, Paramount+ was free for a year, but once it cost me, it was eliminated. Disney bundle was the only thing I paid for (hockey out of market, and I have small grandkids for Disney). Most of the time I'm watching rerun shows because most of the current content is just sad! I have no idea how anyone caved into the writers guild, they're simply terrible these days. AI will probably write better scripts! Actors aren't that much better either.

I had Directv and loved it when I was getting NFL Sunday Ticket. But, I got like 200 channels and really only watch a handful. So that means I paid for a whole lot of content I was not interested in. Why? And why wouldn't they offer me a package where I could just choose 20 channels that I'd watch? My suspicion is that 150 of those channels would go under if people like me weren't subsidizing them. Conclusion: I do not miss Directv and didn't as soon as I cut it out. I did enjoy the cost savings right away (and even then, I went to YouTubeTV and then to nothing when they got too expensive). Directv kept sending me mailers about missing them and "special" deals to come back. Still too expensive. 

I still have cable and as soon as the Twins get straightened  out I will make my decision. Bally is holding everything up. Hoping the Twins, Wild and Gophers have solid streaming services. Not sure how I will get Vikings games. It is really hard to get over the air TV when you live up north. 

[MacGyver]

16 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

I still have cable and as soon as the Twins get straightened  out I will make my decision. Bally is holding everything up. Hoping the Twins, Wild and Gophers have solid streaming services. Not sure how I will get Vikings games. It is really hard to get over the air TV when you live up north. 

I went through several indoor antennas before I found one that received all the ota channels. However I'm just twenty miles south of Duluth. The lake place is south of Auroa/Hoyt Lakes and that's a different story I'll have to put up a mast and a outdoor antenna if I want to get all the available channels. I'm not that interested in tv up there so I most likely won't spend the money or effort. Same reason the hockey season ends for me in late April or early May when we open the cabin. I'm retired so I spend most of the summer up there. At least the NHL app lets you stream the audio off their app for free. I'll listen to that sitting by the fire sometimes. MLB however has audio streaming locked down. Can't even stream Twins games on your phone through your local radio station. Must pay for it through the MLB app. 

I pay for Amazon Prime for reasons other than just streaming and have had it for years. I pay $20 a month for the Bally's app and I'm not sure why. The buffering is almost as bad as the Wild. If Prime starts streaming the Wild games that would be a excellent bonus for me. Cable and satellite companies know that live sports broadcasts are whats keeping them in business for now. Once fans get other options they will start going out of business.