TCF Bank Stadium To Host Outdoor NHL Game
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- At long last, Minnesota will finally get the chance to host an outdoor NHL game next season.
The Wild will play the Chicago Blackhawks in one of the NHL's two "Stadium Series" games. The match-up is set for Feb. 21, 2016 at TCF Bank Stadium.
"A real thrill," Wild CEO Matt Majka said. "And happiness. And a little relief maybe, too, because we've been waiting a long time."
Wild fans have waited and wondered for years how the NHL could keep passing over the State of Hockey for one of hockey's big events. So what finally changed?
"We said, 'Outdoor hockey in Minnesota, like, why not, right?' And (the NHL) said, 'Yeah, no doubt, the market deserves it. But we want, you know, marquee teams,'" Majka said. "Chuck Fletcher and his staff made a lot of good decisions to make us into a playoff hockey team, with marquee and high-profile players. That's what the league wanted, and here we are."
For years the biggest question -- other than when are the Wild finally would host one -- is where they would host it: at TCF Bank Stadium or across town at Target Field? In the end, TCF got the nod for several reasons.
"I do believe that the size of the venue was the difference between the two venues," Majka said. "It was clearly a factor. I mean, there are 10,000 extra seats at TCF Bank Stadium."
And it's not just bigger but also cheaper for the NHL -- with no winterizing or sod-replacement costs like there would have been at Target Field.
And TCF did host an outdoor Gopher game successfully just last season.
"I think it helped with the NHL," Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague said. "It helps us because we've been down the road before."
The big fish remains the Winter Classic, the NHL's marquee event each New Year's Day. Wild owner Craig Leipold is on record saying he turned down the Stadium Series in the past, holding out for a Winter Classic.
But this time he agreed, hoping this would lead to that.
"We were assured by the league that if we took this game and did a good job with it, that would not at all preclude us from a future Winter Classic," Majka said. "And hopefully very soon."
The Wild hope to build a whole week of events around this, including high school games, Gophers games, an Iowa Wild game, an NHL alumni game and perhaps even building "Hockey Day Minnesota" into it.
They're just starting to plan all that out.
The Twins say they're happy for the Wild and their fans, and "look forward to future conversations with the Wild and NHL about hosting Minnesota's first-ever Winter Classic."