Cbc's 2nd Intermission Hotstove

[trock48jj]

I think they had a brilliant idea last night- Move the Winter Classic to a different date and have the Allstar Game be an outdoor event on Jan. 1st. The only other sporting events that day are a few college football bowl games which are never important ones. It would put the Allstar game in more of a spotlight and make it mean more to the players. they also said the TV ratings were up 12% in the United States this year compared to last year.

[babinator77]

I think they had a brilliant idea last night- Move the Winter Classic to a different date and have the Allstar Game be an outdoor event on Jan. 1st. The only other sporting events that day are a few college football bowl games which are never important ones. It would put the Allstar game in more of a spotlight and make it mean more to the players. they also said the TV ratings were up 12% in the United States this year compared to last year.

interesting. i'm not sure if they addressed these issues or not but: first, you couldn't have the all star game outdoors all over the usa so it would limit the cities that could host it - unless they're willing to spend the cash to build an outdoor rink in the south and maintain it over a couple of days; second, most places up north (ie canada) are just too cold to host the all star game outdoors. there's a greater risk of injury, imho; third, what happens to the skills competition? you couldn't host that outdoors; finally, why would the game being held outdoors or on jan. 1st mean more to the players? if it's because jan 1st would attract more viewers than maybe move the all star game, assuming the players don't mind moving their mid-season break, but i still don't see the need for it to be an outdoor event.

my two cents at least.

[thefooligan5]

I think they had a brilliant idea last night- Move the Winter Classic to a different date and have the Allstar Game be an outdoor event on Jan. 1st. The only other sporting events that day are a few college football bowl games which are never important ones. It would put the Allstar game in more of a spotlight and make it mean more to the players. they also said the TV ratings were up 12% in the United States this year compared to last year.

terrible idea. Even hockey fans don't care about the all-star game. Casual fans won't even stop on the channel if they know it is just some meaningless game without body checking. The all-star game is a joke anyway. They should put more money into developing a really great skills competition because that is where fan interest lies.

As for the winter classic (I hate that name by the way) they should definitely keep the game on new year's day. But I have a feeling that in a few years they are going to be facing some trouble because all of the teams with throwback jerseys in cold weather markets will have been used and I doubt they will move the game to canada any time soon. Perhaps they will simply repeat some of the american teams.

[trock48jj]

They will probably put Colorado in old Nordique jersey and have them play a team in the states. I think in the next few years it would be possible to have an outdoor rink down South which could host the Allstar Game. I know in California cities along the beaches they have giant compressors and a few have regulation size rinks right off from the beach. I think it would be great to have the Skill Competition outside. It would really get to test the players skills out there on the ice. They don't hit during the game or skate even close to full speed which means the cold shouldn't be that much of a factor.