Buffalo Sabres Could Host 2028 Winter Classic, Bettman Announces

BUFFALO, N.Y. – NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has revealed that there is a high probability that the league will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of its annual Winter Classic in 2028 in Orchard Park, New York, the place where this outdoor event originated.

I’m not making an announcement or committing, but we are focused on whether we can do it on the twentieth anniversary of the original Winter Classic.

Gary Bettman

Bettman made these statements during the Sabres’ season opener in Buffalo on Thursday night, further indicating that conversations have already been held about the possibility of an outdoor game at Highmark Stadium, the current stadium of the Buffalo Bills. The Highmark Stadium, which will also be the name of the new $2.1 billion facility for the American football team, is scheduled to open in July.

The first Winter Classic took place on January 1, 2008, at the former stadium, then known as Ralph Wilson Stadium. The event immediately captivated the attention of the NHL and its followers, with a combination of snow and a stadium filled with 71,217 fans, creating a magical atmosphere for the international television audience.

The then-emerging NHL star, Sidney Crosby, secured the victory for the Pittsburgh Penguins over Buffalo with a decisive goal in the penalty shootout, sealing the score 2-1. Since then, the NHL has organized 16 Winter Classics in various notable stadiums in the United States, including Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Boston’s Fenway Park, and Dallas’s Cotton Bowl, usually played on New Year’s Day. The league has expanded its schedule with a total of 41 outdoor games since the first Winter Classic, with this year’s game scheduled for the Miami Marlins’ LoanDepot Park on January 2. Bettman joked about how the NHL envisioned the instant success of the Winter Classic, before clarifying that he was joking about what began as a unique proposal from the Sabres and NBC to the league.

We are grateful to have done it here first. And we will be back, I promise.

Gary Bettman

Logistics are favored by the fact that the Sabres and the Bills are owned by Terry Pegula. The Highmark Stadium also hosted an international hockey game between the United States and Canada in December 2017, when Buffalo hosted the World Junior Championships.