Buffalo Sabres: Could they host the 2028 Winter Classic?

NHL Winter Classic Could Return to its Origins in 2028

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has revealed the possibility of the league holding the twentieth anniversary of its annual Winter Classic at the place where it all began: Orchard Park, New York.

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

Gary Bettman, NHL Commissioner

Bettman made these statements during the Sabres’ season opener in Buffalo on Thursday night. Conversations have been held about the possibility of an outdoor game at Highmark Stadium, an event that the league considers promising. The Highmark Stadium, the current stadium of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, will also be the name of the new $2.1 billion facility being built nearby and expected to open in July. The first Winter Classic was held in the old stadium, then known as Ralph Wilson Stadium, on January 1, 2008. The event captivated the NHL and its fans immediately. The combination of snow and a stadium filled with 71,217 spectators created a “snowball” effect for the international television audience. The then-NHL star player, Sidney Crosby, secured the victory for the Pittsburgh Penguins over Buffalo with a decisive goal in the penalty shootout. Since then, the NHL has organized 16 Winter Classics in various notable stadiums across the United States, including Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Boston’s Fenway Park, and Dallas’s Cotton Bowl. The game is usually played on New Year’s Day. The league has added other outdoor games to its schedule, totaling 41 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 imagined the Winter Classic would be an instant success, before adding that he was joking about what began as a unique proposal that the Sabres and NBC presented to the league.

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

Gary Bettman, NHL Commissioner

Logistically, it helps that the Sabres and 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.