NHL Winter Classic in major need of reboot

The NHL does not always do the best job when it comes to marketing its sport. But the one thing it absolutely nailed over the past two decades was the introduction of the Winter Classic during the 2007-08 season. It has become the signature event of the regular season every year since, and the league has really tried to increase the visibility of outdoor games by also introducing the Stadium Series games to go along with it. 

There is still a lot of value in the outdoor games.

They provide great visuals. It takes the game back to its outdoor roots. They are a lot of fun to attend, even if the seating and sight lines are not always the best in various baseball and football stadiums. 

But the league is also in danger of losing the plot on what this event was, what it should be and what it still could be.

Friday's Winter Classic in Miami, a 5-1 New York Rangers win over the Florida Panthers, was a perfect example as to how the event is in danger of becoming stale and needs some sort of a reboot. 

NHL has lost vision on Winter Classic

When the Winter Classic first became an annual event, the NHL did a masterful job with it. 

It was always on New Year's Day, right in the afternoon and not afraid to challenge college football.

It was the only NHL game happening at that time and was usually the only game on the schedule for that day. It was always in the spotlight and never going to have another game overshadowing it. All NHL eyes would be on it. 

They had great stadiums that ranged from Wrigley Field, to Fenway Park, to various NFL Stadiums, and then even ventured off into neutral-site venues like classic college football stadiums at Michigan, Notre Dame and the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. 

The league would spend the entire first half of the season hyping it up, making sure you knew where it was, who was involved and there was never a question as to when it was going to be played.

But in recent years, a lot of that has been lost, and on Friday, pretty much all of it was lost. 

There was very little hype and marketing leading up to the game. Instead of playing it in the middle of the day, puck drop was not scheduled until 8:30 p.m. ET. It was in a pretty run-of-the-mill stadium at LoanDepot Park (home of the Miami Marlins) with no real history or visuals. There were also four other NHL games scheduled on Friday, including three that began while the Winter Classic was still going on.

That does not even get into the fact that the annual New Year's Day event was not even played on New Year's Day. 

The league basically sabotaged its own marquee event through shoddy scheduling, a lack of marketing and a lack of imagination. 

They've done baseball stadiums. They've done football stadiums. 

It's time to try something new. 

The NHL needs to get back to keeping a steady day and time with it, marketing it non-stop and creating some sort of buzz with the venue. Or at least doing something different with the game itself. 

Make it the All-Star Game. Make it part of a potential in-season tournament where the Winter Classic is the championship game as a neutral site. Pick locations that are not stadiums, even if it does not bring in large attendance numbers. During the COVID season when crowds were limited (or even non-existent), they set up a rink at Lake Tahoe for outdoor games and it was some of the most stunning visuals imaginable. Find something like that. 

Whatever it might be, the NHL needs to do something to start making the event unique again and inject new life into it. It is still a good event. But it is getting stale. More can be done.