The Canadiens Working On Getting An Outdoor Game For 2028-29 Season

Considering Montreal is the mecca of hockey, it is a shame that they are the only Canadian team yet to host an outdoor game in their city (Winnipeg is hosting in October this year against the Habs to be the 6th team to do so). Unfortunately, as mentioned in the past, there just isn’t the infrastructure to do so in the city. All the outdoor venues like Saputo Stadium and Percival Molson Stadium aren’t equipped to handle an outdoor hockey game.

Neither stadium can hold more than the Bell Centre, and the reality is that the Canadiens/NHL would want to make sure that they can have more fans in the crowd for the game to make it represent just how big a hockey city that Montreal is. The way everything is set up at both locations, it would be hard to add seats in front of what they already have without getting in the way of those at the bottom of the current setup. Not to mention the seating at Percival Molson would likely be very uncomfortable on a cold winter day, as they only have the hard bleachers with no backs anywhere. Meanwhile, Saputo Stadium reportedly does not have running water in the winter, making it a very inconvenient experience for an outdoor game.

The other potential location that some people have mentioned as a possibility is the Olympic Stadium. What those who have suggested it as a possibility have failed to realize is that the big 50,000+ capacity stadium wouldn’t be able to do an outdoor game, as the roof isn’t retractable like the Rogers Centre in Toronto, for example. Hence, making the Olympic Stadium a non-starter for an outdoor game even after the renovations are done next year.

The other place that may be possible would potentially be the Gilles-Villeneuve Racetrack, but the issue with that is that no racetrack has hosted an outdoor game, and it could be hard to place exactly where the rink would fit so everyone can see the ice very well. Nonetheless, with working on a proper plan, it can likely work around one of the grandstands that can fit around 30,000-40,000 people. It has been reported that Gilles-Villeneuve has been explored in the past, but the only thing is that it never came from any reliable sources, which is why compared to Lavoie’s report, it wasn’t taken as seriously. Despite this, I did originally report on the rumour that was mentioned back in the summer.

When it comes to big music festivals such as Osheaga and Ile-Soniq, Parc Jean-Drapeau does a great job hosting them every year. It definitely takes a lot of planning every year, and with how big the park is, there is likely space to start working on a hockey rink area with a 45,000+ person capacity that could work in about 2-3 years from now.

It will definitely be interesting to follow how things move forward with Lavoie’s report on the Parc Jean-Drapeau being a possibility for the Habs getting to host their first-ever outdoor game. It also wouldn’t be the first time a Canadian city built an outdoor rink in preparation for a big game, as Ottawa did it for the 2017 Centennial Classic against the Habs. It was definitely a successful event as a whole despite the extremely cold weather. Therefore, why couldn’t it work in Montreal?

Do you believe that Parc Jean-Drapeau could be a potential location for an outdoor game?