Penn State, Utah, Europe? Options for NHL's next outdoor games

THE NHL INCLUDED Ohio Stadium on its list of potential venues for outdoor games for as long as anyone in the league office can remember. Not only is the stadium iconic, but also it's massive -- with up to 90,000-plus fans watching live hockey.

NHL executives made their first site visit to the Horseshoe five and a half years ago. But there was one problem holding the 103-year-old building back: plumbing.

"For a long time, we'd shut [the stadium] down in November and we wouldn't really turn it back on until April," said Colin Thompson, Ohio State's senior associate athletic director for facilities and events. "In a big outdoor building like that, that's exposed in the Midwest, you could freeze your water lines, you could freeze your sanitary lines, and we had to protect against that so we could offer services to all of the guests."

No flushing toilets meant no NHL winter events. Then, the expanded College Football Playoff format changed everything. The Buckeyes had to prepare to play host to first-round games on campus. Two years ago, the athletic department began a phased multi-million dollar project of installing heat trays. That allowed the Buckeyes to host their first winter event this December, a home playoff game.

Once Ohio Stadium started winterizing, the NHL committed. Saturday's Stadium Series game -- featuring the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings in a crucial playoff bubble battle (6 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+/Disney+) -- is expected to have the second-biggest crowd ever for an NHL outdoor game. The 2014 Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium between Detroit and Toronto ranks first, with 105,491 fans.

The NHL has announced its outdoor plans for next year: hosting a pair of games in Florida (Miami and Tampa Bay, respectively) which should be another spectacle, building a professional-grade ice surface amid humidity.

The Horseshoe will be the NHL's 43rd regular-season outdoor game over the past two-plus decades. One thing is abundantly clear: the NHL isn't stopping.

"I've heard some people claim outdoor games are a dying breed. No they're not," said Steve Mayer, president of NHL content and events. "We believe in outdoor games. We still think that they're significant. They're a big part of our season, definitely our highest rated games. And the buzz that's in the local community leading up to the game is incredible."

Now that the NHL has knocked off some items from its outdoor bucket list, what comes next?

CLAIMS ABOUT FATIGUE stem from repeats of teams and venues. The Chicago Blackhawks lead the pack with seven appearances, and the league has now made two trips to Wrigley Field and Fenway Park. Cycling through again may be inevitable, but the league is constantly looking for ways to reimagine the experience.

"Many of the places now are about to go on repeat a bit," Mayer said. "There are multiple stadiums in most of the cities that we play in, whether it's a baseball stadium, a football stadium, even the soccer stadiums. Would we ever venture to go there? Most of them are a little bit too small.

"And then the interesting places, we've definitely looked at them in the past. Could that be part of our future? Whether it's an auto racing track, a horse track, just a location where we either take advantage of an infrastructure that's already there or we build our own infrastructure and we're definitely open and really try to be creative."

Once the Panthers play in next year's Winter Classic, the only team that has yet to appear in an outdoor game is the Utah Hockey Club. The Smith Entertainment Group has told the NHL they are interested -- and they'd be prepared if the NHL gave them a green light.

Mayer said his team has scouted Utah but hasn't made any decisions yet.

"A lot of the issues we have as well are now the schedules are really crowded in terms of college football," Mayer said. "In Utah, for example, their football stadium, you could never do a Winter Classic because of the possibility of doing a college football playoff game."

Another venue the NHL has flirted with for years: the massive Beaver Stadium on the campus of Penn State. The NHL and Penn State have had conversations, but talks are on hold as Beaver Stadium undergoes a $700 million revitalization project.

Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft has been transparent about wanting to host events -- such as concerts, hockey or soccer -- once the renovations are complete. But university spokesperson said they are probably years away, with 2028 as the earliest date.

"We'd love to talk at some point about Penn State. We said, 'make us aware of your timeline.' By no means have we committed to them, though we always think it's attractive," Mayer said. "Remember the timing has also been interesting over the years too, because we did play back-to-back [2017 and 2019] Philadelphia versus Pittsburgh once in Pittsburgh, then in Philadelphia, which I think you almost have to do when you play at Penn State. It was too soon. And so we've definitely talked again."

State College -- in the center of Pennsylvania, 140 miles from Pittsburgh and 193 miles from Philadelphia -- would be considered a neutral site, something the league isn't opposed to doing. The league has done that with its Canadian Heritage Classic, which brought games to non-NHL cities like Regina, Saskatchewan and Hamilton, Ontario.

In 2021, the NHL went completely off the board by staging two games in Lake Tahoe, which boasted dazzling visuals. That piqued ideas about the NHL in iconic landmarks like New York's Central Park or Lake Louise in Banff National Park.

"We did [Lake Tahoe] because we couldn't play in front of fans [due to COVID restrictions], and it made a lot of sense and we loved putting that game on. It was unique. It came at a time where people were yearning for special events and we provided them with one," Mayer said. "We did a lot of research during that particular period of time. We visited quite a significant amount of places and we do get numerous pitches from areas, landmarks, places that don't have infrastructure to build infrastructure and to put on a successful event."

Those venues may stay on the wish list -- for now. While there's interest on both sides, it's not as turnkey as going to another stadium that already has the infrastructure in place.

"It's very costly as well, so those are factors that come into play. But [NHL commissioner] Gary [Bettman] just really feels that we're in a world where we should be in front of as many people as we can playing in front of fans," Mayer said. "Could we build a stadium? Sure. Could we put a game where we knew that fans would come? Sure. But I think those games for right now are a bit on the back burner. Our main focus is trying to do the next bunch of years in stadiums or places that have the ability to house fans."

THE NHL IS ENTERING a period of reimagining signature events -- especially with the success of the 4 Nations Face-Off replacing typical All-Star festivities. The league announced the 2026 All-Star at UBS Arena on Long Island -- which will be a sendoff to players ahead of the 2026 Olympics in Milan -- but hasn't committed further than that. They also haven't lined up outdoor games past next season's pair in Florida.

"When this stretch is done, we're all going to sit down and we're going to figure it out," Mayer said. "But we haven't made any decisions yet."

The NHL has made a commitment to more international competition and will stage a World Cup of Hockey featuring at least eight teams beginning in 2028, every two years in off-Olympic cycles. In announcing the World Cup, Bettman invited European venues to make bids as host cities. The NHL has hosted 20 regular-season games in Europe since 2017. Could an outdoor one be next?

"We get inquiries from around the world. We haven't really focused on one particular area, one particular stadium, but we have had conversations about a potential outdoor game overseas," Mayer said. "Nothing is imminent at all, but I could see down the line years as something in the future that is a possibility for sure."

That's the one thing Mayer wanted to emphasize: everything is a possibility.

"These are evolving. That whole myth that these aren't as popular? No way. They aren't going away," Mayer said. "We know our sponsors love them. The fans love them. I'm not just saying this, we really don't have a specific pecking order yet.

"But right now we're focused on next year, which is the Florida games, which are extremely unique. And believe me, we're looking forward to those two because that's going to be different and that'll get people buzzing."