Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Winter Classic at the Big House would have serious complications

Michigan Stadium

If all the Michigan rumors are true, this isn’t going to be your average Winter Classic. As if there was an emerging routine for outdoor spectacles, the 2013 Winter Classic is proving to pose more problems than just the average weather and revenue questions. Last week we heard that the league was considering the idea of splitting the festivities between Comerica Park in Detroit and the Big House (pardon me, Michigan Stadium) in Ann Arbor. Now we’re hearing from the university that just the game on January 1 still comes some serious obstacles.

University of Michigan Athletic Director Dave Brandon spoke out earlier this week: “When we were approached (by the NHL), I thought this could be a great opportunity. But boy, doesn’t it have a lot of complications, and I still feel that way.”

So what are the problems? Where do we start…?

Among the problems posed by a game on New Year’s Day is that the stadium usually closes up for the winter when the University of Michigan’s football season ends (at home) at the end of November. There are concerns about the game being played on a holiday – and people don’t usually work on the holiday. The university also has concerns about being able to find enough people to support the event (infrastructure and attendance) because the football team could possibly be playing on the same day in a warm-weather market.

And then there’s the booze issue:

“It is a university issue and a state law issue. This is not a venue that has a liquor license to operate on a day-in, day-out period like a lot of other sporting venues.”

The infrastructure and scheduling conflicts are all important, but issues with the liquor license? How would all those hockey fans keep themselves warm during an outdoor game in January?

Clearly, there are issues that still need to be remedied. A.D. Brandon summed up the conversations as such: “We’re still having conversations. It’s a work in progress. We’ll see if we can work it out.” Good thing there’s still about 50 weeks before the teams would take the ice.