The Athletic in Talks to Provide Content to NFL Media Properties
CHICAGO — It was Connor Bedard’s Winter Classic. Even before his walk from the Cubs dugout out onto the ice—and even despite the Blackhawks’ 6–2 defeat—Chicago’s 19-year-old forward was the centerpiece of the NHL’s 2025 outdoor regular-season game.
Both outside and inside Wrigley Field, Bedard’s name and number 98 decorated the backs of thousands of jerseys. In the shops, fans swarmed his merchandise. (Many of them were already wearing his regular home jersey as they plucked the special-edition sweaters from the racks.) Bedard’s face was also plastered on the banners that wrapped the gates as fans entered the stadium and in the windows of neighboring local businesses. And even before the teams even arrived in Chicago, he was woven into the DNA of TNT’s broadcast plan and lead-up show, Road to the NHL Winter Classic.
In just his second season in the NHL following a debut that earned him the Calder Trophy for best rookie performance, Bedard—a major reason the Winter Classic returned to Wrigley—is a very good thing for the league, but particularly for Chicago. The Blackhawks don’t have much else to tout this anemic season, which now includes the Winter Classic loss to the visiting Blues before a Wrigley Field crowd of 40,933 fans.
Bedard registered only an assist in the game—but the night still belonged to him.
Everyone, it seemed, was here for the star. That included 8-year-old Toby Martinka, who flew out with his mother from Seattle to see Bedard in action as part of an annual tradition of attending the outdoor game. “He gets to pick out the Winter Classic jersey he wants to wear,” mother Leslie told Front Office Sports during the rainy pregame fête on Gallagher Way. “He was like, ‘I have to have the Connor jersey.’”
The Business of Bedard
Beyond drawing fans, Bedard has played a massive role in the business of the special event.
Portions of the Fanatics retail outposts on-site were a veritable shrine to him. Number 98 occupied a large footprint of the racks of Winter Classic–edition Blackhawks jerseys, which Fanatics unveiled in November. It’s the first year the company has produced the uniforms, as part of its deal with the NHL that began this season.
The vintage-style jerseys borrow historic elements from both teams, Fanatics senior creative director Dom Fillion tells FOS—they’re “the crown jewel” in the merch lineup. The Blues jersey, which features St. Louis in text on the front instead of the team’s signature “Blue Note,” pays homage to wordmark baseball uniforms. The red Blackhawks jersey fans snapped up felt particularly connected to the venue, down to the Cubs-inspired pinstriping on the back numbers.
Along with the NHL’s role in molding the aesthetic, Fillion says both teams played a big part in shaping the look, including Bedard, who is also a lead partner in the Fanatics collaboration with Lululemon that launched in October.
In the lead-up to Tuesday’s game, Bedard’s was the top-selling Winter Classic jersey, Fanatics says. It’s unsurprising: He is also the top-selling NHL player since the start of this season and claimed that crown across sales for the entire 2023–2024 season.
Hordes of fans, including 15-year-old Sean Imbrurgia, walked out of the shops with the $295 version of the jersey. “It’s my first Winter Classic jersey,” he says. “I love everything about it.”
Among several featured partnerships for Bedard, his game stick was designed in collaboration with his sponsor Sherwood and used a Winter Classic–specific design inspired by Chicago. Details nod to “The Bean” sculpture in Millennium Park as well as the city’s downtown grid. Released to the public in advance of the game, the stick retails at about $270.
“When we heard that the Winter Classic was being held in Chicago, we knew we had an opportunity to disrupt the sport, knowing Connor was likely to be the face of the event,” Sherwood Hockey AVP Brendon Arnold tells FOS. “When a platform is created—like placing an NHL rink inside one of the most storied ballparks in the world—it just oozes with potential. And you pair that opportunity with a star-studded athlete … you get fireworks.”
A High Bar—but a Big Opportunity
The event as a whole had the pomp the NHL intended. In the first year of holding the game on New Year’s Eve, the Wrigley setting established the pageantry of the Winter Classic, which is quickly becoming a habit-forming event that supersedes the action on the ice.
Visiting from St. Louis and dressed in Blues 2025 Winter Classic jerseys, Zachary and Jeremy Geear, plus father Jeff, have attended the game multiple times, including 2017’s clash in Busch Stadium, which also saw the Blues defeat the Blackhawks. It cost the Geear family “probably a couple grand” to come to Chicago for this year’s game, they said.
The league has set the bar high for future iterations and will have to find a signature storyline each year that can drive fans to whichever venue is playing host. Bedard’s cult-level fandom is one of a kind, at least for now. In the years to come, expect the league to lean on its crop of young players with their own rising star power. It will help that the event now has a clearer national broadcasting spot and streaming options.
The players know the importance of the Winter Classic. Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones is among those who watched the game each year as he came up through the junior hockey ranks. “The league has added a lot of games,” Jones tells FOS. “But this is the one you want to be in.”
