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Less than a week after settling the 2027 NHL Winter Classic in Utah, league commissioner Gary Bettman is already thinking about outdoor games in 2028.
Appearing in Buffalo late Monday to announce the placement of the 2026 league draft there, Bettman raved about the new Highmark Stadium, the forthcoming new home of the NFL’s Bills, and essentially guaranteed that an outdoor game will be coming there, likely in 2028. The stadium is set to open later this year, in time for the 2026 NFL season.
“I have to go for a tour, which I will do,” Bettman said of the venue in Orchard Park, N.Y. “But we’re coming for an outdoor game in the new stadium. Just a question of when.”
The expectation is that the Sabres, in the midst of an on-ice resurgence following last month’s arrival of new GM Jarmo Kekäläinen, will host a Stadium Series game in February or March 2028. That game will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first NHL Winter Classic, held on Jan. 1, 2008, at the then–Ralph Wilson Stadium.
The new Highmark Stadium, however, will not be able to host a Winter Classic as NFL regular-season schedules now extend into early January—something set to grow even further if that league adopts an 18-game season, as expected.
In part because of that, the NHL has not staged a Winter Classic at an NFL venue since the 2016 event at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts.
Still, Buffalo and the new Highmark Stadium are very much in the NHL’s future plans. The Sabres and Bills are both owned by Terry Pegula.
“This is a great sports town, a great hockey market,” Bettman said. “The reception we get here is always terrific. The fans are knowledgeable and passionate. We’ve got a great organization with great ownership. All the factors that you would take into account, the boxes are checked.”
Viewer Appeal
Two decades into the NHL’s staging of outdoor games, the broad appeal of those efforts is under some question as the last two Winter Classics have shown their two worst viewership totals on record.
Despite that waning audience support nationally, the games have continued to be well received locally, and the Winter Classic is supplemented each season by additional outdoor games. The NHL will stage a Stadium Series game on Feb. 1 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, home of the NFL’s Buccaneers, extending a league push in Florida.
Next season will feature the Winter Classic at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Utah, the return of the Heritage Classic in Canada after a three-year absence with a game in Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg, and a Stadium Series game at AT&T Stadium in Texas, home of the NFL’s Cowboys.
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