Stars like idea of AT&T Stadium

[Johnnydollaz89]

Could outdoor hockey come to the state of Texas?
It's a possibility. But it's going to take some time.
The Dallas Stars have had internal discussions about playing an outdoor game under the retractable roof at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, but Stars president and CEO Jim Lites said he has not yet talked with stadium officials about whether there's a way to make it happen. He hopes to do that in the next few months.
"The league is interested and after seeing how well things went in Los Angeles, we could certainly do it here," Lites said. "But we're not talking next year. Maybe 2015-16 or 2016-17 makes more sense."

[+] Enlarge AP Photo/Aaron M. SprecherThe Dallas Stars have had internal discussions about playing an outdoor game at AT&T Stadium, home of the Cowboys.



The NHL has six outdoor games this season, including one recently at Dodger Stadium. Lites didn't rule out other sites for the game, like the Cotton Bowl or Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, but was interested seeing what could happen at AT&T Stadium first, adding that the building itself could be a nice draw.
The Stars are preaching patience for a variety of reasons. The first is that the team is in the lower half of the league in the standings and still in the building stages. For this event to work, they need to be skating their way toward contention and drawing bigger crowds in American Airlines Center before they move to a facility with even more seats. The second is that it takes a lot of time to figure out how it would work, which opponent is a logical one and all of the logistics.
"It takes time and we have lots of work to do before we can try to play a game like that here," Lites said.
Lites liked the idea of having the roof just as insurance against rain, which is the one element that can really impact the game.
"If it's cold or even a little warm or windy, we can deal with that," Lites said. "Rain is another story."
And he liked the idea of all the video elements in the stadium and how the game could be presented.
Lites isn't thinking about trying to set any attendance records, either, adding that he's curious how the stadium might be configured. Those are all things to be determined once discussions get going.
"It would be fun to do," Lites said. "We just have to see how things might work and go from there."
The Dallas Morning News had earlier reported that the Stars were discussing an outdoor game.

Dallas Stars discuss playing game at Cowboys Stadium - ESPN Dallas

Pretty soon we're gonna see 10 of these games a year, at least. This one could be cool though.

 

[Cobiemonster]

It's not going to be an outdoor game if the roof is closed

I hate teams who try to market an "outdoor game" by saying they have a retractable roof - having a retractable roof doesn't make it viable for an outdoor game

 

[BF4L]

It's not going to be an outdoor game if the roof is closed

I hate teams who try to market an "outdoor game" by saying they have a retractable roof - having a retractable roof doesn't make it viable for an outdoor game

Agree but it really has nothing to do with outside or inside. It is all about the money.

Normal NHL venue is what 15-20k versus 80k plus.

That is a lot of peanuts.

 

[esls79]

Fuck Dallas

 

[tabascojet]

Agree but it really has nothing to do with outside or inside. It is all about the money.

Normal NHL venue is what 15-20k versus 80k plus.

That is a lot of peanuts.

all they need to do next is tell everyone they can only get to the stadium if they take a league sponsored $51 shuttle....

 

[Cobiemonster]

Agree but it really has nothing to do with outside or inside. It is all about the money.

Normal NHL venue is what 15-20k versus 80k plus.

That is a lot of peanuts.

The problem is, are you going to be able to sell out that place? And the Stars aren't as good of a team as the other teams that have been in this game - if you're going to put the Stars in this game, you're going to have to put one heck of a team in that game to face them to make it half-decent marketability

Also, you have to consider costs of building the rink and trying to market it - does it outweigh the profit you get from it? That's a question mark

 

[BF4L]

Oh the NHL knows this is a gimmick if you ask me. The Bell Centre is the largest capacity Hockey arena and holds around 21k.

List of ice hockey arenas by capacity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Watching a NHL game from the cheap seats in a NFL stadium must completely suck.

 

[forty_three]

Pretty soon we're gonna see 10 of these games a year, at least. This one could be cool though.

If the conditions are going to be so variable, then they should force every team to play at least one so it doesn't affect the standings in a lopsided manner.


Interesting soundbite from Tavares on NHL Network this morning about playing outside, He said not only is the ice different and the puck more bouncy, but the sticks are frozen too, and have less feel to them. It's harder to receive a hard tape to tape pass because the stick is so much stiffer. Shots don't leave the same way either.

Ask the Devils. I bet they'd agree.

 

[elocomotive]

all they need to do next is tell everyone they can only get to the stadium if they take a league sponsored $51 shuttle....

This made me think that it would be awesome if they had former NHL greats driving shuttles at the Classic.

How cool/funny would that be?

 

[fordman84]

Screw Jerry, I'd rather see it at the Cotton Bowl. Rangers BPIA would be cool, but Cotton Bowl is more nostalgic.

 

[Johnnydollaz89]

If the conditions are going to be so variable, then they should force every team to play at least one so it doesn't affect the standings in a lopsided manner.


Interesting soundbite from Tavares on NHL Network this morning about playing outside, He said not only is the ice different and the puck more bouncy, but the sticks are frozen too, and have less feel to them. It's harder to receive a hard tape to tape pass because the stick is so much stiffer. Shots don't leave the same way either.

Ask the Devils. I bet they'd agree.

Agreed, it is an unfair advantage to some. If you're gonna have 6 games, may as make sure each team plays in at least one.

Everybody complained about it, the players always will. It's just another excuse for a loss though.

 

[forty_three]

Agreed, it is an unfair advantage to some. If you're gonna have 6 games, may as make sure each team plays in at least one.

Everybody complained about it, the players always will. It's just another excuse for a loss though.

True. But just because it's an excuse doesn't mean it's not a valid one. I didn't see a lot of crisp passing in any of the games except the one in LA. Might be something to what JT was saying.


And Lundquist was complaining about how hard the puck was to pick up after the first practice. The difference is he got an extra game's worth of time to adjust to it. From what I saw of game two, he was considerably better positioned. Of course game two was played with artificial light like inside an arena. Not partly cloudy...

 

[Johnnydollaz89]

True. But just because it's an excuse doesn't mean it's not a valid one. I didn't see a lot of crisp passing in any of the games except the one in LA. Might be something to what JT was saying.


And Lundquist was complaining about how hard the puck was to pick up after the first practice. The difference is he got an extra game's worth of time to adjust to it. From what I saw of game two, he was considerably better positioned. Of course game two was played with artificial light like inside an arena. Not partly cloudy...

He was much better in the second game, but also because he didn't accidently take a pregame nap like on Sunday

But I do agree that the ice conditions looked much better in LA.

 

[tabascojet]

This made me think that it would be awesome if they had former NHL greats driving shuttles at the Classic.

How cool/funny would that be?

i found the right bus.....