Sports
For NHL Winter Classic, it’s time to think outside the box — and the stadium: 10 proposed venues
There were games at iconic stadiums such as Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium and Soldier Field. There was Sidney Crosby scoring the shootout winner as snowflakes fell at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo. More than 105,000 people flocked to Michigan Stadium to watch the Red Wings play the Maple Leafs. More than 85,000 saw the Predators play the Stars at the Cotton Bowl. More than 75,000 watched the Blackhawks play the Bruins at Notre Dame Stadium.
But of the 41 outdoor games the NHL has put on since the 2003 Heritage Classic in Edmonton, the ones NHL president of content and events Steve Mayer — the mad scientist behind the games — gets asked about are the ones nobody could attend: Golden Knights–Avalanche and Flyers-Bruins at Lake Tahoe during the Covid-19 pandemic in February 2021.
“That reinforces how special that particular game was,” Mayer said. “We stepped outside the box, took risks and we spent money. And I think we created something unforgettable.”
Unforgettable is the right word. Wrigley and Fenway are cool, for sure, but once you’ve seen a hockey game inside a baseball stadium, you’ve seen every hockey game inside every baseball stadium. Football stadiums make for massive crowds and millions of dollars at the gate, but they’re all pretty generic by nature. What the NHL created at Lake Tahoe was something entirely different, something that no other sport could pull off. The dearth of crowd noise somehow amplified the incredible vistas. Every camera angle was jaw-dropping. It was utterly spectacular and yes, unforgettable.
Of course, it was kind of a disaster, too. The Vegas-Colorado game was suspended after one period because of sun glare and melting ice and didn’t restart until midnight Eastern Time. And the Philadelphia-Boston game got bumped from NBC to NBC Sports Network because it was delayed more than five hours for the same issue. But that Flyers-Bruins game — on a different channel than expected at a different time than expected — still drew more than a million viewers, the most-watched regular-season game on cable in nearly 20 years.
So why has the NHL retreated to the same old stadiums since? This year’s Winter Classic is between two teams we’ve seen in a Winter Classic (Blackhawks-Blues) in a stadium that’s already hosted a Winter Classic (Wrigley Field). Fact is, there just aren’t many iconic buildings left in which the league can plop down a rink. The visuals become the same over time and the games lose that special feeling. Well, at least on television.
That’s the thing about these games — they’re for the locals and sponsors as much as anything. It’s kind of like All-Star weekend; most of the hockey world couldn’t care less, but when you’re in the city and at the venues, it’s quite a bit of fun (and quite lucrative for the league). Going to an outdoor game in person is an undeniably cool (and often very cold) experience. Watching it on TV is less so.
The local juice is what drives these games. They make millions of dollars in gate revenue for the league and they’re very expensive to produce, so it’s easy to understand why the league is content with the status quo. Invest a few million in infrastructure to make a few million in gate revenue — that’s a tidy bit of business. Heck, Sports Business Journal reported that the Michigan Stadium game netted the league a cool $20 million in 2014. Who’s going to turn that down?
The Lake Tahoe game, meanwhile, didn’t make the league any money. Future non-stadium games could cost a fortune to produce — building temporary seating and NHL-caliber locker rooms, ensuring there’s parking, bathrooms, security. Hot water, even. There’s no cash to grab at a game like this.
Tahoe was born out of unique circumstances. There were no fans in the arenas anyway, so why not do something completely different?
“The league’s priority has always been to host games in packed stadiums, to bring the game to as many people as possible,” Mayer said. “Gary Bettman loves — and so do we — the energy of the live fans. And the second we were able to bring the fans back to the buildings, we just said, OK, let’s go back to doing the outdoor games. Have we talked about other games? Of course. Do we look back at Lake Tahoe fondly? Oh, you bet. It was incredible. But that’s the reason we haven’t been back.”
Well, maybe it’s time the league starts taking risks again. The sports TV landscape is getting more crowded every year. This year’s Winter Classic is at 4 p.m. Central Time on New Year’s Eve to avoid overlapping with the NFL (which plays just about every day of the week now) and the College Football Playoff. The NHL will have some fun with the timing — every hour on the hour, they’ll celebrate a different time zone’s New Year at Wrigley — but it’s getting tougher and tougher to stand out, to break through the noise, to draw eyeballs.
You know how you get eyeballs? Not by rehashing venues. Not by hosting an outdoor game in yet another stadium in London or Prague or Mexico City or Australia. No, you do it with visuals that no other sport can match. The NHL did that in Lake Tahoe. It can do it again all across North America. Rather than chase the immediate payday of a stadium game, the NHL should start thinking about the long game — about drawing in and hooking new viewers to this incredible, talent-laden golden age of the sport, about creating entry points for new fans, about investing now for future dividends. Take the modest financial hit now, and cash in later by growing the game.
Here are 10 modest proposals for future outdoor games, some a little more realistic than others. But hey, it shouldn’t take a global pandemic for us to think outside the box — or outside the stadium, for that matter.
A snow-covered mountain is reflected in Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. (Patrick T. Fallon / Getty Images)
1. Lake Louise
Oilers vs. Flames
The Battle of Alberta in the province’s most iconic setting is the most obvious choice for a Lake Tahoe-style game. Anyone who’s been to Banff and Jasper National Parks (and the breathtaking Icefields Parkway that runs between them) can attest that it’s among the most beautiful places imaginable. The NHL has at least looked into Lake Louise in the past, but Canadian regulations about signage (read: advertising) and construction on public lands are understandably quite strict.
But Canada’s national sport in Canada’s national treasure? C’mon, Canada. Let’s make it happen.
“Lake Tahoe was unique because we used private property, building on the golf course,” Mayer said. “(But) in every one of these games that we do, there’s a fair amount of red tape to work around. We always feel like there are clever and creative ways to put any event on. … Yes, there’s red tape involved, but there are also some of these locations and landmarks that would give anything to have a special event come to their world. So sometimes they’re also very cooperative in getting some of these things done.”
The National Mall in Washington D.C. (Mandel Ngan / Getty Images)
2. The National Mall
Capitals vs. Penguins
Imagine Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin going head-to-head in the shadow of the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol and the White House. Not American enough for you? OK, imagine John Carlson and Bryan Rust instead. The best fit likely would be between the Washington Monument and the Capitol, but it’d be an awe-inspiring sight to see a rink on the other side, between the Washington Monument and the World War II Memorial, with Abraham Lincoln having the best seat in the house across the reflecting pool.
And there’d be room to build temporary seating, which could go a long way toward persuading the NHL it’s worth it. Picture something like Northwestern’s temporary lakefront football stadium but on the Mall.
“If we decide at some point to do something (like this), I don’t think we’d ever do something with no fans (again),” Mayer said. “If we built some sort of mini stadium somewhere and it was extraordinary and it offered fans something they’ve never seen before, I think we could pull something off and do something extremely unique.”
An aerial view of Manhattan looking south over Central Park in New York City. (Stan Honda / Getty Images)
3. Central Park
Rangers vs. Islanders
Hey, if you can have Shakespeare in the Park and Springsteen in the Park, then you can have Rempe in the Park.
Niagara Falls is an easy trip for two hockey markets. (John Moore / Getty Images)
4. Niagara Falls
Sabres vs. Maple Leafs
Who needs the roar of the crowd when you have the roar of 700,000 gallons of water per second rushing over the border between New York and Ontario? Put the rink on the Canadian side. The views are way better.
The busts of U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln tower over the Black Hills at Mount Rushmore National Monument in Keystone, S.D. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)
5. Mount Rushmore
Wild vs. Utah Hockey Club
OK, we’re really wish-casting now. And given the topography of the area, the league might have to take over the parking lot for a few weeks, essentially shutting down the park to visitors. But the visuals would be spectacular. And Honest Abe gets to take in a second game.
Cinderella’s Castle at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
6. Disney World
Panthers vs. Lightning
There’s been plenty of speculation that the state of Florida finally will get an outdoor game next season. Mayer and his team do love a challenge, after all. Drop a rink down right in front of the iconic Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom. It’s not that busy there during Christmas break, right? Right? Hello?
An aerial view of Grant Park and the skyline in Chicago. (Tannen Maury / Getty Images)
7. Grant Park
Blackhawks vs. Red Wings
Yes, yes, get your jokes in. We’re talking about yet another Blackhawks outdoor game. But we’ve seen a hockey rink at Wrigley Field before. Why not move the game about six miles south in the same field that hosts Lollapalooza each summer, the same field in which Barack Obama gave his first Election Night speech and where the Blackhawks celebrated the 2013 Stanley Cup championship? With Lake Michigan to the east and the brilliant Chicago skyline to the west, with Buckingham Fountain to the north and the stately museum campus to the south, Grant Park is a magical setting. The park has a natural amphitheater setting, too, so building in bleachers would be feasible. Bears kickers have to deal with the wind whipping off the lake. Why not the Blackhawks?
An aerial view of the pier on Santa Monica Beach. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)
8. Santa Monica Pier
Kings vs. Ducks
The NHL has proven it can put a rink in Los Angeles, with the Kings and Ducks playing at Dodger Stadium in the 2014 Stadium Series. Now picture a rink right on the beach, built right into the sand, with the iconic Ferris wheel and the Pacific waves lapping on the shore a slap shot away. If we can have a basketball game on an aircraft carrier, then surely we can build a level ice surface on the beach.
Fans watch the Vancouver Canucks play the Edmonton Oilers at a “Playoffs in the Park” viewing party for Game 3 of last season’s Stanley Cup second-round playoff series in Vancouver. (Ethan Cairns / Canadian Press via AP)
9. Stanley Park
Canucks vs. Kraken
Yep, same Stanley that the Cup is named after, Governor General Lord Frederick Stanley. This beautiful park is almost entirely covered in trees, but there’s a clearing called Brockton Oval that could accommodate a rink and some bleachers, assuming (again) the NHL could navigate that Canadian red tape that stymied the Lake Louise idea. Vancouver Harbor and the mountains in the distance, with shots of whales breaching in the Pacific leading into commercial breaks? Can’t do much better than that. It would make for an unforgettable setting from perhaps North America’s most picturesque big city.
An aerial view shows Alcatraz island in San Francisco. Alcatraz Island is 1.25 miles offshore from San Francisco and initially was a federal prison before being converted into a tourist attraction. (Josh Edelson / Getty Images)
10. Alcatraz
Sharks vs. Avalanche
You want ratings? Here are your ratings. And there’s a nice tie-in to NHL history here. The first NHL outdoor game ever played was an exhibition match between the Detroit Red Wings and the inmates of the Marquette Branch Prison in Michigan in 1954. Hopefully this game will be a little more competitive than that one; they stopped keeping score after the Wings took an 18-0 lead in the first period. Imagine the views. Imagine the special jerseys the team could come up with. Imagine referee Wes McCauley pausing right before the opening puck drop and saying into his microphone, “Macklin, Nathan … Welcome to The Rock.”
Honorable mentions: Yosemite Valley, the Las Vegas Strip, Yellowstone National Park, Prince Edward Island, Apostle Islands, Liberty Island.
(Top photo of the National Mall: Saul Loeb / Getty Images)
Sports
Folarin Balogun admits that red-card reversal affected USA World Cup teammates: ‘A lot of outside noise’
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The United States Men’s National Team had all the momentum when Folarin Balogun’s red card from the Round of 32 was suspended, giving him a chance to play in the Round of 16 — at least, that’s what American soccer fans thought.
The day before the USMNT’s Round of 16 game against Belgium, which Balogun was originally supposed to miss because of a red card in the previous game, FIFA ruled that he would be eligible.
The ruling added to what was already a huge controversy, as it was argued Balogun should not have been red-carded in the first place. Nonetheless, Balogun was active despite an appeal and strong reaction from Belgium.
United States forward Folarin Balogun kicks the ball against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. (David Gonzales)
However, it was hardly a needle-mover, as Belgium embarrassed the Stars and Stripes with a 4-1 win. If anything, the needle might have moved the wrong way, Balogun himself said.
“My initial reaction was I was happy to be back in the team, but when I kind of started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy, and I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves, because it is something that is so unique,” Balogun told CBS on Tuesday.
“The closer we got to the game, I tried to just focus as best as I could, but it was difficult. A lot of outside noise and that’s hard to avoid.”
Balogun said the entire situation was “confusing,” as the team was initially practicing without him. But the team found out on the bus to practice that Balogun would be active.
“Everybody was screaming and shouting,” Balogun said.
BELGIUM MANAGER PRAISES CLASSY GESTURE BY FOLARIN BALOGUN AFTER RED CARD CONTROVERSY: ‘I REALLY LIKED THAT’
Folarin Balogun of the U.S. celebrates scoring their first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Santa Clara, California. (Phil Noble / Reuters via Imagn Images)
But that did not change the whirlwind of emotions, which may or may not have contributed to the loss.
“It’s more just being able to separate the emotion from the job at hand. We’re all professionals, so it’s not something I think was too difficult to be able to separate once we got over the initial announcement. You saw it was a difficult game against Belgium and that can kind of overshadow whether we were focused or not. From me being inside the camp and inside the setup, I know we had full concentration going into the game,” he said.
President Donald Trump admitted to calling FIFA President Gianni Infantino to ask for a review of the red card.
“All I did was, I asked for a review, because I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump said. “And again, I’m good at this stuff. I didn’t think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes who crashed into each other and got entangled. That was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that would be different.
Team USA striker Folarin Balogun celebrates scoring a goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
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“I think it’s a terrible… if they wouldn’t allow a top player, maybe the best, maybe among the best on the team, to play, I think it would have had a big stain. I relayed it. I didn’t tell him what to do. I don’t believe he made the decision. I think it was a committee that made the decision, and they made the right decision because, No. 1, it wasn’t a foul, and you want to see a game with your best players.”
Belgium was knocked out by Spain in the quarterfinals, and Spain will face France in the first semifinal match Tuesday in Atlanta.
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A day after general manager Raegan Pebley was fired, the Sparks were in Atlanta and seemingly still focused on trying to reach the playoffs this year.
The suggestion that Pebley’s removal was a sign that the team is performing poorly didn’t sit well with coach Lynne Roberts.
“I don’t think we underachieved last year and this year is still going,” Roberts said in Atlanta on Monday before the team’s loss to the Dream. “For where we want to get, that’s not where we want to be, but we tripled our win total in my first year — that’s not underachieving. We haven’t hit our stride, we’ve been injured all year. Hopefully we get [Kelsey Plum] and Cam [Brink] back. Our system is designed around KP. I’m not close to thinking we are underachieving.”
Pebley and the rest of the Sparks’ organization signaled a clear intention to compete this season, signing veterans Nneka Ogwumike and Erica Wheeler in the offseason, signing Dearica Hamby to a three-year deal and trading for Ariel Atkins.
The Sparks’ Rae Burrell protects the ball under pressure the Chicago Sky’s Natasha Cloud at Crypto.com Arena on July 10.
(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)
They are still in the playoff race midway through the season, but have the second-worst defensive rating in the WNBA and sit a game below the postseason cutoff line.
They have competed without Plum, their top scorer, for 12 games and former No. 2 overall pick Brink during the past nine contests.
But even with their struggles, culminating in an 82-64 loss to Seattle on July 6, the Sparks responded well with consecutive home wins against Indiana and Chicago. After those games, Roberts seemed to think the team was moving in the right direction, but team owners made a major change.
The Sparks have a decision to make about how hard they want to push the rest of this season as the team flirts with missing the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season. With the trade deadline on Aug. 2, they could make some moves to improve this season or sell off their veteran assets and attempt to rebuild again.
The Sparks haven’t made the playoffs since 2020 and have made some controversial moves while trying to snap out of the slump.
In addition to the questionable trade of 2024 fourth overall pick Rickea Jackson to Chicago for veteran Atkins this offseason, Pebley traded the picks that would become Storm post duo Awa Fam and Dominique Malonga for Plum and Kia Nurse. In her sole season with the Sparks, Nurse averaged 7.6 points per game.
Pebley also traded the No. 8 pick in 2024 (that later was used to draft Alissa Pili) to Chicago for Julie Allemand and Li Yueru, then lost Allemand in the expansion draft. Yueru was sent to Seattle in the Plum trade and is now playing with Dallas. The Sparks’ 2025 first-round draft pick Sarah Ashlee Barker was left unprotected and went to Portland in the expansion draft.
The Sparks waived their top pick in this year’s draft, Ta’Niya Latson, after barely playing, and she has gone on to join Las Vegas. Sania Feagin, a 2025 first-round draft pick, was waived and signed with Portland.
Most of those moves, though, came after the Sparks lost the top spot in the 2025 draft lottery to Dallas, which selected Paige Bueckers with the No. 1 pick. Before the lottery result, it seemed like the Sparks — who went 8-32 in 2024 before that draft — were lining up for a youth movement led by Brink and Bueckers. A lineup of those three, a healthy Feagin, Barker and Allemand would be an entirely different kind of team.
Once that failed, they focused on adding veterans who could win now and have only managed modest improvement.
The Sparks have their next two first-round draft picks and four players still on rookie contracts after this season (Brink, Chance Gray, Kate Martin and Pili). Brink is their lone lottery pick left from their disappointing past six seasons. (Pili was a top-10 pick, but she has struggled to stay on a WNBA roster and just signed a player developmental contract with the Sparks this month.)
Pebley told The Times in an interview on Friday that she was open to making moves to compete at the deadline this year.
Players on the Sparks’ bench celebrate during a win over the Chicago Sky at Crypto.com Arena on July 10.
(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)
“We are in a space where we are here to win,” she said. “This is a city that wants to win. We have an ownership that wants to win. You see what they’re doing with the Lakers. You see what they’ve done already with the Dodgers. … We have to always continue to invest in the roster. We have a responsibility to always listen and be aware of what’s out there.”
A league source not authorized to discuss trade conversations publicly told The Times that Pebley had been aggressive ahead of the deadline, and now teams are unsure what approach the Sparks will take moving forward.
“I found out when everybody else did,” Roberts said of Pebley’s firing. “It was a surprise. She’s a good friend of mine. I think the tone is set that we need to keep building and get the Sparks back to where they have been. That’s been the tone. Raegan did some great things for our org in that regard and improved a lot of things. That work can’t go undenied. It’s full-steam ahead and I’m focused on what I can do.”
It would be difficult to move some of their heftier contracts, especially since WNBA teams cannot take on more salary than their remaining cap space allows in a trade. Hamby, 32, is signed for two more years for more than $1 million per season. Atkins is also signed for two years at $1 million-plus and is having a career-worst offensive season, shooting 36.4% with 8.7 points per game.
Wheeler, 35, has another year left on her deal, but a $625,000 cap hit for a player who would be a backup point guard on most teams is a tough sell.
Plum and Ogwumike are on expiring deals, and the Sparks’ most valuable roster asset, Rae Burrell, is a restricted free agent, but one of the few young players left on the Sparks’ roster.
The Sparks have a limited $86,000 in cap space, too, so if they decide they want to buy at the deadline, they have to find a way to clear space.
They enter the trade deadline period in a difficult spot as a team in purgatory that just fired its general manager.
Yet what they decide to do in the next month might be the most clearest sign of their ambition and hope for the future.
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ATLANTA — The FBI and Atlanta Police Department are getting ready for a massive security operation ahead of the World Cup semifinals between England and Argentina at Atlanta Stadium.
Both agencies have used drones to search for potential threats on the ground and in the sky. The FBI is enforcing the Federal Aviation Administration’s Temporary Flight Restrictions around the venue.
The FBI has confiscated more than 600 drones nationwide since the World Cup began. Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Atlanta Field Office Marlo Graham said 86 of those drones were seized in Atlanta.
Graham said the FBI uses a “mechanism” that allows agents to see unauthorized drones in restricted airspace. Agents then work to mitigate the threat posed by unknown drones.
“We’ve been able to safely land drones that have been unauthorized in the flight restricted area,” Graham said.
The FBI has confiscated more than 600 drones at World Cup events since the tournament started. (FBI Atlanta)
While the FBI treats every drone as a potential threat, Graham said the threat level can increase depending on the size of the drone and how close it gets to the stadium.
“Obviously, the closer to the venue, the larger the crowd. We are fortunate here in Atlanta that we have a closed dome stadium,” Graham said. “We don’t want the game to be impacted because a hobbyist couldn’t control their drone, and it lands right when one of our star players was getting ready to score a goal.”
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The Atlanta Police Department’s Drone Unit has helped the FBI track down people suspected of flying in restricted zones.
Sgt. Kindu Franklin said most of the people caught flying drones around World Cup venues are hobbyists with no intent to harm the crowd of soccer fans below.
“In some cases, they just recently bought a drone just for FIFA to get some of the cool footage that they want to put up on their social media,” Franklin said. “There are different ways that you can weaponize these drones. So, we’re operating in a proactive manner.”
The Atlanta Police Department’s drone mission at the World Cup focuses on surveillance. (FOX)
The Atlanta Police Department’s drone mission is focused on surveillance. Officers are looking for potential threats, traffic issues and people the FBI suspects are flying drones illegally.
“So, what we want to do is give our command staff a view that they can’t get from the ground,” Sgt. James Cunningham with APD’s Drone Unit said.
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Cunningham’s unit can launch drones remotely from handheld controllers. Other drones are launched from docking stations strategically placed across the city, and officers control them from the back of an SUV using a computer and a PlayStation controller.
The Atlanta Police Department launches some drones from docks strategically placed across the city. They are controlled by a computer and a PlayStation controller. (Fox News)
The drone docks are used year-round to help the police get an aerial view of emergency situations before officers arrive. The computer shows the drone pilot where all the police body cameras and vehicles are in the area, allowing them to communicate better with officers on the ground.
For the World Cup, the drone docks let the department have more eyes in the sky and respond to emergencies faster.
“It’s going to cut down time. We’re going to get there quick. And then you’re going to get an aerial perspective of what you can’t see on the ground,” Cunningham said.
The Atlanta Police Department launches some drones from docks to get more eyes in the sky and respond to emergencies faster. (Fox News)
Cunningham said the drone unit has completed more than 1,400 flights and logged more than 550 flight hours since the beginning of June.
“Some people haven’t even done that in years or haven’t even reached those numbers in the life of their drone unit,” Cunningham said.
“We train for the environment. We live here, so we know what to expect,” Anais Paredes, an APD drone pilot, said.
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The FBI is asking that hobbyist drone pilots know the Temporary Flight Restrictions in their area before taking off.
There is a one-mile restriction around World Cup stadiums on non-match days, and a three-mile restriction on game day.
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