Patriots scheduled road game today to accommodate potential NHL Winter Classic at Gillette

by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Jan 3, 2010 1:10 PM EST

New England Patriots President Jonathan Kraft was a guest on 98.5 The Sports Hub's Patriots Pre-Game Show this morning. Kraft mentioned that the reason that the Patriots are playing in Houston today is because the Patriots organization requested to play on the road this week when the NFL was making this season's schedule to accommodate the possibility of Gillette Stadium hosting the NHL Winter Classic. At that point, both Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium were in the running to host the event, but the NHL ultimately chose Fenway.

While "The Razor" would have provided better sight lines for the fans and the opportunity to sell more tickets to the game, I think Fenway Park provided a better backdrop to stage a television event of this magnitude (and let's be honest, that is exactly what the NHL Winter Classic is all about). The Patriots also played a home game on December 27th in Foxboro, which would have given NHL Facilities Operations Manager Dan Craig and his crew very little time to setup the rink and ice surface.

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Seating

The only real benefit would have been the seating but like you said, they made the right decision. I just wonder how people with less than great seats for the classic felt. Did you get to chat with any of them? I imagine the experience was good enough in itself, but I heard some of the seats gave almost no view of the rink?

by SMF360 on Jan 3, 2010 10:37 PM EST reply actions

Like holding the game in Foxborough would have worked. Yeah, they would have sold out, and the sightlines would have been much better (and I might have been able to get a ticket!), but Gillette simply doesn’t have the gravitas of Fenway, plus whereas Fenway is in the city and gets all the benefits of that, both promotionally and logistically, Foxborough is out in the boonies and would have been seen as practically playing in Providence.

Now, Harvard Stadium wouldn’t have been a bad choice, and would have looked awesome, but Fenway was bound to be a…sigh…home run.

by Arenacale on Jan 4, 2010 7:51 AM EST reply actions