NHL 'Ice Bowl' Game may be Played in February

It looks like NBC is thinking twice about televising an outdoor NHL game against the college football bowl games on New Year's Day. They are probably right. It would be embarrassing for the league and NBC to schedule a much-hyped outdoor game on New Year's Day, only to have the ratings show that nobody watched it. The game may now be moved to February 17, when there will not be as much sports competition.

from Rob Rossi of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Penguins and Buffalo Sabres could be played Feb. 17, 2008, rather than New Year's Day. The Penguins are scheduled to play twice in Buffalo this season, once Jan. 1 and again Feb. 17.

Each game is scheduled to be played at HSBC Arena and start at 1 p.m., but the Feb. 17 contest will be played on a Sunday -- an ideal slot for NBC to televise an outdoor game, given that major sporting competition would be limited to the NBA and college basketball.

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Breaking News: NHL "Ice Bowl" Update - Crosby's Opponent Revealed

Earlier today I wrote about the NHL planning an outdoor game on New Year's Day in 2008. According to sources, the Penguins would be the visiting team in the game, which would be hosted by either the Red Wings or Sabres.

Well, the NHL just released its 2007-2008 schedule at 2:00pm today. Taking a quick look at the games scheduled for January 1, I see that the Penguins are playing the Sabres at 1:00pm EST.

So, although this has not been officialy announced by the NHL, it looks like the 2008 New Year's Day "Ice Bowl" will feature the Penguins and Sidney Crosby versus the Buffalo Sabres on NBC.

Sidney Crosby to Play in Outdoor NHL Game on New Year's Day

from Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The league reportedly desires at least one U.S. team involved in "Ice Bowl," which would be a spin-off to the Heritage Classic that took place in November 2003 between the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens. That game, played at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, drew a crowd of nearly 60,000 and was played in sub-zero temperatures.

The Heritage Classic was the first NHL game played outdoors and attracted the largest live audience to watch a league contest. However, it was not televised live in the United States.

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According to multiple sources, the NHL will stage an outdoor game involving Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on New Year's Day in 2008. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the Penguins have agreed to be the visitors in the outdoor game, which will be hosted in either Buffalo or Detroit. The game would be marketed as the "Ice Bowl", and would air on NBC on January 1, 2008 opposite college football bowl games.

Talks of a planned outdoor NHL game started last year. Those plans reportedly had the Rangers playing the Islanders in an outdoor game on New Year's Day at Yankee Stadium. Those plans never materialized, but the NHL remained interested in playing a outdoor game in 2008 to help increase the league's exposure. NBC is interested in televising the event, as it looks to add sports programming on New Year's Day after losing its college football bowl game rights.