The latest news on the Winter Classic up in Fenway is out. Washington was believed to have gotten the bid over the Flyers, and articles over the course of the last month had suggested just that. Recently the entire thing blew up when the Capitals organization announced that they had not heard any such report from the NHL that they were involved. By now someone must know who is playing Boston up at Fenway on New Year’s Day right?
While the NHL clearly wants to market the Washington Capitals more and more with Ovechkin and a young core around the NHL’s number one player, there are a lot of issues with it. The biggest issue with it is just now coming to the forefront.
Apparently NBC does not want the Capitals because they are not as marketable as the Flyers. Clearly NBC knows a little something about marketability in broadcasting. The broadcasting company just signed a two year contract with the NHL so it’s humorous to find out that they control the strings in this relationship. Apparently NBC didn’t like the ratings that the Capitals vs. Rangers series got in the opening round of the playoffs.
Now it has been officially been confirmed that the Flyers will be traveling to Fenway Park for the 2010 Winter Classic.
The rivalry between Boston and Philadelphia is certainly much bigger than any between Boston and Washington, but neither team is New York in any sense of the word. The rivalry just doesn’t exist.
That being said the Boston and Philly matchups from 2008-09 were nothing short of spectacular. Richards, Carter, Giroux, Gagne, and Briere vs. Savard, Kessel, Krejci, Wheeler, and Lucic sounds like a marketing dream right?
Hold your horses though. Why did Philadelphia want to go all the way to Boston and negate their chances to actually host the Winter Classic in the near future? If the Flyers are involved in such a game they want it to be right here in Philadelphia at the Linc, CBP, or more obviously, Happy Valley.
Unfortunately Joe Pa refuses to give up Happy Valley even on January 1st. That means it won’t happen at Penn State as long as Paterno is involved in that school. Which means basically until he is gone. I love Paterno of course and wish him all the health in the world, but realize that he is the prime driving force of that school. He will continue to be after he has retired, if he ever retires.
So it’s possible to wait for Happy Valley to allow a Winter Classic, though even without Paterno it’s not a guarantee. It’s more likely that the Linc or CBP would hold the Classic for Philly. Then there are issues of weather and the Mummer’s Parade held every January 1st in Philadelphia.
Now that it has been confirmed though that Philadelphia will be making the journey to Fenway, it’s important to see how we got here.
When NBC told the NHL to include the Flyers in the Winter Classic Gary Bettman was stubborn. He wanted to put his big star on the big stage. Eventually Bettman broke down and asked the Flyers to go. The Flyers didn’t want to lose their opportunity to host the game against Pittsburgh in the next couple of years so they were obviously reluctant.
Apparently Bettman has told the organization that it can still host a game against Pittsburgh in Philadelphia in the next couple of years despite the fact that they will be going to Fenway. That’s the reason for all intensive purposes that the Flyers are willing to attend a game up in Boston.
So there you have it. NBC wanted the Flyers, and NBC got the Flyers. All the while the orange and black got to have their cake and eat it too with the possibility of hosting a Winter Classic in the near future.
