The NHL is currently teaching everyone a lesson in basic marketing with its handling of the Winter Classic announcement. Create a buzz by releasing information about a program piece by piece, and make people clamor for more.
It's safe to say hockey fans are becoming obsessed with Fenway Park. (Photo by me.)
But although complete and official information about the 2010 Winter Classic and subsequent events will not be released until July 1st at the earliest, there is enough substantial information out there to piece together five nearly certain pieces of the official announcement.
– The NHL game at Fenway Park will be the Boston Bruins versus the Philadelphia Flyers. After the owner of the Washington Capitals, the Bruins’ most rumored opponent, mentioned that the team had no plans to be part of a January 1, 2010 game last week, the Flyers have been the most reported and substantiated replacement.
– The ice at Fenway Park will be down for several weeks. Having the Winter Classic at a ballpark as opposed to an NFL stadium affords the organizers much more time to bring in the rink system, as the latest baseball runs is the first week in November. When the Winter Classic was held at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buf-town (which is what I’m allowed to call Buffalo because I’m a bitter Rochestarian), the major complaint is that event organizers did not have enough time to lay down the ice surface and troubleshoot any problems because of the NFL season ending only days before. With Fenway Park the NHL’s to play with from mid-November on, not only can any system problems be fixed much before the main event, other events can use the ice surface.