Report: Coyotes to host outdoor Winter Classic game?

According to a report from Arizona PBS, Arizona Coyotes president and CEO Ahron Cohen is hoping to host an upcoming version of the NHL’s annual Winter Classic outdoor game at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.

“I don’t think there is a better location than Sun Devil Stadium for an outdoor game,” Cohen said at a Coyotes “town hall” meeting.

Uh… an outdoor game of hockey? You know the sport requires ice, right?

To be fair, the Coyotes wouldn’t be the first warm-climate team to host an outdoor game. The Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings faced off at Dodger Stadium in 2014, while the Kings and San Jose Sharks played at  Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California the following year. The Dallas Stars are set to host the 2020 Winter Classic at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas and face the Nashville Predators.

Still, the average January temperature in January (The Winter Classic is traditionally held on January 1st each year) is 54 degrees F or 12 degrees C… not exactly ice skating weather. 

Steve Mayer, the NHL’s executive vice president of events and content admits that the league has yet to consider Arizona or Sun Devil Stadium as an option. “In terms of the process, we explore over the course of the year numerous venues and opportunities and check out the viability to do an outdoor game (there),” Mayer said. “We look at proper venues, time of the year, weather. Arizona is extremely warm and that is something we would have to take into account.”

Mayer added though, “(We’re) getting better and making ice in extreme temperatures.”