Olympic 'dry run'? Utah Mammoth to host outdoor Winter Classic at Rice-Eccles Stadium

SALT LAKE CITY — Hours before what would become the Utah Mammoth officially took the ice for the first time, team owner Ryan Smith took NHL officials to Rice-Eccles Stadium to show off what he thought could be the perfect venue for outdoor hockey.

"We basically made (NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and other league executives) come up here to the U. and we said, 'We want to do this at Rice-Eccles,'" Smith said, recalling the field trip. "We felt like if we could get them up here, do the work early and see it ... it would probably speed things up."

That decision paid off very early in the franchise's history.

Utah will host the NHL's next Winter Classic, playing the Rocky Mountain rival Colorado Avalanche near the base of the Wasatch Mountains at Rice-Eccles Stadium in 2027.

The league is still working to pin down an exact date, but it will be close to New Year's Day, as the league figures out how to showcase the event during a busy time on the sports calendar, said Bettman, who returned to Utah to announce the game on Wednesday.

Seating capacity for the game will jump up from about 15,000 to over 50,000.

"The team is off to an amazing start, and to bring this to the community and hockey fans, and to sports fans in general, I think, is going to even further cement the foundation that this club has built," the commissioner said.

The Winter Classic has become an NHL tradition since it debuted at Highmark Stadium in Buffalo, New York, on New Year's Day 2008. Teams have rotated hosting outdoor games since then, usually hosting events at football stadiums and ballparks. Utah will be the 12th state to host the event, while Salt Lake City will be the 16th different city.

Utah will have special uniforms for the event, which has been part of the custom. Those have yet to be designed, Bettman said.

Next year's event will guarantee that all 32 teams have played in an outdoor game since the Winter Classic and the Stadium Series — a sister program launched in 2014 — were created.

Bringing the Mammoth outdoors

Getting to host an event happened much faster than anyone could have imagined when Utah landed an NHL franchise.

However, Bettman remembers Smith being adamant about "big things" during the process to acquire the Arizona Coyotes and relocate them to Utah in 2024. The league was also impressed with Rice-Eccles Stadium as it toured it in October that year, and it quickly rose through the ranks to land some sort of NHL event.

Smith Entertainment Group also took its vision to the University of Utah and Salt Lake City early to ensure that it could happen.

Salt Lake City leaders initially pushed for a requirement that all Mammoth home games be played at the Delta Center for the life of the 30-year agreement tied to major remodeling of the arena. Smith requested an amendment to include a tiny provision that opened the door for outside events, should they arise.

Rice-Eccles Stadium was what he had in mind for that, feeling that its setup offered the "largest but probably most intimate" Winter Classic option in the state.

"We were foreshadowing a little bit, but we were also super hopeful," he said, explaining that provision. "At the time, I don't think we had a lot of reason to believe — in our third year — we'd get the Winter Classic."

The city agreed when they went through negotiations, said Salt Lake City Councilwoman Victoria Petro, who chaired the council during the agreement process in 2024. Knowing that the event could happen elsewhere in Salt Lake City made it easier to accept the amendment.

She's thrilled with the early support the team has received thus far, and that the Winter Classic will showcase the city.

"This game will celebrate Salt Lake City's love of both sports and shared experiences, and we're excited to show more fans what makes this city such a special place," added Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall.

Showcasing Utah

Hosting the festivities should be a "special few days" for Utah and the club, said Utah forward Logan Cooley. As one of the team's players who has yet to play in an outdoor game, he's looking forward to seeing the mountains from the stadium on game day.

Pairing two mountain teams in front of the mountains made "perfect sense" in the matchup pairing, Bettman added.

As for the fans, the league is looking at hauling in bigger video boards for the game. It may be a "dry run" for the forthcoming Winter Olympics, Smith said, as Rice-Eccles Stadium is slated to be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2034 Utah Winter Olympics and Paralympics, much like it was in 2002.

The event could also help open everything else Utah has to offer. Mammoth owner Ashley Smith says she expects people will come for the game and stay for all sorts of winter events in the area, from the valley to the slopes.

"We don't hide from the winter here," she said. "I think (the Winter Classic) is really authentic to what our fans deserve."

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