The hype is building now for the NHL’s Winter Classic as Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin‘s teams — the Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins — reprise their classic seven-game second-round Stanley Cup playoff series from 2009. It is a game league officials and NBC television executives hope can capture the imagination of the casual sports fan much like last February’s Winter Olympics hockey tournament.
With college football spreading its bigger bowl games throughout the first week of January, now it seems that New Year’s Day sports programming is more competitive than ever.
“There is a particularly strong bowl lineup this New Year’s Day,” said NBC broadcaster Bob Costas, who will host his network’s coverage of the Winter Classic. “But it will never be what it once was in terms of college football because all the consequential bowls used to be played [Jan. 1] and they all had greater cache than they do now.”
Call it a pair of two teams headed in the opposite direction. The Caps went on a losing bender they hadn’t endured in almost four years earlier this month and are still struggling to dig themselves out. Meanwhile, the Penguins have posted a 16-3-1 record since Nov. 6 — and HBO’s cameras have caught all the highs and lows for its “24/7” program.
That show can only help bring in viewers who otherwise don’t follow the NHL on a day-to-day basis. But with four hours of back story on the players and coaches — thanks to HBO and the festive atmosphere surrounding an outdoor game — the opportunity is there. And really, that is the league’s biggest incentive to host the Winter Classic.
“Any time you can take a great hockey fan or a casual fan inside or behind the scenes of a sports team I think it opens up some eyes,” NBC hockey analyst Ed Olczyk said. “You sees these players in a different light. I think you see their personalities and their colors come out … I don’t think there’s any doubt that you can really grab people when you take them inside like HBO has done.”
