For the last three years now the NHL has had what is known as the Winter Classic. This is an Ice Hockey game which takes place on New Year’s Day between two teams from the National Hockey League. What makes this a ‘Winter Classic’ is that it takes place in an outdoor venue, a break from the norm of the indoor arenas where Hockey matches usually take place.
This year’s game took place at Fenway Park in Boston, normally home to Baseball’s Boston Red Sox. The match featured the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers. This year’s game was won 2-1 by the Boston Bruins with the winning goal coming in overtime. The game was watched by 38,112 people at Fenway Park and as the previous two years was a massive success with mainstream TV coverage in the states.
Of course events such as this are becoming more normal in US sports. For the past three years the NFL have branched out and held a regular season game at Wembley Stadium. There has also been NHL games take place in Sweden at the start of their season. The NBA has also held pre season games in the UK and the whole of Europe as part of their NBA Europe Live initiative.
With all these events proving very successful is it time the English Premier League took the same step forward in getting their game noticed across the rest of the world. The Premier League is already massive in other parts of the world, especially the Middle East and I’m sure they would love to see a competitive football game in that part of the country. Of course the Premier League has talked about having the 39th game and having one game a season abroad, which would be a great idea. However, maybe it’s because the Premier League is already massive abroad that they don’t need to hold games abroad to raise awareness of the sport.
