The NHL announced today that the 2027 Winter Classic will be in Salt Lake City, with the recently relocated Utah Mammoth hosting the Colorado Avalanche.
A date for the game was not announced, which is a bit unusual, since every Winter Classic held since 2008 has taken place on either December 31, January 1, or January 2. For the upcoming cycle, those days fall on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, respectively.
The matchup will take place at Rice-Eccles Stadium, which is the home football stadium of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The stadium is centrally located downtown, just three miles east of the Delta Center, the home of the Mammoth and Utah Jazz.
Team histories in outdoor games
For the Avalanche, this will be their first time playing in the Winter Classic, but it won’t be the first time they’ve participated in an outdoor game. In 2016, they played in the Stadium Series against the Detroit Red Wings at Coors Field, in 2020 they played the Stadium Series against the Los Angeles Kings at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, and they also played in the 2021 NHL Outdoors event at Lake Tahoe against Las Vegas.
For Utah, they have never played an outdoor game, either in their current iteration as the Mammoth, or in their past life as the Arizona Coyotes.
Next Steps
No details about tickets have been announced, which makes sense since there isn’t even a game date yet. Historically, season ticket holders for the two participating teams are usually offered the chance to purchase tickets during a dedicated presale, followed by a public onsale. We will keep you posted as more details are announced.
But if you are interested in heading to Salt Lake City for the game, it would be a good idea to make a refundable hotel reservation soon. All major hotel chains, with the exception of Marriott, are already accepting bookings for next January (Marriott’s booking window opens 355 days in advance, so it will be available soon). Of course the lack of a finalized date makes booking a hotel a little more challenging, so we’d suggest making multiple one-night reservations so you can cancel whichever nights you may not need.
Doubleheader Digest
It’s too early to know what else will be going on in Salt Lake City that weekend. But Park City is just an hour away, so you’ve got a great option for skiing and snowboarding, and the host team usually plays a home game several days prior to the Winter Classic, so it’s entirely possible that you could see a game at the Delta Center before seeing the one outdoors. There could also be a home Utah Jazz game. We will keep you posted when the schedules are released this summer.
