The Florida Panthers just played host to the 2026 Winter Classic. It was the first time the Panthers played in an outdoor game, and despite temperatures being in the lower 60s, the ice was solid. Now, the NHL has announced it will be heading to a more traditional climate for an outdoor game, as the 2027 Winter Classic will be played in Utah.
The Utah Mammoth will be hosting the Colorado Avalanche on the University of Utah campus for the 2027 Winter Classic, according to Chris Johnston of The Athletic.
The game will be played inside Rice-Eccles Stadium, home of the Utah Utes football team. This is not the first major event the stadium has hosted outside of football. The stadium was also the venue for the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics and will be used again in the 2034 games.
Meanwhile, the Mammoth will be in their third year of existence when they host the event next season. Ryan and Ashley Smith purchased the franchise in 2024, technically as an expansion team, which bought the assets of the inactive Arizona Coyotes.
“The level of excellence with which they launched this franchise and the reception that the franchise and NHL hockey has gotten is beyond anything that anybody could have expected,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said, according to Emily Kaplan of ESPN. “If you go back to the first conversations that Ryan and I had, it was all about Ryan wanting to do big things for Utah. … And on that list from the first time we had dinner was, ‘I want league events. I want All-Star Game. I want an outdoor game. I want, I want, I want.' And it was not any question of what he wanted to do, but what he wanted for Utah.”
The game is expected to be the 47th NHL regular-season outdoor game when the full schedule is announced for 2026-2027, although a date for the Winter Classic has not been set. Further, the Mammoth were the only franchise to have not played in an outdoor game, which includes their time as the Coyotes.
As the franchise is excited about the prospect of hosting the outdoor game, they are also trying to bring more excitement to Utah. The Coyotes made the playoffs just once in their final 11 years of existence. Utah is attempting to make the playoffs in just its second year as a franchise. The Mammoth are 21-20-3 on the year, which places them fourth in the Central Division and just a point outside of a playoff spot. They return to the ice, indoors, on Friday against the St. Louis Blues.
