Bills & Sabres Seek To Bring NHL Winter Classic Back To Buffalo

Whether you realize it or not, there are some pretty great benefits that happen when you live in a drinking city that has a football and hockey problem. Not only is there no shortage of great places to whet your palate while wetting your whistle, but you can also watch some great sports that only come from the 716.

That is particularly true when it comes to one NHL game in particular, which got its start right here in Western New York—and if Buffalo's sports leaders get their way, it will happen once again in the very near future.

The NHL Winter Classic is a tradition that started right here in Buffalo, New York. On New Year's Day, two NHL teams face off outdoors in a football or baseball stadium. Since the inaugural game in 2008, when the Pittsburgh Penguins traveled to Orchard Park to take on the Sabres at Highmark Stadium (then known as Ralph Wilson Stadium), the NHL has had 14 Winter Classics take place in twelve different cities.

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The Winter Classic is the second most popular game in the NHL, second only to the Stanley Cup series.

Given the popularity of the Winter Classic along with the Buffalo Bills organization building a new stadium in Western New York, the powers that be at One Seymour H. Knox III Plaza are seeking to host the 2028 Winter Classic inside the new Highmark Stadium.

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Former Buffalo News writer Tim Graham, who now writes for the New York Times, wrote about how the Bills and Sabres organization are making changes to the front offices that will position the team to, among other things, be able to seek the 20th anniversary Winter Classic in 2028.

This is almost guaranteed to happen, as NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said last year that the NHL would be happy to host another one in Buffalo. Let's hope it happens because Orchard Park will be electric with Bills and Sabres fans watching the hometown team play outside.