The Utah Mammoth will host the Colorado Avalanche in the 2027 Winter Classic at the University of Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium, the NHL announced Wednesday.
It will mark the 47th NHL regular-season outdoor game, and the first for the Utah franchise — the only team in the league that had yet to appear in an outdoor game.
The Mammoth are in their third year of existence after Ryan and Ashley Smith bought the franchise and relocated the team from Arizona. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told ESPN this week that Utah has “earned” the opportunity to host a marquee league event “in the fastest possible timeframe in which anyone could have imagined.”
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“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,” Bettman said. “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 NHL has yet to release the date of the game at the University of Utah’s on-campus football stadium, The venue, which hosted the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in 2002 and will again for the Olympics in 2034, sits 4,657 feet above sea level with scenic views of the Wasatch Range.
Smith cited the seven ski resorts within 20 minutes of the venue, and he said he envisions fans combining the Winter Classic with a family ski vacation. He is also hopeful to showcase the state as an innovative tech hub with the country’s youngest demographic.
Smith, a Utah native, said his primary goal as an owner is to leverage sports to create significant “once-in-a-lifetime” moments that bring the people of Utah together.
“There are a couple things that are unique to Utah, and No. 1 is obviously what you’ll see around you. You’re going to be surrounded by the most epic mountainscape that you’ve ever seen,” Smith said. “The other thing is our state is incredibly easy to do business in, and it’s extremely efficient with how the structure and the infrastructure is.
“… I think that in a world where efficiency matters and ease of use and time with people, people are going to be able to come in, they’re going to be able to stay, they’re going to be able to get in and out and just have this moment and be like, ‘Wow, that was refreshing.'”
