Tuesday, November 10, 2009 2:04 PM
BMO Field no place for outdoor game
Jeff Blair
Tell you what: nothing says romance and returning to the roots of the game like an outdoor hockey game at BMO Field, right?
I mean, yeah, it’s great that the NHL wants to play hockey in those boring old places like Fenway Park and that it played its now-annual Winter Classic at Wrigley Field and in a place like Ralph Wilson Stadium where it could draw 60-some thousand. But really … what do those places have that BMO Field doesn’t have? I mean, aside from history, seating capacity, history, history and history.
Look: I have no problem with the fact the Toronto Maple Leafs want to play host to the NHL All-Star Game, as much of a fraudulent cash grab disguised as an afternoon skate as it is anyhow. But, honestly: by what stretch does BMO Field deserve to be the site of the annual outdoor game, an event that has had a surprising shelf life and if nothing else seems to be about the only time during the year anybody in the U.S. watches the game? Putting the game in as non-descript a facility as BMO Field would cheapen the event – although I’m sure that’s the only way the word “cheap” would be associated with it, since the mind boggles at how much Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment will charge for the game.
And just wait until you see those temporary bleachers they’ll probably set up, too. We all know that money is at the root of every single thing that every single pro sports league does. It’s why only a fool would believe that leagues don’t manipulate drug tests or discipline, why World Series games start so late and the NHL and NBA stretch their playoffs out for months. And money is the only reason the NHL plays its outdoor game. Still, the success of the game owes in part to the locale – the bitter cold of Edmonton or Buffalo, the niftiness and quaintess and novelty of Wrigley Field. Playing it at BMO Field would serve no purpose other than being a sop for MLSE – although as cynics will point out, currying favour with MLSE may not be such a bad thing if you really want to stick another NHL team in Southern Ontario. Which the NHL has apparently pledged to do some time before the end of time.
