"Our special-events people will do a great job of integrating all of Philadelphia into what we represent here and what the place looks like all dressed up for hockey," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said. "You'll come in here, and it will feel like hockey belongs here, as bizarre as that may sound. I can't tell you how exactly we're going to do that yet. You'll have to be surprised on Jan. 2."
At the ballpark yesterday, the NHL gave a sneak peak of what fans can expect to see.
There was an outline of the main ice rink stretching from just beyond the first-base line across the infield to the third-base line. Second base will rest almost directly under center ice.
"With this layout, we take advantage of the rightfield grandstand being at one end of the ice and the other high grandstand at the opposite end," Phillies president Dave Montgomery said. "We also tried to set it up in a way that utilizes our fan-o-vision scoreboard as much as possible."
In the outfield, just beneath the 7,372 square-foot HD video screen, there will be a secondary ice rink the Flyers will use to host many of the week's ancillary events, including youth games and public skating.
"This sort of 10 days of activity is probably more available in a baseball facility than a football facility, given [the Eagles still will be playing] at that time," Montgomery said. "And there will be all the usual baseball amenities open, plus."
So, fans still can count on finding their favorite cheesesteak despite the cold, and given the enormous popularity of the Winter Classic since it was first held in 2008, the NHL is expecting a sellout of the 43,500-seat (plus standing room) ballpark. That capacity is more than double what the neighboring Wells Fargo Center holds for a typical Flyers game.
"Walking in and seeing that many fans for a hockey game is not normal," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. "It's very loud because there's a lot more people."
