"We were guaranteed snow as part of the contract," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman joked when asked how Philadelphia was selected to be the site this year. When the game was first announced, Phillies president David Montgomery joked that Bettman and Flyers chairman Ed Snider put the pressure on Montgomery to deliver snow. And though the comments were made in jest, the unpredictability of the weather is one of the factors the NHL must consider when determining what market will host the game. The NHL needs decent working conditions for the players and aesthetically pleasing conditions for the fans and television for a successful event.
"You can't ensure that you're going to have decent enough working conditions, but if the conditions aren't decent enough, then we're going to have to adjust around it," Bettman said. "This goes to show why this is kind of a reality show. We have our own meteorologist on site, and we're going to have to make some judgments if weather becomes a factor."
John Collins, the NHL's chief marketing officer, said the unpredictability of the weather is "part of the charm" of the outdoor event. Don Renzulli, the NHL's senior vice president of events, works with the meteorologists, who said forecasts indicate the temperature will be around 50 degrees on Jan. 2, but they're not yet expecting precipitation during the game. He said he's constantly checking weather, and the past 4 years has prepared the NHL for different scenarios.
"We have an ice guy who's the best in the business, so we can maintain what we need to do as it gets warm," Renzulli said. "The critical issues are sun and rain, but he's found a way to jerry-rig a Zamboni to suck the water up instead of put the water down. We pulled 3,500 gallons up last year."
