MetLife Stadium to Get NHL Outdoor Doubleheader, of Sorts (Published 2023)
Next year, NHL outdoor hockey will make its debut in New Jersey when MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford hosts a four-team dual meet in the league’s Stadium Series.
The Devils will play the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night, February 17, and the Islanders will play the Rangers on the same ice the following day, the NHL announced Saturday.
The league expects more than 75,000 spectators per match and is looking to continue its run of 37 consecutive sold-out outdoor matches, which began in their modern format in 2003.
“It’s a big NFL stadium and our goal is to bring it to life in a way that, quite frankly, we haven’t seen that much before,” said Steve Mayer, the NHL’s chief content officer. “We’re going to get super creative and really highlight the area.”
Mayer and Dean Matsuzaki, the league’s executive vice president of events, said they have long hoped to host an outdoor game at MetLife Stadium. But they said the logistics are more complicated than at many other stadiums because it’s home to two NFL teams, the Giants and Jets, and there’s less time to get into the facilities for preparation. But they noted that the size of the venue makes it possible to accommodate four teams, with scheduled practice times and recreational ice time with their families for all four teams.
The teams will be exempted the following Monday in case bad weather over the weekend postpones one or both games. The exact seating capacity will depend on the construction of the lower seating area planned in preparation for the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup.
In 2014, the Rangers played the Devils and Islanders three days apart at Yankee Stadium. Each game drew approximately 50,000 fans. The largest outdoor NHL regular-season game was held at Michigan Stadium in 2014, when an announced crowd of 105,491 watched the Detroit Red Wings take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. The last outdoor game held in the New York area was the Winter Classic on a frigid New Year’s Day in 2018 between the Rangers and the Buffalo Sabres at Citi Field, when 41,000 fans endured temperatures that started at 45 degrees Fahrenheit in the morning and peaked at 70.
Mayer said organizers hope to beef up the event next year with additional entertainment, youth hockey games and music. Asked if they would like to have New Jerseyans such as Jon Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen perform, Mayer asked a reporter if he had Springsteen’s phone number, adding with a laugh, “We’d like to talk to him right away.”
