The marquee game of the NHL’s regular season is coming to Salt Lake City next year.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman joined Utah Mammoth owners Ryan and Ashley Smith on Wednesday in announcing that the 2027 Winter Classic will be held at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The Mammoth will play the current NHL leaders, the Colorado Avalanche. The game will take place at the beginning of next January.
“I think this venue is going to be incredible,” Ryan Smith said. “This is a dream.”
The Winter Classic began in 2008, as the NHL sought to bring new fans to its games by returning to its roots in outdoor pond hockey. Since then, Winter Classic games have occurred annually with limited exceptions and have proven to be extremely popular with fans and players alike.
The 2025 edition of the game took place at Wrigley Field between the Chicago Blackhawks and the St. Louis Blues, though in 2026, the game moved to sunny Miami, Florida, as the Panthers played the Rangers in a matchup that drew significant criticism from hockey fans.
League officials toured Rice-Eccles Stadium in recent months to determine its suitability for the game. It will be the fourth time the Winter Classic has been held at a college football stadium, with Michigan Stadium (2014), Notre Dame Stadium (2019), and the Cotton Bowl (2020) the previous three hosts.
The Avalanche should prove formidable opposition to the Mammoth; through 42 games this season, they have suffered just four regulation losses against 31 wins. Team stars Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar have pushed the Avs to one of the greatest starts to a regular season in NHL history this season, and should provide additional juice to the matchup.
The Mammoth, meanwhile, are led by team captain Clayton Keller and newly-extended Logan Cooley.