The NHL is taking its signature regular-season event to a past and future site of the Winter Olympics.
The Utah Mammoth will host the Colorado Avalanche in the 2027 NHL Winter Classic at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the league announced on Wednesday in Salt Lake City. The date of the game has yet to be finalized.
Commissioner Gary Bettman was joined by Mammoth owners Ryan and Ashley Smith and player Logan Cooley to make the announcement at a media event hosted by Turner Sports’ Jackie Redmond. Turner Sports has exclusive broadcast rights to the NHL Winter Classic under the terms of the league’s current U.S. television deal.
At SEG our goal is to bring great things and build Utah. This is one of those things. The 18th Winter Classic coming to Utah in our 3rd year in the NHL. Couldn’t be more excited! Big things ahead! #TusksUp pic.twitter.com/wMJLaIzDEz
— Ryan Smith (@RyanQualtrics) January 7, 2026
Rice-Eccles Stadium, on the University of Utah’s campus, seats 51,400 for college football games. The venue underwent an expansion and upgrade in 2021. It housed the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The Olympics are scheduled to return to Salt Lake City in 2034.
The Mammoth are in their second season, having formed after the Arizona Coyotes were dissolved in April 2024.
The Winter Classic dates to Jan. 1, 2008, when the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins played an outdoor game at what was then known as Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y. The Winter Classic has since become the NHL’s tentpole regular-season event, with the most recent one featuring the Florida Panthers and New York Rangers playing inside Miami’s LoanDepot Park on Jan. 2.
This year’s Classic was the second consecutive one to average fewer than one million television viewers in the U.S., as reported by Nielsen Media Research. Before the 2024 game at Wrigley Field between the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues, all previous editions of the Winter Classic had averaged at least one million viewers.
Rice-Eccles Stadium will be the fourth college football stadium to stage the Winter Classic, joining the Cotton Bowl (2020), Notre Dame Stadium (2019) and Michigan Stadium (2014). The last five events have been held at baseball stadiums.