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In the NHL's quest to have every NHL team play outdoors within a season, the stadium to the left will be turned into a hockey venue in 2027. If you're wondering what stadium that is, it's AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas which is smack-dab in the middle of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and is usually the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. For one week culminating on on February 20, 2027, however, the Dallas Stars will move into the stadium for another Stadium Series game that will matter to no one outside of northeast Texas or the NHL offices.

I'm not faulting Dallas for applying for another game as the revenue generated by these outdoor games seems to keep the NHL fat and happy, but when has there ever been an outdoor hockey game played in Dallas at any point in history? I'm not here to disaparage Dallas' warm climate, but there are certain things one can't do when it's 70F in the middle of January. It's part of the reason why there aren't horse-drawn sleigh rides and snowball fights in schoolyards in Dallas.

The opponent was not announced today, but one has to think it could be Nashville as Predators fans are a mere two hours away by plane and ten hours by car. If not Nashville, seeing the Stars battle the Colorado Avalanche couuld also be an enticing matchup due to the divisional rivalry and the fact that Avalanche fans are also two hours away by plane and twelve hours by car. Whatever team is chosen will certainly get a new experience as they play in front of 80,000 people.

With at least one more outdoor game to be played next season that has yet to be announced plus a Winter Classic not yet announced, we'll have three outdoor games during the 2026-27 season that will likely involve six different teams. The NHL is only 26 teams short of having all teams play outdoors, and it's likely they could find 13 more games where they could fulfill that opportunity. At this rate, we may as well just have hockey teams buy baseball and football stadiums for the eventual outdoor game they'll host at some point. It's inevitable.

And if you thought that monstrous scoreboard that the Cowboys have hanging over the field wasn't a draw, it seems one guy was impressed.

"We've been to a few markets more than once, we've even been to the same stadium in one place more than once," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "... Being in this building is going to be exciting on its own. I mean, that scoreboard, you can't even describe it. It's going to be very special, and people when they see the rink will go, 'This is where they play football? This is where they should be playing hockey all the time!'"

Settle down there, Gary. You're not getting any team to build an 80,000-seat stadium just yet, and you certainly don't need a 2000-inch television hanging over center ice to watch the game. There are things that hockey simply doesn't require to make it good.

The roof will likely be closed on AT&T Stadium in Arlington when the Stars and their unnamed opponents take the ice at 7pm CT on Saturday, February 20, 2027, so this "outdoor" game will be indoors on fake turf with the air conditioning running. That sounds exactly like how hockey was played in the good ol' days when kids would tie their skates tight, dress warmly from head to toe, and head out to the frozen pond for a little shinny under the stars in the moonlight.

There's nothing like making core childhood memories on fake grass in temperature-controlled air. That's old-time hockey, don'cha know!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!