As a bank of thick fog rolled across downtown Seattle on Wednesday, Dean Matsuzaki, the executive vice president of events for the NHL, looked up at the closed roof above T-Mobile Park and felt relief.
Host for the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Seattle Kraken and the Vegas Golden Knights on Jan. 1 (3 p.m. ET; MAX, TNT, SN, TVAS), the park has a retractable roof, which has made the early stages of rink preparation much smoother than previous iterations of the New Year’s Day signature event.
The battle against the elements -- wind, rain, snow, extreme cold and even too much sun -- has forced the League in the past to build buffers into the process as it has transformed baseball and football venues throughout North American into outdoor rinks able to host an NHL regular-season game.
There is less uncertainty this time around, even though the host city is known for its unexpected changes in weather patterns.
“I will say, having the roof for the whole build process has definitely helped us with being able to schedule confidently,” Matsuzaki said Wednesday. “When we schedule, we've always left in a little buffer for weather days, like if we get harsh rain or wind or things like that on a build day. With the roof on this venue, we've been able to take precipitation out of play for the for the build time.”
As a result, much progress has already been made since the mobile refrigeration unit arrived Monday at the home of Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners.
Workers were putting down ice pans Wednesday, soon to be connected to the pipes that have been run from the refrigeration unit. That process will be finished in the evening. Thursday, the dasher boards will be installed.
“Then things will start looking like a rink,” Matsuzaki said.