NBC's Winter Classic was no snow job

AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

The peafowl network reports that overall viewership from its New Year's Day NHL contest between Detroit and Chicago from Wrigley Field registered a 2.9 overnight rating with a 6 share on the Neilsen gagetry, up 12 percent over last year's outdoor game in Buffalo (2.6/5) and the best overnight NHL regular-season game in almost 13 years (a 3.0/7 mark for a Fox six-game regional package in Feb., '96).

Now the league and NBC has to figure out who to treat next to an outdoor game. Early odds are a Boston Bruins' game from Fenway Park, but there could be one with the New York Rangers from the new Yankee Stadium.

Yup, we're lobbying hard for something at Dodger Stadium with the Kings and Ducks, but that'll come after everyone's tired of a snowday. A gimmick that probably won't wear off any time soon.

"Year one was an extraordinary experience. Year two was the establishment of what promises to be a great tradition," said NBC Sports President Ken Schanzer in a release.

The Chicago (11.8/21) and Detroit (10.5/20) markets were the two top rated, but Buffalo was a close third (10.1/20). The L.A. rating: 1.7/4. Must have still been tuned into the replay of the Rose Parade on Channel 5, watching Stephanie Edwards and Bob Eubanks snipping at each other (Eubanks, mostly ... what a putz ... actually had a much more enjoyable time watching Hannah Storm and Josh Elliot do it on ABC).

AP Photo/M. Spencer Green
Amy Schneider of Chicago hoists a cold one from the Wrigley Field left-field line seats as she watched the NHL Winter Classic game between her Blackhawks and their Red Wings on Thursday.