The NHL has recently revealed the latest venue for the 2027 Winter Classic match between the Nashville Predators and the Carolina Hurricanes. The Bristol Motor Speedway is going to host the event for the 2027 calendar. It seems that the NHL is following in the footsteps of the MLB. The 2025 MLB Speedway Classic was hosted at the Bristol Motor Speedway. The fans, however, were highly unimpressed by the management disaster that took place instead of the promised match.

But now that the NHL has decided to go through with the same decision, the reactions from the NHL fans are highly varied and extreme towards the league. Why would the NHL go forth with the Bristol Motor Speedway as a potential venue?

Well, for starters, the oval layout of the track is something that the NHL is looking forward to utilizing. The NHL has already hosted annual outdoor games since 2008. As a result, the cards fell into Bristol Motor Speedway’s hands, which were looking forward to hosting more events than just NASCAR.

Besides MLB, the Speedway also hosted the NCAA football match–Battle at Bristol– between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the University of Tennessee Volunteers in 2016. On paper, it would be a win-win situation for the NHL. The NCAA game was attended by nearly 156,990 people, and the MLB game was attended by 91,032 people.

The NHL, which already has some of the most unique outdoor venues, would profit from the number of attendees. For reference, the record for the most attended game of the NHL was 105,491 fans from the 2014 Winter Classic game.

But while everything seems smooth and easy for the NHL, the fans disagree. They were a witness to the MLB game, and now it seems like the NHL might have overestimated their excitement for the game.

NHL fans go against the idea of hosting the 2027 Winter Classic at Bristol

As soon as the matchup for the 2027 Winter Classic at the Bristol Motor Speedway popped up, a unique situation was noticed by the public. In a picture being shared on X, a snippet of the scoreboard for the game between the two teams is being shown. The abbreviation for the two teams shows up as NAS | CAR. The fan urged the NHL to follow a similar style on the scoreboard to make it seem like a NAS vs CAR game is going on at the NASCAR track. It would be a hilarious view and would definitely be a source of many memes in the aftermath.

Then came the criticism from the other fans. One of the fans was excited about the idea of an NHL game at Bristol, but he did not like it from the point of view of a hockey fan. “As a NASCAR fan, awesome! As a Canadian hockey fan, this kinda sucks! But at least it’s outside.”

Another fan commented on the goals of Bristol Motor Speedway. The track has shown interest in hosting different sports, which, according to fans, is rather strange. They sarcastically commented, “Really, Bristol is becoming an ice rink now, hold a WWE event there.”

There was no doubt that some fans would bring up the mismanagement caused during the MLB match. Rain had spoiled the play. Concession stands ran out of food. Moreover, the view was blocked from many seats.

Commenting about the potential issue that might arise, one fan said, “Look how small the baseball field looked….. Look how small a hockey rink looks on a baseball field .. ain’t no way in hell this is true.”

There was also some optimism towards the 2027 Winter Classic, since the fan thinks the NHL would be able to manage it well. They were still skeptical about the space available, though.

“I have more faith in the NHL to execute this than what the MLB showed last year, but what the hell are they going to do about Speedway in Lights this year, since you’re going to need the space?”

The NHL might be on its way to a revolutionary idea, according to them, but for the fans, what matters is that they enjoy the game. Yeah, in theory, the NHL Winter Classic would sound great at a motorsports oval. It will give a chance for the fans of the sport to mingle. There is also a high chance for the NHL to break its audience records.

But if they do not learn from the mistakes that the MLB committed, then their new idea won’t be as groundbreaking when it’s executed in 2027. Do you think that more NASCAR tracks are going to vouch for the attention of other sports leagues, following the suit of Bristol?