Sharks Could Play Outdoor Game at AT&T Park
By Eric He
AT&T Park is known for a couple of things: the home of the San Francisco Giants, and the place to be to take in a baseball game with a picturesque view of the San Francisco Bay. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
AT&T Park is known for a couple of things: the home of the San Francisco Giants, and the place to be to take in a baseball game with a picturesque view of the San Francisco Bay.
Soon, however, San Jose Sharks fans may be able to watch their team play on the Giants’ field. Giants CEO and team president Larry Baer told Alex Pavlovic of the San Jose Mercury News earlier this week that the Giants are in “preliminary discussions” with the Sharks if the Bay Area is chosen to host an NHL Stadium Series game next season.
Four such games were on the schedule for this season around the league, and the last one just wrapped up on Saturday night when the Blackhawks defeated the Penguins in Soldier Field in snowy conditions in Chicago. The other venues to host outdoor games this season were Yankee Stadium, Michigan Stadium (for the Winter Classic), and Dodger Stadium, the latter of which the Sharks should be very happy about.
The Ducks and Kings squared off outdoors in Los Angeles on Jan. 25 in mild conditions, and everything went pretty well, allowing the Sharks to lobby for another West Coast game next year.
If they are chosen — which may not be an easy task, as other teams are hoping for a Stadium Series game as well — the big question will be the venue. While a lot of talk has centered around AT&T Park, the Mercury News reports that NHL officials will tour both Stanford Stadium and Levi’s Stadium (the 49ers’ news stadium in Santa Clara) along with AT&T Park to decide which venue would suit them best.
However, it only seems logical that the NHL would want to broadcast the game from a major city such as San Francisco as opposed to Palo Alto or Santa Clara.
“Our ballpark would be perfect,” Baer told the Mercury News. “We think it would be a great partnership. We have a fair amount in common (with the Sharks) in the way we approach presenting our games. I think it would be an easy marriage and great for the fans.”