Sportsbook betting on New Year’s Day will include the Winter Classic as the Philadelphia Flyers meet the Boston Bruins at Fenway Park in Boston. The Winter Classic was started two years ago in Buffalo and has gained popularity every year at sportsbooks.
Sportsbook betting on this year’s Winter Classic will have the Bruins favored at sportsbooks since they will have the home crowd edge and because they are the better team. The Winter Classic has found a home on NBC and people have tuned in each year to watch the outside hockey game. Having the game at Fenway should be interesting if nothing else and the National Hockey League is thrilled with the success of the game. “This is a validation of the business strategy we put in place in 2007, which said, more than anything, that that the NHL needs to build league-scale,” said NHL chief operating office John Collins.
How much has the Winter Classic grown in sportsbook betting? The first game had AMP Energy as the title sponsor and while some people have heard of them, many people had not. Last year the title sponsor was Bridgestone. This year a number of high profile companies are advertising on NBC during the game. NBC has already gotten millions of dollars for their ad spots for this year’s game.
Sportsbook betting has the Winter Classic competing with three college football bowl games at 1 pm Eastern on Friday. The Winter Classic has more than held its own though which is a huge surprise since college football is more popular at sportsbooks than hockey. Two years ago an average of 3.75 million viewers watched the game on NBC while last year that number went up to 4.4 million. Sportsbook betting indicated that last year’s game was the most watched regular-season NHL game in 34 years. Another 1.3 million people watched the game in Canada. The sportsbook betting contest drew more viewers than ESPN got for the Outback Bowl which was played during the same time period. “There seems to be a different college bowl game every day and none of them feel special anymore,” said Mike McCarley from NBC Sports, “We felt we could seize an opportunity and create something special.”
Sportsbook betting should be exciting at sportsbooks on this year’s Winter Classic as the Bruins and Flyers face off on New Year’s Day.
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