Shannon: Jets To Host Outdoor Game In October

The talk of a Jets outdoor game played at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg may finally be coming to fruition and it may be coming sooner than many of us expected.

Sportsnet’s John Shannon tweeted (and reported on TV) mid-afternoon on Saturday that not only will the Jets have their outdoor game during the 2016-17 season, but it will be late October and it will be against the Oilers and Connor McDavid.

Interesting on a few different levels as an outdoor game in October in Winnipeg would certainly be more ideal than a game in January or February weather wise. It also wouldn’t be ideally fair to either team to have such a game in March where the weather still isn’t the greatest and could affect both teams if they happen to be in the middle of a run to make the playoffs.

(Insert jokes here of the idea of either the Oilers or Jets being in a playoff race, but come 2017 it could be a thing.. )

Nothing officially official from the league yet but if today’s report is any indication and given the relative brief time between announcement and actual game compared to other outdoor events held by the NHL, it looks like we should expect an announcement very soon.