Bettman: Outdoor game at NC State 'not out of the question'

Gary Bettman isn't ruling out the possibility of an outdoor NHL game in North Carolina.

The NHL commissioner said as much at Friday's news conference introducing new Carolina Hurricanes majority owner Tom Dundon, who has inquired about it.

"Tom has already asked ... An outdoor game across the street is not out of the question," Bettman said, via Luke DeCock of The News & Observer.

PNC Arena, the home of the Hurricanes, is literally across the street from Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, which houses the NC State Wolfpack football program.

The football facility has a capacity of over 57,000.

Only two NHL outdoor games have been played in the southern United States in the modern era. The Los Angeles Kings faced the Anaheim Ducks at Dodger Stadium in 2014, and the San Jose Sharks hosted the Kings at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. just over a year later.

The New York Rangers defeated the Kings at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas back in 1991.

As far as outdoor NHL games at college football stadiums are concerned, there are two such spectacles on the horizon, with the Washington Capitals playing host to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md., on March 3, 2018, and with the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins squaring off at Notre Dame Stadium in the 2019 Winter Classic.

The Detroit Red Wings hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium, home of the University of Michigan Wolverines, in the Winter Classic on New Year's Day back in 2014.

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