The 2024 NHL Stadium Series will be held at MetLife Stadium in February as a two-day event featuring four rival teams, the league announced on Saturday.
The Rangers had to be designated as the road team against the Islanders because of their Madison Square Garden lease agreement, which forbids them from playing a home game anywhere but MSG.
The event will mark the first time four NHL teams have played outdoor games at the same venue in front of fans. The games will be broadcast on ESPN.
The Stadium Series event joins a 2023-24 season NHL outdoor game schedule that includes the Heritage Classic between the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 29 at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, and the NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 1, 2024, between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Seattle Kraken at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park.
Initially, the NHL’s plan for MetLife Stadium was to have the Rangers face the Devils in a single game between the archrivals, who met in the Stanley Cup playoffs this postseason.
“There’s been many iterations of what we wanted to do here. But when we started getting into the matchups, the game, the tri-state area and the great hockey that’s being played in the New York area, we felt this would be unique and a way to keep our outdoor games fresh,” Steve Mayer, NHL chief content officer and senior executive vice president, said.
“Obviously, the goal is to continue our incredible streak of 37 straight sellouts [in outdoor games], and we really feel very confident that these two matchups will fill two buildings, two days in a row, which for us will be unprecedented.”
The capacity for the two MetLife games is something the NHL is still determining. The NHL said that MetLife Stadium will be undergoing some renovation next offseason in preparation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup Soccer that will impact some of the low-level sideline seating.
“We will be losing a few seats due to that,” said Dean Matsuzaki, NHL executive vice president of events.
The NHL anticipates attendance will be over 75,000 for each game. Currently, the third-largest crowd for an outdoor game was 76,126 for the 2019 Winter Classic at the University of Notre Dame.
MetLife Stadium is home to the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets and is located minutes from New York City. But Mayer said the plan is to emphasize that the games are being held in New Jersey, despite the presence of the New York teams.
“We’re going to get super creative. We’re going to highlight. It’s our goal that when somebody tunes in to watch this, they know we’re playing in New Jersey. We’re going to look at all the things that New Jersey area has to offer,” Mayer said, adding that the league plans to “lean into the music scene with some of those typical names” associated with the state.
“When it comes to entertainment, which we always focus on, and I think we’re going to go bigger because of the weekend. We’ll try to do something in between games, after games and before games that really celebrates not only hockey, but the music of the area as well,” Mayer said.
This is the sixth regular-season outdoor game for the Flyers, who are 1-3-1 in those events. Philadelphia last played outdoors in February 2021 against the Boston Bruins in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. The Rangers are playing their fifth outdoor game, having gone 4-0-0. Their most recent outdoor game was the 2018 Winter Classic at New York City’s Citi Field. The Devils (0-1-0) and Islanders (0-1-0) are both playing their second outdoor game, having both lost to the Rangers at Yankee Stadium in 2014.
Oklahoma defensive tackle David Stone entered the NCAA transfer portal Friday, sources told ESPN.
Stone, a former five-star recruit and the No. 6 overall player in the ESPN 300 for the 2024 class, made the surprising decision to enter the portal after playing in all 13 games as a true freshman with the Sooners. The 6-foot-3 313-pounder saw limited playing time, playing 88 snaps and recording 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and 1 sack.
Stone was expected to compete for a more significant role as a sophomore, and Oklahoma coach Brent Venables recently praised him as the Sooners’ most improved defensive tackle this offseason.
The Oklahoma native finished his high school career at IMG Academy in Florida and was a significant recruiting victory for Venables and his coaching staff in August 2023. Stone chose the Sooners over Texas A&M, Oregon, Florida, Miami and Michigan State.
The SEC does not grant immediate eligibility to players who transfer within the conference during the spring transfer window, so Stone would need to sit out the 2025 season if he moves on to another SEC program.
Oklahoma returns its top three defensive tackles from 2024 in Damonic Williams, Gracen Halton and Jayden Jackson. It also added Trent Wilson, the No. 164 recruit in the ESPN 300 for 2025, as an early enrollee this spring.
Browne committed to rejoining the Boilermakers on Friday after entering his name in the NCAA transfer portal Wednesday.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound redshirt sophomore started two games for Purdue in 2024 but moved on amid the program’s head coaching change and went through spring practice under new Tar Heels coach Bill Belichick.
North Carolina landed a commitment from South Alabama transfer quarterback Gio Lopez on Thursday.
Browne and freshman Bryce Baker were North Carolina’s lone scholarship quarterbacks available for spring practice and were competing with three walk-ons while sixth-year senior Max Johnson recovers from a broken leg.
Browne threw for 636 yards, rushed for 240 yards and scored four touchdowns while appearing in nine games as Hudson Card’s backup over the past two seasons at Purdue, earning starts in losses to Illinois and Oregon.
Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood showed glimpses of the growing pains he will experience as a freshman and flashes of the promise that made him the nation’s top-rated high school football recruit in the Wolverines’ spring game Saturday.
Underwood was 12 of 26 for 187 yards with a scrimmage-ending, 88-yard pass to tight end Jalen Hoffman on a reverse flea-flicker in a 17-0 win for the Blue over the Maize.
He also recovered his fumble, had a pair of delay-of-game penalties, several errant throws – high and wide – and some dropped. Underwood lost 12 yards on two sacks and gained 17 yards on three runs.
“He did well,” coach Sherrone Moore said. “Made some really, good throws and had some things we need to clean up and get better at.”
As the Wolverines wrapped up spring football in front of about 40,000 fans at the Big House, all eyes were on Underwood and he has become comfortable with that.
“It’s just the pressure that came with my arm,” Underwood told The Detroit News earlier this spring. “I can’t stop that.”
Underwood was sacked on his first snap and his first completion went for a loss. He did throw some darts, usually in the flat, and was quick enough to escape collapsed pockets to pick up yardage with his feet.
Underwood is expected to compete with sophomore Jadyn Davis and Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene for playing time ahead of the season-opening game on Aug. 30 at home against Fresno State.
“It’s a battle,” Moore said. “It’s going to go all the way to fall camp.”
Underwood is motivated to start and kick off a legacy-building career with lofty goals.
“A couple of Heismans and at least one natty,” Underwood said last month in an interview on the Rich Eisen Show.
Underwood knows there will be people doubting he can live up to the hype.
‘He’s just a freshman. He won’t be good enough,'” Underwood said. “I might keep that chip my whole three years.”
He attended at Belleville High School, which is about 15 miles east of Ann Arbor, and flipped his commitment to Michigan after telling LSU coaches last year he intended to play there.
Tom Brady, a former Wolverine and seven-time Super Bowl winner, talked with Underwood during the school’s recruitment via FaceTime and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people, also connected with him.
Jay Underwood told the Wall Street Journal that his son is expected to make more than $15 million at Michigan, but that doesn’t guarantee he will take the first snap next fall.
“He wants to earn everything,” Moore has said. “He doesn’t want to be given anything.”
Hoffman said Underwood has simply blended in with his teammates.
“He’s really humble, like not a big head, ego, nothing like that,” he said. “Comes into work and every day, he wants to get better every day. He’s not riding off his success in high school. He’s really trying to be one of those top players in college football.”
Underwood participated in practices with the team before it beat Alabama in a bowl game, enrolled in classes in January and gained a lot experience in 14 private practices before a public scrimmage.
“Football is football,” he told MLive.com. “School is a little bit more overwhelming now.”