NHL announces Winter Classic

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The NHL's Winter Classic will feature the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs playing outdoors at Michigan Stadium on January 1, 2013, the league officially announced on Thursday.

"The Big House," as it's called, is the largest stadium in North America. The announcement was made by commissioner Gary Bettman at nearby Comerica Park in Detroit, the home of baseball's Tigers. A rink will also be built there as part of an event called "Hockeytown Winter Festival," for public skating, an alumni game and several minor league games.

It's the sixth annual Winter Classic, and the furthest West the event has ever made it was Chicago's Wrigley Field in 2009.

The five previous editions of the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic comprise five of the top six most watched regular-season NHL games in the U.S. in the past 37 years.

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