The news that Washington would have the opportunity to host the Winter Classic in the next 2-3 years has people excited. However, there are still plenty of details up in the air at the moment. The Capitals don't know the day they will get to host the Classic, they don't know who they'll play, nor do they know where they will host the event. In a blog post this morning Ted talked about the opportunity to host a Winter Classic, but did his best to temper the excitement of Capitals fans by reminding them how much still needed to be taken care of between now and then.
Leonsis did not commit to much, in his post, but he did rule out the idea of playing the Winter Classic on the National Mall on his blog:
As romantic and wonderful as it sounds to play on the Mall, it simply won’t happen. I truly understand the desire to do something unique but to replicate what is needed to produce the game on the Mall would not be feasible.
This is a once in a lifetime event. The logistics around it are very hard to deal with and quite expensive as it is but it is worth it because of the nature of the event.
With the Mall out of the running, FedEx Field, RFK Stadium and Nationals Park now become the venues with the best shot of hosting the game.