Ice truck arrives for 2024 Discover Winter Classic in Seattle | NHL.com

Mike Craig, NHL senior director of hockey operations and facilities operation expects the rink construction process in Seattle to run as smoothly as it did in Edmonton. The weather cooperated in Edmonton throughout the building process and for the game, creating an ideal environment for an outdoor game.

Seattle will present different challenges with the amount of rain the region sees during the winter. T-Mobile Park, however, has a retractable roof. The stadium is home to the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball and has a capacity of 47,929.

“Every venue that we go to is unique,” Craig said. “One of the things with baseball stadiums, depending on their layout, really impacts our piping run. Similar to this, we’re parked outside of left centerfield, and we’ll bring our piping in and up over the wall and down towards first base. There are little different things like that presenting challenges, but those are things we’ve seen in the past, made some changes and adapted to and we’re ready to go.”

The roof at T-Mobile Park will remain closed during the construction process. The hope is to open it for the team practices and the game.

“The rain matters, but it matters much less that we’re able to close the roof,” Higgins said. “Rain can be our friend if it comes down slowly, it builds ice for us. But if it comes down heavy, it melts ice on us, so it is certainly nice to have a roof that closes, so we don’t have to worry about that.”