I'm not a hockey fan, but like many puck-challenged Americans, I have tuned in to the two annual outdoor games the NHL has staged.

Tradition and justice would demand that a game be played in our own frozen tundra pretty damn soon. But it might not be as easy as all that.

Ballpark Digest — a locally based site that covers sports business like a goalie mitt — says the yearly event has become so big the National Hockey League "may be a position to demand cities bid on it."

Our rivals, according the site: Yankee Stadium, Penn State (Peguins-Flyers), Detroit, Washington, Philadelphia and — gulp — Las Vegas or Pasadena! There is no doubt — none — that without frost and flakes, the ratings would go down for a sacreligious warm-weather game. There's more on the national aspects from Bloomberg.

Ballpark Digest says if the (former) North State ponies up, there are two possible venues: the Gophers' new TCF Field or, in 2010, the Twins' Target Field, with the Twins very interested. I wouldn't put it past 'em to ask for public subsidy for the bidding.