deseret
Benson Boone is set to take the stage at Rice-Eccles Stadium on New Year's Eve, and the ticket includes access to one of the most unique hockey games imaginable. The Utah Mammoth will face the Colorado Avalanche in the NHL's Winter Classic on Dec. 31 at the stadium, one of the league's annual outdoor games. The weekend will be packed with activities for hockey, basketball, and music fans.
Steve Mayer, the NHL's president of content and events, gave the Deseret News a preview of Boone's performance, which will occur during the first intermission. "We're building out what will be the sort of his ultimate playground for him to do what he does best," Mayer said. "He's quite acrobatic, and he'll be flipping from mountaintops and he'll be running around on that track...about the entire stadium."
The track Mayer mentioned is a cross-country ski track that will encircle the ice surface, utilizing the large space between the rink and the football-positioned seats. The stadium will be transformed into a ski resort, as the Deseret News reported last week, and Mayer's team is exploring the possibility of installing a ski lift or building a mountain inside the venue.
"He's going to do a medley of his greatest hits," Mayer said. "It'll be 10 minutes long in the intermission. It'll be and feel very much like a Super Bowl halftime in terms of how it's presented." Mayer also hinted that there could be a special guest or two joining Boone.
This won't be Boone's first appearance at a Mammoth game. He occasionally joins team owner Ryan Smith in Smith's one-of-a-kind rink-side suite at the Delta Center. Boone's Utah ties are plentiful. He owns a house south of Salt Lake City, as The Rolling Stone reported in 2025. His family lives in St. George, as KSL reported in 2024. Several of his music videos, including "Beautiful Things," were filmed in the St. George area, and his first-ever arena concert was at the Maverik Center in West Valley City.
"Because of his connection to Utah, we thought that was really special," Mayer said. "He's somebody we went after for a while and we finally we've gotten the green light and confirmation that he's in. That's something also that we're super, super excited about." According to a press release sent out by the NHL, "Beautiful Things" was the most-streamed song in 2024. It spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 and earned Boone a Grammy nomination.
The NHL's most recent outdoor game in late October, which saw the Winnipeg Jets host the Montreal Canadiens for the Heritage Classic, featured performances from a group of artists whose work appears in hit hockey romance shows "Heated Rivalry" and "Off-Campus." After the Winter Classic at Rice-Eccles Stadium, fans can also attend a concert with another suite guest of Smith's, Post Malone. The Utah resident will be performing at the Delta Center in a special 10 p.m. concert, which will spill over into the new year.
"Being in Utah, for us, is really exciting," Mayer said. "I mean, the backdrop is absolutely awesome, and that obviously is going to lead to how the field is designed and the activities that we'll have around the game. Our goal every one of these games is to have that fan who is in that seat when they walk into the stadium go, 'Whoa. Wow. Like, this is cool.' It's that first impression that we work really hard on."
Key Analysis
The Winter Classic at Rice-Eccles Stadium is shaping up to be a multifaceted event, blending sports and entertainment. Boone's performance, described as a Super Bowl-style halftime show, underscores the NHL's push to create a memorable fan experience. With the stadium transformed into a ski resort and the addition of Post Malone's concert, the weekend promises to be a major draw for both hockey and music enthusiasts. The NHL's focus on first impressions and unique presentations reflects its ongoing efforts to expand its audience and deliver standout moments.
Originally reported by deseret.