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Tuesday, 05 October 2010 16:36

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

That dastardly peacock-hating big screen will make a return to a Penguins-hosted location.

The team will hold a viewing part outside the gate on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Washington Place for Thursday's season-opener against the Flyers at Consol Energy Center.

Additionally, players will enter the arean by way of a red carpet at the same location.

EN Says: Assuming the Penguins get a typical crowd for the big screen, we have to wonder what kind of logistical problems could arise from hosting a viewing party at that location. Compared to Gate 3 at the Civic Arena, it's a pretty tight space. And traffic at that intersection is a whole lot busier than at Washington Place where Gate 3 is. That said, it is supposed to rain and be in the mid 50s tomorrow, so maybe that will keep the crowd down.

We just realized we confused our days. Thursday is supposed to have a high of 68 degrees and will be partly cloudy. Kudos to EN commenter Stella for the heads up.

(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Comments (8)

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written by espo33, October 05, 2010 - 06:12 PM

If it is going to rain then the ice will probably be bad also...

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written by Lili, October 05, 2010 - 07:26 PM

I agrees it sounds great, but I can't imagine it being anything less than a traffic disaster. It's just too busy of an intersection. I wonder if they couldn't put it somewhere up on the top side by the Civic Arena and close off that street. Not sure where else it could go, but I always hated the extra traffic and parking mess when it was the Igloo.

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written by Jonathanlyle, October 05, 2010 - 07:45 PM

That said, it is supposed to rain and be in the mid 50s tomorrow, so maybe that will keep the crowd down.

Yeah, but that's Wednesday's weather. Thursday is supposed to be 67 and mostly sunny with 0 percent chance of rain.

Calendar fail

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written by Stella, October 05, 2010 - 07:48 PM

I was just going to say that Seth had me confused on the days of the week!
Seems like a tight area for the huge crowd the screen usually draws.

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written by s_rorabaugh, October 05, 2010 - 07:51 PM

Stella, +1 for the heads up.

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written by Stella, October 05, 2010 - 08:14 PM

Seth, can you find out something for me? I had heard that another team (can't remember which) was showing their NBC games on a big screen outside. Rumor was that since their big screen was permanently attached to the building they did not need permission from NBC - they just used the jumbotron feed. The Pens screen was temporary so they needed the feed/permission. If this new screen is a permanant fixture then if the above is correct, then we won't have to worry about the peacock people, right?

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written by s_rorabaugh, October 06, 2010 - 04:58 AM

Stella,

As far as I know, no NHL team in the U.S. is permitted to hold a viewing party for game which NBC has rights to. Period. I don't think the type of exterior video board matters in this decision either.

I know the Sabres had a viewing party in the playoffs last year, but they pretty much just held it without checking with the NHL or NBC. I'm not sure if they got into any hot water over it though.

The Penguins tried the same thing last year and had the kibosh put on it.

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written by Stella, October 06, 2010 - 03:27 PM

Thanks for checking.

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