To be blunt, it was a little conniving how the Wild, the Minnesota Twins and Sports Minneapolis, which is the sports marketing arm of Meet Minneapolis, went about finally convincing the National Hockey League that they warranted the 2021 Winter Classic at Target Field in Minneapolis.



The Wild had been pursuing the NHL’s iconic nationally-televised New Year’s Day outdoor game for years and were once again a disappointed runner-up to the Dallas Stars for the 2020 Winter Classic at the Cotton Bowl.



But in informing the Wild of the bad news, Steve Mayer, the NHL’s chief content officer and executive vice president, vowed to owner Craig Leipold and president Matt Majka that they should all reengage after the first of the year to talk about the 2021 Winter Classic.



That would indeed happen, but in a strategic maneuver, the Wild didn’t invite the league back into market until late March just before baseball season, and most importantly, the...