RALEIGH -- Downtown commuters will be able to get a glimpse of the NHL's new logo for next year's All-Star Game as they pass the RBC Plaza building.
On the 23rd floor of the downtown building Monday, the Carolina Hurricanes unveiled the logo for the Jan. 30 game, to be played on the Hurricanes' home ice at the RBC Center.
A 5,000-square-foot poster display - featuring the red, silver and white logo and images of Hurricanes captain Eric Staal, Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby, Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin and Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane - will be hung this week on the west side of the RBC Plaza facing Fayetteville Street.
The oversized logo display will coincide with the annual Raleigh Wide Open street festival on Saturday, giving fans an early reminder of the game.
"As each week goes by, it becomes more and more real for our fans," Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said at the unveiling.
Asked if there would be tickets for the game made available to the general public, Rutherford said he wasn't sure.
"That's too early to tell," he said. "The people that will get first dibs on the tickets will be season ticket-holders, and if season ticket-holders don't buy out all of the tickets, along with the allotment that goes to the league - because the league uses between 6,000 and 8,000 - then at some point in time, there would be some tickets that would go on public sale. But I can't guarantee that's going to happen."
Rutherford said the number of season ticket-holders has been higher only after the team's Stanley Cup in 2006. He credited landing this season's All-Star Game as well as fan excitement over a young Hurricanes team for the bump.
"I think it's a little bit of both," he said.
Rutherford said he expects the game to provide more of a financial boon, however, to the area business community than to the team.
But the Hurricanes will get revenue from the sales of All-Star Game-related merchandise up to a month before the game. Rutherford wasn't sure how much that would amount to.
"It depends on how much you want to buy," he said, joking with a reporter.
In other news, Rutherford said there were no developments to report on the efforts to sell a share of the team. "I talked to [team president Peter] Karmanos this morning," Rutherford said. "There's not any update."
