MIAMI (AP) — Hockey. Outdoor. In Florida.
Subsequent season, the NHL is making it occur — twice.
The NHL introduced Wednesday that the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers will play host to the New York Rangers at loanDepot Park in Miami — residence of baseball’s Marlins — on Jan. 2, 2026, within the Winter Traditional, with the Tampa Bay Lightning enjoying host to the Boston Bruins at Raymond James Stadium on Feb. 1, 2026, in a Stadium Sequence sport.
“Stanley Cups, strings of sellouts and the exponential development of youth and highschool hockey all through the state have demonstrated that Florida is a hockey hotbed,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman stated. “Outside NHL video games within the Sunshine State? By no means let or not it’s stated that our league isn’t prepared to just accept a problem.”
It’s a very long time coming, however the Panthers and Lightning have represented the Japanese Convention in every of the final 5 Stanley Cup Finals they usually’ve constructed closely engaged fan bases. And each franchises have requested the NHL to convey an outside sport — or two, on this case — to the Sunshine State for a few years.
The league listened.
“To have the ability to rejoice these two franchises towards nice Unique Six groups, I believe, is phenomenal,” Panthers President Matthew Caldwell stated. “And I believe our time has come. We deserve that outside sport and we’re fired as much as have it proper right here regionally.”
The Marlins’ ballpark, positioned a couple of 45-minute drive south of the Panthers’ residence enviornment in Dawn, can maintain about 37,000 followers. Raymond James Stadium — residence of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers — can maintain about 65,000 for many occasions, and capability may be elevated a bit if obligatory.
“We couldn’t be extra excited for this landmark occasion to lastly arrive for Bolts Nation and the Tampa Bay neighborhood,” Lightning CEO Steve Griggs stated. “This second has been a very long time coming, and we’re thrilled to see this dream change into a actuality.”
These won’t be odd outside video games.
The excessive in Miami on Jan. 2 this yr was 78. The excessive in Tampa final yr on Feb. 1 was 66. These temperatures aren’t conducive to discovering ice outdoors. And the excessive game-time temperature for any of the earlier outside video games in NHL historical past, the league stated, was 65 for a sport in Denver in 2016.
“We perceive it’s dangerous,” stated Steve Mayer, the NHL’s president of content material and occasions. “I believe we prefer it. And it’s not a problem. It’s really a chance for us.”
The Marlins’ loanDepot Park has a retractable roof and that may play a giant function in getting that stadium prepared for hockey. The air con can be cranked up — approach up — and the Panthers-Rangers sport can be performed at evening with the roof open. For the Lightning-Bruins sport contained in the open-air stadium in Tampa, the NHL will construct a brief roof over the ice floor and take away it only a few hours earlier than sport time.
“We wish to convey slightly little bit of a winter wonderland to Florida,” Mayer stated.
The video games in 2026 would be the forty fourth and forty fifth regular-season outside contests in NHL historical past. The Rangers are 5-0-0 of their earlier outside video games, Boston has gained 4 of its 5 outside video games and the Lightning prevailed of their solely outside contest. The Panthers have by no means performed such a sport.
“We get to develop our nice sport,” Panthers common supervisor and hockey operations president Invoice Zito stated. “We’ve got an opportunity to have 100,000 folks watching hockey stay, outdoors, in Florida. That is unthinkable. And the thrilling half and the enjoyable half is it’s rising. It’s getting larger. Increasingly more individuals are changing into hockey followers in Florida.”
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
