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MIAMI (AP) — Hockey. Outdoors. In Florida.
Next season, the NHL is making it happen — twice.
The NHL announced Wednesday that the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers will play host to the New York Rangers at loanDepot Park in Miami — home of baseball’s Marlins — on Jan. 2, 2026, in the Winter Classic, with the Tampa Bay Lightning playing host to the Boston Bruins at Raymond James Stadium on Feb. 1, 2026, in a Stadium Series game.
“Stanley Cups, strings of sellouts and the exponential growth of youth and high school hockey throughout the state have demonstrated that Florida is a hockey hotbed,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “Outdoor NHL games in the Sunshine State? Never let it be said that our league isn’t willing to accept a challenge.”
It’s a long time coming, but the Panthers and Lightning have represented the Eastern Conference in each of the last five Stanley Cup Finals and they've built heavily engaged fan bases. And both franchises have asked the NHL to bring an outdoor game — or two, in this case — to the Sunshine State for many years.
The league listened.
“To be able to celebrate these two franchises against great Original Six teams, I think, is phenomenal,” Panthers President Matthew Caldwell said. “And I think our time has come. We deserve that outdoor game and we’re fired up to have it right here locally.”
The Marlins’ ballpark, located about a 45-minute drive south of the Panthers' home arena in Sunrise, can hold about 37,000 fans. Raymond James Stadium — home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers — can hold about 65,000 for most events, and capacity can be increased a bit if necessary.
“We couldn’t be more excited for this landmark event to finally arrive for Bolts Nation and the Tampa Bay community,” Lightning CEO Steve Griggs said. “This moment has been a long time coming, and we’re thrilled to see this dream become a reality.”
These will not be ordinary outdoor games.
The high in Miami on Jan. 2 this year was 78. The high in Tampa last year on Feb. 1 was 66. Those temperatures aren't conducive to finding ice outside. And the high game-time temperature for any of the previous outdoor games in NHL history, the league said, was 65 for a game in Denver in 2016.
“We understand it’s risky," said Steve Mayer, the NHL's president of content and events. "I think we like it. And it’s not a challenge. It’s actually an opportunity for us.”
The Marlins' loanDepot Park has a retractable roof and that will play a big role in getting that stadium ready for hockey. The air conditioning will be cranked up — way up — and the Panthers-Rangers game will be played at night with the roof open. For the Lightning-Bruins game inside the open-air stadium in Tampa, the NHL will build a temporary roof over the ice surface and remove it just a few hours before game time.
“We want to bring a little bit of a winter wonderland to Florida,” Mayer said.
The games in 2026 will be the 44th and 45th regular-season outdoor contests in NHL history. The Rangers are 5-0-0 in their previous outdoor games, Boston has won four of its five outdoor games and the Lightning prevailed in their only outdoor contest. The Panthers have never played such a game.
“We get to expand our great sport," Panthers general manager and hockey operations president Bill Zito said. "We have a chance to have 100,000 people watching hockey live, outside, in Florida. That's unthinkable. And the exciting part and the fun part is it’s growing. It’s getting bigger. More and more people are becoming hockey fans in Florida."
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
