(Miami) Hockey games will take place. Outside. In Florida.
Published yesterday at 3:45 p.m.
Tim Reynolds
Associated Press
The NHL will attempt this audacious bet not once, but twice, next season.
The league announced Wednesday that the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers will host the New York Rangers at LoanDepot Park in Miami – home of the Miami Marlins – on January 2, 2026, in the Winter Classic. The Tampa Bay Lightning will next face the Boston Bruins at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on 1is February 2026, as part of the Stadium Series.
“Stanley Cups, sellout streaks and the exponential growth of minor and high school hockey across the state have demonstrated that Florida is a hockey market,” said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Outdoor NHL games in the “Sunshine State”? Never say that our league is not ready to take on bold challenges. »
It’s taken a while, but the Panthers and Lightning have represented the Eastern Conference in each of the last five Stanley Cup Finals series, and their respective fan bases are very strong. The two franchises had expressed to the NHL their desire to present an outdoor game – or two, in this case – in the “Sunshine State” for several years already.
The league folded.
-“It’s phenomenal to be able to celebrate these two concessions by pitting them against two of the original six teams, in my opinion,” Panthers president Matthew Caldwell said. I think our turn had come. We deserved an away match and we are excited to be able to present one here. »
The Marlins’ stadium, located about a 45-minute drive south of the Panthers’ home in Sunrise, seats about 37,000 fans. Raymond James Stadium has a capacity of around 65,000 seats for most events, and this can be increased if necessary.
However, these will not be ordinary outdoor matches.
The temperature in Miami on January 2, 2025 was 25.6 degrees Celsius. That of Tampa on the 1stis February 2024 was 18.8. These temperatures do not allow the formation of an outdoor ice rink. The record for the highest temperature for an outdoor NHL game, the league said, was 18.3 degrees Celsius for a game played in Denver in 2016.
“We are aware that there will be risks,” admitted Steve Mayer, the NHL’s president of content and events. We like that. And that’s not a challenge. It’s more of an opportunity for us. »
Since the NHL began presenting modern outdoor games, notably with the Heritage Classic in 2003, none of them have been held in Montreal.
