Hockey is coming to Florida in a big way early next year. The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers will host the New York Rangers in the 2026 Winter Classic on Jan. 2 at loanDepot Park in Miami, home to MLB’s Marlins. A few weeks later on Feb. 1, the Tampa Bay Lightning will host the Boston Bruins at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., in the Stadium Series game.
It will be the first time that the league is hosting its two outdoor games in the same state, a decision made to celebrate the growth of hockey in Florida and reward its two franchises for building strong hockey cultures in their markets, according to Keith Wachtel, the NHL’s president of business.
“What [the Panthers] have done in South Florida for the sport of hockey, and the growth of hockey in southern Florida has been incredible,” Wachtel said in a phone interview. “It’s on people’s bucket list … and for their fans, it’s further validation of the incredible success that they have had. Going to South Florida and to Miami to play a game is a testament to, again, what they have accomplished.”
Wachtel said that the league had waited a long time to bring outdoor games to Florida because it wanted to ensure the logistics could meet the moment.
“In 2018 when we had the All-Star Game in Tampa, the Tampa Sports Commission took out a billboard on the Monday when everyone was leaving,” Wachtel said. “And it said, ‘Thanks for coming, let’s think outside the box next time. We want an outdoor game.’”
It took another seven years for the NHL to heed the call, with the open-air home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosting the affair. The league is partnering with a Texas-based company that will build a fully climate-controlled temporary enclosed structure over the football field. The steel and concrete cap will be removed the day of the game.
Ideally, the temporary structure will prevent repeats of the delays that hampered the league’s outdoor games at Lake Tahoe in 2021. Start times were pushed back eight hours due to poor ice conditions resulting from the direct sunlight during the daytime hours.
Generally, the Stadium Series is held on a date between mid-February and early March. Because NHL players will participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 6, the league is hosting its premier showcases and in-person events ahead of the Olympic break. Both outdoor games will take place before the 2026 All-Star Game at the New York Islanders’ UBS Arena in Long Island.
For the sixth year in a row, the Winter Classic will be played in a baseball stadium; Wachtel cited the expanded schedules for both the NFL and the College Football Playoff as reasons for being unable to secure a football venue at the start of January. With loanDepot Park’s retractable roof and air conditioning, the warm Florida weather may not be as much of an issue when it comes to ice maintenance.
Most of the outdoor games have taken place in colder climates, but these will be the southernmost outdoor games in NHL history. The farthest south that the Winter Classic has been played was in Dallas in 2020 when the Stars beat the Nashville Predators at the Cotton Bowl. The Predators held a Stadium Series game against the Lightning at Nissan Stadium (home to the NFL’s Tennessee Titans) two years later.
There are gripes, however, that the outdoor games have run their course and the novelty of playing in the elements is long gone. Last week’s Winter Classic between the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks at Wrigley Field was the least-watched edition on record, pulling in an average audience under one million viewers for the first time.
Some cite Chicago’s league-worst record and St. Louis’ middling play for the disinterest, but Wachtel said the teams still drew the highest average ticket price in the history of the contest and performed well in merchandise and concessions.
Wachtel also said the outdoor games act as strong in-market showcases for cities that may not be in the running for large outdoor sporting events, including Super Bowls. “We’re going to put right over 100,000 people in the state of Florida watching outdoor hockey between the two venues,” Wachtel said. “I think that’s a pretty good testament to the event. To date, we’ve had 43 of these games. We’ve put over 2.1 million people in the stands in these games.”
Putting the outdoor NHL games in Florida should attract plenty of Rangers and Bruins fans, as well. Florida is a known haven for snowbirds relocated from the Northeast, and many visit on vacations during the cold winter months. “We want fans to travel. We want people from Boston to come to that game in Tampa, and people from New York and other places to come to watch these games,” Wachtel said.
The Panthers’ involvement in the next Winter Classic winnows the number of teams yet to play a regular season outdoor game to one: the Utah Hockey Club, which didn’t play in one while in Arizona. The Columbus Blue Jackets will take themselves off that list on March 1 for their Stadium Series game versus the Detroit Red Wings at Ohio Stadium, the famed 102,000+ seat home of Ohio State Buckeyes football.
The franchise values of the Panthers and Lightning, who have combined to play in the last five Stanley Cup Finals, have leaped over the years. Tampa Bay ranks 11th in Sportico’s most recent NHL valuations at $1.8 billion. Owner Jeff Vinik was able to sell a control share of the Bolts based on the team’s 2024 valuation some 14 years after buying the team for $170 million. Although Florida ranks 26th at $1.25 billion, the Panthers’ value has grown by 37% year-over-year since 2023.
