Bill Zito, CEO of the NHL champion Panthers, is excited about the upcoming outdoor game.
The NHL announced Wednesday that the Florida Panthers will host the New York Rangers in an outdoor game on January 2, 2026, and the Tampa Bay Lightning will host the Boston Bruins on February 1, 2026.
The Marlins’ park, located about a 45-minute drive south of the Panthers’ home arena, can hold about 37,000 fans.
Raymond James Stadium – home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers – can hold approximately 65,000 spectators for most events, and capacity can be increased if needed.
– We have the opportunity to get 100,000 people to watch hockey live outside in Florida. It’s a completely cheeky thing, even at the level of thought, beamed the CEO of the Florida Panthers and the head of hockey operations Bill Zito news agency for AP.
Top hockey at +25 degrees
The fan bases of the Panthers and Lightning have grown significantly, and both teams have been hoping for outdoor games in Florida for quite some time.
The warm weather naturally poses a big challenge for organizing ice hockey matches.
The highest temperature was +25.5 degrees in Miami on January 2 this year and +18.8 degrees in Tampa on February 1 last year.
The highest temperature during the game in all previous outdoor games in NHL history has been +18.3 degrees in Denver in 2016.
– We understand that it is risky. And this isn’t even a challenge, it’s actually an opportunity for us. We want to bring a breath of winter wonderland to Florida, declared the NHL’s director of content and events Steve Mayer.