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Outside hockey in Florida? The Nationwide Hockey League says it is up for the problem.
The NHL introduced Wednesday that it’ll host its first out of doors video games within the Sunshine State.
The league will characteristic two video games subsequent 12 months, one as a part of the Winter Traditional, adopted by a Stadium Collection recreation.
The primary recreation will characteristic the Florida Panthers internet hosting the New York Rangers at LoanDepot Park, residence of Main League Baseball’s Miami Marlins, on January 2, 2026.
And one month later, the NHL will do it once more in Tampa because the Tampa Bay Lightning host the Boston Bruins at Raymond James Stadium, residence of the Nationwide Soccer League’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The NHL will play two out of doors hockey video games in Florida in 2026
However why manage winter sports activities outdoor in heat climate?
“The Stanley Cup, a sequence of sellouts and the exponential development of youth and highschool hockey all through the state have proven that Florida is a hockey hotbed,” mentioned NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.
“By no means let or not it’s mentioned that our league is unwilling to just accept a problem,” he added.
To perform this feat, the league mentioned that to maintain the ice from melting, it’s going to use the roof of Miami’s LoanDepot Park till the beginning of the sport. The roof will then open for the sport, which takes place outdoor and below the stadium lights.
Tampa can be extra of a problem as a result of Raymond James Stadium has no roof. So the NHL mentioned it might construct a roof construction over the ice and strip it earlier than the sport.
The league expects lead time for preparation and execution, much like different out of doors occasions it has held. The NHL mentioned it might take about two weeks to construct the stadiums.
Photograph of the Tampa Sports activities billboard erected in 2018 to draw an out of doors recreation.
The conferences will price greater than a conventional Winter Traditional or Stadium Collection recreation, Steve Meyer, the NHL’s president of content material and occasions, advised CNBC.
“It is rather more to construct a construction that we have by no means needed to construct earlier than,” he mentioned. “I’ll say that we get unimaginable enter from the Florida State Athletic Fee, which understands the worth of an enormous occasion.”
The league mentioned it expects about 100,000 folks to attend the 2 occasions mixed.
Skilled hockey in Florida has been a vibrant spot for the league. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers have gained 4 collective Stanley Cups since becoming a member of the NHL greater than 30 years in the past. The Panthers are the defending league champions.
This success is a transfer off the ice.
The Lightning are actually valued at $1.8 billion and Panthers at $1.35 billion, according to CNBC’s official NHL ratings.
The success of hockey in Florida can be creating a brand new technology of younger followers.
Ice hockey registrations in Florida have elevated 212% since 1999. ever, with greater than 21,000 gamers registered within the state final season, in line with the NHL. Ladies hockey participation in Florida alone can be up about 16 p.c year-over-year and 56 p.c over the previous eight years, the league mentioned.
Meyer attributes the expansion of hockey in Florida to a number of components: The Florida Snowbirds latched onto the sport, and native communities embraced the Panthers and Lightning.
The NHL admits attempting to carry out of doors video games in Florida is dangerous, however says the payoff is price it.
“We perceive there’s some danger, however there’s danger in each considered one of these video games that we do, irrespective of the place we go,” Meyer mentioned. “We simply really feel like Florida has embraced hockey and the event of the sport, it simply felt like the proper time.”
