Panthers, Lightning to host outdoor games in Florida next season

The NHL is bringing outdoor hockey to the Sunshine State for the first time next season.

The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning will each host a regular-season outdoor game in 2025-26, the League announced Wednesday.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers will play the New York Rangers in the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic at loanDepot Park in Miami on Jan. 2. It will be the first time outdoor hockey will be played in Florida.

One month later, the Lightning will host the Boston Bruins in the 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union Stadium Series at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Feb. 1.

"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. Outdoor NHL games in the Sunshine State? Never let it be said that our League isn't willing to accept a challenge," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said.

"The Panthers and Lightning have told us repeatedly that they and their fans want this special experience. Beginning in Miami on Jan. 2, when the Panthers host the Rangers in the Discover NHL Winter Classic, we will stage a month-long celebration of hockey throughout Florida that will culminate in Tampa on Feb. 1, when the Lightning host the Bruins in the Navy Federal Credit Union Stadium Series. Florida, we're bringing our unique events to you, and we can't wait."

Neither can the players.

"It would be unreal. It really would be," Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "I played in one outdoor game in Regina, and it was freezing. But it was so cool to be out there.

"Us getting this game would be big for us, big for the franchise, and we're at the point where it is time. This is exciting."

Florida will become the southernmost host of an NHL outdoor game. To date, that distinction belongs to Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, which held the 2020 Winter Classic between the Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators. It welcomed 85,630 fans, the second-largest crowd ever at an NHL game.

It will also become the 19th U.S. state to host at least one outdoor game. Washington, D.C., and five Canadian provinces have also hosted.

This will be the first time the Panthers have played any NHL outdoor game.

It will be the second outdoor game for the Lightning, who defeated the Predators 3-2 in the NHL Stadium Series at Nissan Stadium in Nashville on Feb. 26, 2022.

"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. I want to thank our incredible partners at the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, the Tampa Sports Authority and all of Team Tampa Bay for their tireless efforts and unwavering belief in making the impossible possible. We also express our gratitude to Commissioner Bettman and the NHL for their innovative thinking and for bringing this event to Tampa Bay."

The games also represent how far hockey has come in Florida since Tampa Bay joined the League as an expansion team in 1992-93 and Florida followed in 1993-94.

Florida has hosted the NHL Draft (2001 and 2015) and the NHL All-Star Game (2003 and 2023) twice each. Tampa Bay has hosted the NHL All-Star Game twice (1999 and 2018).

The Stanley Cup Final has involved one of these teams eight times, including each of the past five years. Florida made the Cup Final in 1996, 2023 and 2024, winning the Stanley Cup last season. Tampa Bay made the Cup Final in 2004, 2015, 2020, 2021 and 2022, winning the Cup in 2004, 2020 and 2021.

Off the ice, both teams have inspired a generation of youth hockey players in the state. Ice hockey registration in Florida is up 212% over the 25-year span from 1999 to 2024, with the 21,199 registered players in the state last season, tripling participation from the levels at the turn of the millennium. Girls hockey participation is up 16.1% year-over-year and up 56% over the past eight years. This season, there are eight Florida-born players in the NHL, more than double the number from a decade ago.

"This is something we have wanted for a long time. To play the Rangers in Miami, we have a ton of fans here in Broward and Miami who will have great access to the game," Panthers president Matthew Caldwell said. "The state of hockey, the fact that both us and the Lightning will be getting a game together is phenomenal. The growth of hockey in Florida has just been incredible. The last five years, the Stanley Cup gone through Florida -- and hopefully, we make it a sixth this year."

"So to be able to celebrate these two franchises and have us play two great Original Six teams, I think, is phenomenal."

The Rangers are 5-0-0 in outdoor games, their most recent appearance at the 2024 NHL Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Bruins are 4-1-0 outdoors; it will be their first appearance since the 2023 NHL Winter Classic, when they hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins at Fenway Park.

“The Bruins organization takes pride in being selected to participate in one of the National Hockey League’s marquee events,” Bruins President Cam Neely said. “Similar to the NHL Winter Classics at Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium, and Notre Dame Stadium and the NHL Outdoors Game in Lake Tahoe, the 2026 Stadium Series in Tampa will be a meaningful opportunity for our players and entire organization to showcase the game of hockey on a grand scale. All of us at the Bruins, as well as our passionate fanbase, are excited for what will be yet another incredible experience at Raymond James Stadium next February.”

LoanDepot Park, home of Major League Baseball's Miami Marlins, will become the 12th Major League Baseball stadium to host an outdoor game, and ninth to host the Winter Classic. Wrigley Field in Chicago, the site of this season's Winter Classic, and Fenway Park in Boston have hosted the Winter Classic twice.

Raymond James Stadium, home of the National Football League's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will be the ninth NFL Stadium to host an outdoor game and seventh to host a Stadium Series.

This the second time the NHL has hosted an outdoor event in a warm-weather climate. On Jan. 25, 2014, the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings played a Stadium Series game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

With the Columbus Blue Jackets hosting the Detroit Red Wings in the 2025 Stadium Series at Ohio Stadium on March 1, the Panthers will become the 31st of the NHL's 32 teams to play outdoors, leaving the Utah Hockey Club as the only franchise left.

TNT will broadcast the 2026 NHL Winter Classic exclusively in the U.S. while ESPN will carry the 2026 NHL Stadium Series. Sportsnet and TVA Sports will deliver both games to fans in Canada.

Additional details for each of the two 2026 outdoor hockey events, including start times and ticketing information, will be announced at a later date when available.

Fans can sign up for news and updates on the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic here and the 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series here.

"I think our time has come and we deserve to be in an outdoor game," Caldwell said. "We're fired up to have it right here locally."

NHL.com columnist Nicholas J. Cotsonika and NHL.com independent correspondent George Richards contributed to this report