Florida Panthers hosting Winter Classic game 1/2/26

[LadyStanley]

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[Brodie]

Bettman said people would say they're crazy when they announce the next Winter Classic site

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Hey, worthwhile to see a fun team in the Marlins park for a change.

 

[Beerz]

Weak.

Should of held it in Death Valley

 

[lakai17]

On rollerblades, thats awesome!

 

[jkrdevil]

Panthers are going to get the Winter Classic. Bettman said they would announce it next week and the Panthers have a TNT game next week.

Interesting the Orange Bowl is the next day. Hotel booking for media should be fun.

Friedman is also reporting Tampa getting an outdoor game. That has to be at Raymond James (given the Trop/Thunderdome in inhabitable right now). That stadium hosts a New Years Bowl so Tampa would have to be a Stadium Series game later on.

As an aside it’s amazing how many hockey reporters live in a bubble. Listening to 32 Thoughts it was clear Elliotte is unaware of the current state of Tropicana nor that Raymond James hosts a bowl game.

 

[WeaponOfChoice]

It's not just hockey reporters. Why would I generally care that Tropicana is in need of repair?

 

[jkrdevil]

It's not just hockey reporters. Why would I generally care that Tropicana is in need of repair?

But it is a reporter’s job to know the broader context in which the league is operating in. Too many of the “insiders” make statements and suggestions that make it clear they have no clue about the broader sports world never mind world at large.

Plus Hurricane destroys infrastructure in the Tampa Bay region isn’t exactly a small story. The storm hits a few miles north and the Lightning could have been left without a home this year.

 

[Major4Boarding]

Friedman is also reporting Tampa getting an outdoor game. That has to be at Raymond James (given the Trop/Thunderdome in inhabitable right now). That stadium hosts a New Years Bowl so Tampa would have to be a Stadium Series game later on.

Thinking Gasparilla Weekend… or the actual day (Last Saturday in January)

 

[jkrdevil]

Thinking Gasparilla Weekend… or the actual day (Last Saturday in January)

I don’t think that can work. Raymond James has to be held open for Jan. 25 in case the Bucs make it and host the NFC Championship. That would in theory only give them 6 days to build rink and set-up. More time is usually needed I believe. Last time the had a Winter Classic in an NFL stadium was 2016 and the Patriots were on the road the week before and after giving the league time for set-up and tear down.

Plus, I’m assuming they will do what they had planned in 2022 and have the ASG that weekend (Jan 31) and then go off to the Olympics. The ASG is a contractual obligation to ESPN so they have to have it unless they replace it with something else like they are with the 4 nations (They can’t give away Olympic rights).

I’m thinking Saturday, March 1 the weekend following the Olympics.

 

[GKJ]

Panthers are going to get the Winter Classic. Bettman said they would announce it next week and the Panthers have a TNT game next week.

Interesting the Orange Bowl is the next day. Hotel booking for media should be fun.

Friedman is also reporting Tampa getting an outdoor game. That has to be at Raymond James (given the Trop/Thunderdome in inhabitable right now). That stadium hosts a New Years Bowl so Tampa would have to be a Stadium Series game later on.

As an aside it’s amazing how many hockey reporters live in a bubble. Listening to 32 Thoughts it was clear Elliotte is unaware of the current state of Tropicana nor that Raymond James hosts a bowl game.

They wouldn’t do it at Tropicana anyways. They would’ve done so by now if they had ever intended to.

As for the bowl, they’re meaningless anyways outside of the Expanded College Football Playoff, most people probably forget it, too. Though, they did have an attractive matchup on paper.

 

[GindyDraws]

They wouldn’t do it at Tropicana anyways. They would’ve done so by now if they had ever intended to.

As for the bowl, they’re meaningless anyways outside of the Expanded College Football Playoff, most people probably forget it, too. Though, they did have an attractive matchup on paper.

Look, Major League Baseball never had the All-Star Game at the Trop for a reason.

It's just an awful, awful stadium all around.

 

[Stephen]

If the NHL is going to a southern state they should take the opportunity to rebrand the Winter Classic as something more unique. So far the whole brand is based on hockey x some kind of northeast collegiate football, baseball nostalgia and it’s like 1930s-1950s. That doesn’t really make sense in Florida. They should do something splashy and brand it like 1990s roller hockey. Make it fresh.

 

[Bonin21]

Outdoor games were already done being cool ten years ago.

 

[Brodie]

The Winter Classic in Miami is probably going to be the biggest shark jump in history but they already destroyed the brand themselves

 

[Devilsfan118]

I don't understand how they'll keep the ice decent in 80+ degree weather...?

 

[WeaponOfChoice]

Plus Hurricane destroys infrastructure in the Tampa Bay region isn’t exactly a small story. The storm hits a few miles north and the Lightning could have been left without a home this year.

Feels like a snowstorm causes power outage in Edmonton kind of story. In short, why would anyone outside of Tampa care?

 

[jetsmooseice]

Outdoor games were already done being cool ten years ago.

They're cool if you're a NHL owner because you get several times the profit of an ordinary game.

Not quite sure why fans would jump to pay a premium price to sit a mile away from the ice, though.

 

[jkrdevil]

Feels like a snowstorm causes power outage in Edmonton kind of story. In short, why would anyone outside of Tampa care?

Again it’s part of a reporters JOB to know what is going on in the broader sports world.

 

[qc14]

They're cool if you're a NHL owner because you get several times the profit of an ordinary game.

Not quite sure why fans would jump to pay a premium price to sit a mile away from the ice, though.

Because they're incredibly fun and cool to go to. All 3 outdoor games I've been to have been extremely enjoyable and well worth the money. I really hope the rumors of a last Ovi/Crosby outdoor game are true so I can go to another.

 

[rojac]

They're cool if you're a NHL owner because you get several times the profit of an ordinary game.

Not quite sure why fans would jump to pay a premium price to sit a mile away from the ice, though.

Not really. The NHL buys the game from the home team for what they'd normally make on such a game. Evertything is then run by the league and the profit goes to the league.

 

[rojac]

I don't understand how they'll keep the ice decent in 80+ degree weather...?

What were the temperatures like for the outdoor game in LA?

Feels like a snowstorm causes power outage in Edmonton kind of story. In short, why would anyone outside of Tampa care?

You're comparing a hurricane ripping the roof off the building forcing the Tampa Bay Rays to play at least next season in a minor league park to a power outage?

 

[WeaponOfChoice]

Apparently Rojac hasn't seen the snowstorms in Edmonton

 

[Bonin21]

I think a lot of the people that like outdoor games are the same people that think sitting on the glass is actually a good seat and worth paying a ridiculous premium.

 

[willy702]

Attending an outdoor game is on a lot of fans bucket lists so I think they still have a few more markets to hit before they pause it. Someone suggested maybe they negotiate with the union on having this as a standalone game on Boxing Day, makes sense to me. The players supposedly love to play in them so why not do that?