Steve Mayer: "Florida Outdoor Games Could Be The Talk of the Sports World"
The Florida Outdoor Games Are Major Undertaking With a Spectacular Result
As it was announced last year, the NHL is bringing its outdoor games to the state of Florida, which is the new state of hockey. The Florida Panthers will host the New York Rangers on January 2nd, 2026, in the Winter Classic, while the Tampa Bay Lightning host the Boston Bruins on February 1st, 2026, in the Stadium Series.
The NHL has played in warm weather environments before, with the Los Angeles Kings hosting the Anaheim Ducks in 2014, while the San Jose Sharks hosted the Los Angeles Kings in 2015. However, they haven’t taken on a massive undertaking like this, preparing the outdoor rink in the climate of Florida.
Here is a segment of the 20-minute interview where Steve Mayer, President, NHL Content & Events, spoke with Full Press Media about the uniqueness of the 2026 NHL Winter Classic and Stadium as they have gotten the creative juices flowing and how they will prepare the ice surface for these games.
Jim Biringer: “Do you guys have designs already in place for these two games for specifically for the Florida Panthers game and the Tampa Bay Lightning game, because when I heard that you guys were going to two games in Florida, I said, Okay, I want to see these in person, because I want to see what they do, because every Stadium Series or Winter Classic Game is unique.”
Steve Mayer: “These two are going to be as unique as we've ever done. Yeah, we do have designs. We've been to Florida. In fact, last week we were in Miami and in Tampa. We were working on it, and the entire team is motivated, activated and energized, ready to go. These are two of the more interesting games we've ever done, and you could just imagine why.
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There's a slight risk, but we're ready and willing to take it on. Obviously, the Miami game is going to be different from the Tampa game. The Miami stadium has a roof, so we're able to build our rink and the ice in the comfort of, we'll call 50 degrees, because we'll make it 50 degrees in the building, and it'll be absolutely fine. And then on the day of the game, we'll open up the roof day of the game as late as possible and we'll play some hockey.
In Tampa, it's going to be much different than Florida or Miami. I should say. In Tampa, we're building essentially a tented warehouse to build the rink underneath, inside the stadium, inside Raymond James, so we'll build it first, this warehouse structure that will go from one football goal post to another. We'll build the rink underneath it, and then the day of the game, we will literally deconstruct this facility, the warehouse, four hours before the game, and we will play hockey.
We’re confident and we know if we pull it off, it’ll be the talk, not only of the Hockey World, but we think the sports world.
And the risk, of course, in Florida, is the weather, not only the heat, but also rain, which they've been known to get. But we're obviously going to take some chances, and we think we'll be successful. We're putting ourselves in the best position to be successful, and it's going to be a great story. The content that'll come out of there is going to be very intriguing, to say the least.
And then, like, Florida is a hotbed for hockey, and I use the word hotbed, and I have to be careful of that, because I don't want it to be too hot. But we're going to sell out both of these games. The fan bases are just crazed for their teams. And these games, first time in Florida, first time for the Panthers to be in an outdoor game. So everything about it is awesome.
It's going to be quite the event. And in my world, that's pretty cool when we can say it's going to be quite the event.”
As Steve Mayer said, these games will be a sight to see. While this is a massive undertaking, if the 2026 Winter Classic and 2026 Stadium Series go off without a hitch, they will be the talk of the sports world.
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