It’s out with the NFL Buccaneers, temporarily, and in with the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning at Raymond James Stadium in Florida on Feb. 1.
The hockey game will be played at the 75,000-seat NFL stadium along Tampa’s North Dale Mabry Highway, with a sheet of ice measuring 200 feet long by 85 feet wide—standard NHL regulation size—covered by a climate-controlled tent.
Playing outdoors in the Florida heat and humidity has been a vision of the Lightning’s leadership for a few years. With the success enjoyed earlier this month in Miami, when the Florida Panthers welcomed the New York Rangers to LoanDepot Park, home of MLB’s Miami Marlins, for the NHL Winter Classic, Tampa Bay management has growing confidence that the Stadium Series game will be equally successful.
Earlier this week, the transformation of the grass playing surface of Raymond James Stadium began reshaping into a full-fledged, game-ready NHL rink.
A crane, forklifts, tractor-trailers, and a whole lot of manpower are moving supplies into the site of the 2021 Super Bowl at a busy pace. Although there are 11 days remaining before the Lightning and Boston Bruins have the puck dropped on their Atlantic Division showdown, much work still needs to be addressed.
As game day nears, the NHL is closely monitoring the temperature in Tampa and the surrounding areas. Although there are two mobile refrigeration trucks on site tasked with keeping the ice surface in the temporary rink at a proper temperature for the players, as the temperature and humidity may change in the region days before the game, game plans may change to accommodate the climate.
If all goes to plan, the NHL expects to have the rink built in four days. Making the ice ready for the game should take seven days.
The key to creating and maintaining the ice is the air-conditioned, climate-controlled tent that will sit over the rink.
Unlike at LoanDepot Park, which features a three-panel retractable roof that could shade and maintain a consistent temperature, Raymond James Stadium offers no such luxury. To ensure that the 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series comes off without a possible game-crippling hitch, the tent is expected to remain over the rink right up until game day.
Any rain or other sudden weather fluctuations are expected to be shielded during the Eastern Conference skate.
Challenges for the NHL and its staff between now and Feb. 1—when the low rarely falls below 60 degrees and could reach 75 degrees—will undoubtedly pop up. However, armed with data from 47 previous outdoor games, the NHL, along with the two franchises participating at Raymond James Stadium, has every reason to be confident in the staff building the temporary rink.
On the grassy playing surface of the Buccaneers sits the rink, located between the two 15-yard lines of the 100-yard field.
As with previous NHL outdoor endeavors, the game planned for Florida’s west-central coast promises to be well attended. The Lightning, who won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021, holds the NHL’s longest active sellout streak. Currently, Tampa Bay checks in fourth place among all 32 NHL teams this season in home attendance.
The first outdoor game involving an NHL team in-season dates back to February 1954. The Detroit Red Wings entered the Marquette Branch Prison on the south shore of Lake Superior to play opposite a team consisting of inmates calling themselves the Pirates in an exhibition game.
Then there was the outdoor NHL game held in Las Vegas. The exhibition game pitted the Rangers against the Los Angeles Kings and was held in a parking lot adjacent to the Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino on the Strip in September 1991.
When the topic of NHL outdoor games comes up, the meeting between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins often leads the conversation. On Jan. 1, 2008, at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y.—home to the NFL’s Buffalo Bills—snowy conditions ruled for most of the day. The 2–1 Penguins overtime victory remains secondary when recalling the atmosphere experienced by 71,217 fans.
The first-ever Winter Classic featured several inches of snow throughout the game, leading fans to enjoy the experience even more than in an arena.
As the building, painting, and ice responsibilities are checked off the to-do list by the construction team assembled by the NHL at Raymond James Stadium, it is the economic impact of the game being played in Tampa that will draw the highest score of the upcoming Stadium Series.
A novelty to some and hardcore hockey to others, the Lightning–Bruins game promises to deliver a little bit of everything to fans watching on TV and filling the seats where rushing and passing rules six months of the year.
