'Our time has come:' Panthers to host 2026 Winter Classic as NHL celebrates state of Florida

MIAMI — It’s official: At long last, an outdoor hockey game is coming to South Florida.

The NHL announced Wednesday that the Florida Panthers will host the 2026 Winter Classic, facing the New York Rangers on Jan. 2 at loanDepot park, home of the Miami Marlins.

“Our time has come that we deserve an outdoor game,” Panthers president and CEO Matt Caldwell said. “We’re fired up to have it right here locally.”

But it’s not just the Panthers who will get the outdoor experience in the Sunshine State next year.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will be hosting the NHL’s Stadium Series game on Feb. 1, 2026, during which they will play the Boston Bruins at Raymond James Stadium, the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Panthers have been eyeing a chance to host an outdoor game in some capacity for “a long time,” Caldwell said. They are one of three teams in the league that had not yet hosted an outdoor game along with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the newly formed Utah Hockey Club, although Columbus is hosting this year’s Stadium Series game on March 1.

That’s changing next year — and the timing to highlight hockey in the state of Florida arguably couldn’t be better.

The Panthers or Lightning have been involved in each of the past five Stanley Cup Finals. Florida won it all for the first time last season. Tampa Bay won back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021.

“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. ... Florida, we’re bringing our unique events to you, and we can’t wait.”

And for the Panthers, the location is almost a homecoming of sorts. loanDepot park is only about 2.5 miles from where the Panthers played their home games at the former Miami Arena when the franchise started in 1993 before moving to Sunrise ahead of the 1998-99 season.

“Let’s get ready for this historic event,” Caldwell said.

‘A one-month celebration of hockey in Florida’

Outdoor hockey in Florida has been something the NHL has been trying to make reality since 2018. Tampa hosted the All-Star Game that year. At the conclusion of the festivities, the Tampa Sports Commission paid for a billboard near the airport.

“Thank you, NHL! Next time, let’s go outside the box,” the sign read accompanied by NHL Stadium Series signage.

“Since then, we’ve been trying to determine how it would be possible to play an outdoor game in Florida,” Keith Watchel, the NHL’s president of business, told the Miami Herald. “We always wanted to figure out how to do it. It’s just been challenging logistically. We were always trying to figure out ‘How do we play a game and where do we play a game?’ The general consensus was ‘OK, got to try and figure it out and have Tampa play Florida and do a game somewhere.’”

A few years ago, that would have been fine. The Lightning, after all, had been the standard bearer in the state for quite some time.

But the Panthers are coming off the franchise’s first Stanley Cup, so the league wanted to figure out a way to give both franchises their due.

Which brought up the following possibility:

“Could we possibly do this and make it a one-month celebration of hockey in Florida?” Watchel said.

The timing worked out.

The NHL’s schedule next season will include extended time off in February due to the All-Star Game and a break in the schedule with NHL players allowed to compete in the 2026 Olympics in Italy — the first time league players will play in the Winter Games since 2014.

So moving the Stadium Series from a late-February or early-March date to Feb. 1, ahead of the extended break, made sense.

It also affords the NHL the chance to spend the month between the games marketing Florida as a hockey state.

“That, certainly, I don’t think anyone could have expected, but it shows when you have great ownership and you have great markets, it does wonders for the game,” Watchel said. “The league provides its opportunities because of how great the game is to have success. This kind of puts an exclamation point on the state of Florida and all that it has accomplished. ... What a great moment to celebrate the success that the state of Florida has had in what people used to perceive as a winter sport in the northeast.”

Latest big event for the Panthers

It’s the latest major NHL event the Panthers will be hosting.

They have twice hosted the NHL All-Star Game — in 2003 and 2023 — and also were the site of the NHL draft in 2001 and 2015.

Plus there’s the Stanley Cup Final appearances the past two seasons as well.

It took the Panthers awhile to get to this point, but their consistent success as of late — including five consecutive playoff appearances and a Presidents’ Trophy in the 2021-22 season — have helped raise their prestige around the league.

“When we first started, we didn’t think we’d be able to get an All-Star Game,” Caldwell said. “It took us awhile to bid for that, and I think that we’ve proven ourselves that we can put on a great event. And this is great timing. We had the All-Star Game in 2023 and then two Stanley Cup runs since then. Now to follow this up with the outdoor game of this significance is going to be just phenomenal.”

Latest big event at loanDepot park

loanDepot park has hosted many big events since it opened in 2012.

Most of those events, naturally, were baseball events: The World Baseball Classic on three occasions, including hosting in every round of the 2023 iteration of the event, which it will do again in 2026; the MLB All-Star Game in 2017; and the Caribbean Series in 2024.

But it has also hosted events from other sports. It was the site of the Miami Beach Bowl from 2014-2016 and hosted a Miami-FIU football game in 2019 (which FIU won 30-24). It has also hosted three international soccer friendlies.

Now, the ballpark is adding hockey to that list.

Caldwell said the Panthers have been in communication with the Marlins, including the team’s president of business operations Caroline O’Connor, for “several years” about the possibility of hosting an outdoor game if the opportunity ever arose.

“This is important,” Caldwell said, “because I think the teams down in South Florida — I don’t know how it is in other markets — but we really get along. Our players enjoy going to each other’s games. All the teams, we have great relationships with, and the Marlins have wanted this for several years, too. So I think together in partnership, we really impressed the NHL that we can pull this off. Their staff has been phenomenal, and we’ve worked together with them to make this happen. It’s great for both franchises.”

O’Connor said it is “an honor to work with the NHL and Florida Panthers to bring the magic of outdoor hockey to South Florida.”

“The NHL Winter Classic is an iconic sporting event, and we are excited to bring it to loanDepot park for our community to experience,” O’Connor said, adding “we look forward to making history with our fans and further establishing loanDepot park’s reputation as a marquee entertainment venue.”