Even when the NHL hosted the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic in Miami on Jan. 2, it was able to keep the roof at loanDepot park closed until game time.
Not so in Tampa, where the NHL is erecting a massive, air-conditioned tent that will stay over the rink until a few hours before puck drop. The skeleton of that structure was visible on Thursday.
“I walked in today having arrived last night and went, ‘Wow,” said Steve Mayer, NHL president of content and events. “I mean, what we’re doing and how we had to engineer this is extremely unique.
“These were people that never wanted to hear ‘no,’ and for many years it was just hard to figure out how to engineer what we’re about to do. But once we were able to figure it out, we’re off and running and I can’t believe we’re just a few short days away.”
It will be some weekend in Tampa. In addition to the first outdoor NHL game in the city, the annual Gasparilla pirate fest will be held the day before, on Jan. 31.
“This is really a celebration of hockey wrapped around Gasparilla,” Griggs said. “There’s gonna be [close to] 64,000 fans here in the building and they’re hockey fans. Getting it here took us a while, but this is to celebrate hockey and celebrate the great fans we have here in Tampa Bay.”
