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Gary Bettman: Florida Panthers ‘Close’ to Outdoor Game in Miami

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The Florida Panthers and Miami Marlins could team up for an outdoor game at LoanDepot Park as early as next season, according to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. // FHN File Photos @GeorgeRichards

NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman reported Tuesday that the Florida Panthers are “close” to finalizing playing in their first-ever outdoor game — and that it would be at the Marlins ballpark in Miami.



The Panthers and Miami Marlins have been in talks about hosting a so-called outdoor game at LoanDepot Park for the past couple of years.

Both want it to happen.

It appears that could be a reality as soon as next season as either a Winter Classic around New Year’s Day, or a Stadium Series game in February or March.

Although questions surround how an outdoor game would work in the Tropics, Marlins park answers many concerns.

First off, the ballpark has a retractable roof with large sliding windows which face east toward downtown Miami and Biscayne Bay.

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As FHN has reported numerous times, Marlins park is really the only place either in South Florida or Tampa that could host such a game due to the area’s unpredictable weather — even in the winter months.

Before the start of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, FHN asked Bettman specifically about Marlins park.

He seemed warm — sorry — to the idea.

A decade ago, that was not the case.

Improvements in ice technology, and the strengthening of the Panthers brand, has apparently helped changed his views on the matter.

“I have not been there, but I hear it’s very nice,” Bettman said during his ‘State of the League’ meeting with the media prior to Game 1 against the Edmonton Oilers.

“I’m not going to break any news today, but we are mindful of the fact that at some point it would be good for the Panthers to be in an outdoor game.

“We continue to explore options.’’

Bettman added, Marlins park seems ideal for such a game since the venue in Little Havana “has a roof and is air conditioned.’’

Marlins Park, which was built on the site of the Orange Bowl, is not a completely outdoor venue.

But due to being able to close the roof and turn up the air conditioning in the weeks leading up to the event, the ice would have plenty of time to be ready to go.

Expect a nighttime start; the roof and the sliding windows would be opened before game time giving it that “outdoor” feel.

“It would cost a lot of money to do it, but they’re spending that anyway for these games,” Graham Caplinger, the Panthers’ ice guru said back in 2011.

“The NHL has this down to a science. They definitely could do it in Miami. You may lose the spirit of the thing because it will be inside-outside, but I think it would be cool. If it’s in the winter months, I see no reason why you couldn’t do it.”

The Panthers were rumored to be part of an outdoor idea at the Buccaneers’ stadium in Tampa.

That idea has been nixed mainly because the NFL stadium does not have a roof.

Even though the Tampa area runs a little cooler in the winter months than South Florida does, it can still get pretty hot and there is no guarantee it would be cool enough for such a game.

LoanDepot Park has hosted a number of events aside from baseball, including college football (the Miami Beach Bowl, Miami vs. FIU) as well as a the automotive Race of Champions in 2017.

ON DECK: GAME 29
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