It was one of those nights for Tim McGraw on Sunday.
The Grammy Award-winning country singer performed during the first intermission of the 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
McGraw performed a ten-minute medley of his greatest hits on a pirate ship themed stage.
“We decided to put together a medley of some of our favorite things, some of the things that we thought most people would like to hear,” McGraw said in a pregame press conference. “Which is the first time we've ever done a medley, by the way. I'm not a big medley fan. This one turned out pretty good.”
Before the performance, the country star checked out the field and liked what he saw with all the pirate elements.
“It's gonna be a fun night,” McGraw said. “I mean, with all the bells and whistles it’s is going to feel like a real concert, like, on tour with all that stuff going on. I wish I could play longer."
Growing up in Louisiana in the ‘70s and ‘80s, his first introduction to hockey was during the Olympics. However, he didn’t start to get into the sport until he moved to Nashville, where he currently resides.
The Nashville Predators use his 1995 hit, “I like it, I love it,” as their goal song.
“As much as I like to watch it [hockey], I still can't tell you what's going on, and I don't know the rules, but I love watching it,” McGraw said. “And the athleticism these guys have, and how they move on the ice, and some of the shots that they make and the moves that they make, absolutely incredible.”
It was an easy decision for McGraw to accept the NHL’s invitation to perform at the marquee event. Coming from a sports family, McGraw’s dad is late MLB pitcher Tug McGraw, the country singer has performed at numerous sporting events over the years including the NFL Draft and the first MLB game at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“This sort of adds to the list of the cool things we're able to do that are associated with sports,” McGraw said. “And when they brought this to me, it was a no-brainer. I mean, you know, you play in a stadium, you get to play it during a hockey game with 63,000 fans, and this is such a special event…It was just something that was fun for me to do as a sports fan.”
