NEW YORK – GRAMMY® Award-winning musician, author, and actor Tim McGraw will headline the entertainment for the highly-anticipated 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series™ outdoor game between the Tampa Bay Lightning® and the Boston Bruins®. The marquee event will be played at Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on February 1, 2026, marking the first time in League history that an outdoor game will be played in a football stadium in the state of Florida. Live coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN in the U.S., and on Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada as well as via NHL in ASL (ESPN+ in the U.S. and Sportsnet+ in Canada).
McGraw will lead the first intermission presented by Ticketmaster performance. McGraw has sold more than 106 million records worldwide and dominated the charts with 49 number one singles. He has four New York Times bestselling books to his credit and has acted in such movies as Friday Night Lights and The Blind Side. McGraw also starred beside his wife Faith Hill and actor Sam Elliott in the Yellowstone prequel and three-time Emmy nominated 1883. He is considered one of the most successful touring acts in the history of country music.
A limited number of tickets to the game are still available via Ticketmaster, the official ticketing partner of the NHL®. Visit NHL.com/events for more information.
This year’s NHL Stadium Series will conclude a monthlong outdoor hockey celebration in the Sunshine State, which began with the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic game between the Florida Panthers™ and New York Rangers® in front of a sold-out crowd of 36,153 at loanDepot park in Miami. That historic game – the first-ever outdoor hockey game in Florida - brought the total attendance at NHL outdoor games to 2,276,221 and marked the 17th sellout in as many NHL Winter Classic® contests.
For the NHL Stadium Series, the NHL will build the regulation-size rink inside a steel-framed, air-conditioned structure to protect it from the elements. Spanning 34 feet high, 125 feet wide and 240 feet long, the state-of-the-art tent will be dismantled before the teams face off outdoors in primetime in Florida. McGraw will perform on a stage alongside the rink.
Additional details on the game presentation and entertainment plans for the event will be announced in the coming weeks. All in-game entertainment will be produced by NHL Entertainment, with NHL President, Events & Content Steve Mayer serving as executive producer.
