Winter Classic beach theme transforms Miami ballpark for Panthers vs Rangers
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Jonathan Ouimet
Dec 29, 2025 (1:11 PM)
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Photo credit: https://twitter.com/GeorgeRichards
Winter Classic beach wrap hits loanDepot Park as Florida Panthers and New York Rangers bring outdoor hockey to Miami Friday.
The NHL is literally re-skinning a baseball outfield (2026 Winter Classic Rink Build Timelapse) for hockey, aiming for «winter wonderland meets South Beach» around the rink. It's the kind of visual swing you only try when the whole league is watching.
George Richards showed off the wrap concept, a Miami Beach-meets-New York winter motif with a stripe of «snow» creeping along the edge. It's loud, it's playful, and it screams Florida in January.
Winter Classic beach theme meets New York grit
I love that they're embracing the weird, not pretending Miami is a frozen parking lot. The whole point of the Winter Classic is vibe, and this one is going all-in on it.
loanDepot Park fits the experiment because it's built for big events, and it's normally the Miami Marlins' home with a retractable roof. For baseball, it seats about 36,700, which means this should look packed and tight on TV.
The plan on the field is a split personality, one side leaning into «winter,» the other leaning into «beach,» with extra mini surfaces built in for fan activations. That contrast is going to pop in every wide shot, especially under lights.
There's real history baked into it, too, because this is the NHL's first Winter Classic in Florida and the Panthers' first outdoor game. The league is calling it the southernmost Winter Classic ever, which feels like a flex.
On the ice, the matchup is pure brand, the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers hosting the New York Rangers in a setting that's half postcard, half pressure cooker. That mix is why the presentation matters, it sets the temperature before the puck even drops.
The Rangers bring their own weight, founded in 1926 and sitting on four Stanley Cups, so the «New York winter» side of the theme isn't just decoration. It's a nod to an old-school franchise walking into a brand-new kind of stage.
If the ice holds and the crowd leans into the beach-meets-blizzard look, Friday could feel less like a gimmick and more like the next big Florida hockey milestone.