{"id":135175,"date":"2026-01-28T17:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/135175\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T17:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:34:09","slug":"nhl-goes-all-in-on-gasparilla-theme-for-stadium-series-in-tampa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/135175\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL goes all-in on Gasparilla theme for Stadium Series in Tampa"},"content":{"rendered":"

The playing surface at Raymond James Stadium for the Lightning\u2019s Stadium Series game will \u201ctake the look of a three-dimensional pirate treasure map\u201d as the NHL goes \u201call-in on a Gasparilla-themed event,\u201d according to Eduardo Encina of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. Set pieces will include a \u201cshipwreck with the logos of the Lightning and Bruins, planks where the teams will walk onto the field, a barge that will serve as the stage for first-intermission performer Tim McGraw.\u201d There are \u201cvarious Lightning-themed points of interest\u201d on the map taking after names of players, including Kucherov\u2019s Cove (RW Nikita Kucherov), Vasilevskiy Bay (G Andrei Vasilevskiy) and Hedman Reef (D Victor Hedman). Many of the props on the field will be \u201cset up on the day of the game after the tent built to protect the ice comes down.\u201d NHL President of Content and Events Steve Mayer said, \u201cThere\u2019s 120 barrels coming, we\u2019ve got boats coming, we\u2019ve got a lot of pieces you\u2019ll see behind both benches. \u2026 You may see a few live pirates as well as we open up the game and really lean into Gasparilla and what Tampa Bay is all about\u201d (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 1\/27<\/a>). <\/p>\n

ON THE CALL: Former NFLer Jason Kelce will be a special correspondent for ESPN\u2019s coverage of the Stadium Series game, alongside the studio crew of Steve Levy, Mark Messier and P.K. Subban, who will all be on-site. The commentator crew includes play-by-play voice Sean McDonough, analyst Ray Ferraro and reporters Kevin Weekes and Emily Kaplan (ESPN).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The playing surface at Raymond James Stadium for the Lightning\u2019s Stadium Series game will \u201ctake the look of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[54741,5691,135,137,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-135175","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-fan-experience","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-tampa","11":"tag-tampa-headlines","12":"tag-tampa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}