NHL teams to set on fire Europe rinks

Article posted by Coliseum, March 19^th, 2024

Image: Nokia Arena

The National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA), together with Live Nation, announced on March 12^th that the 2024 NHL Global Series™ presented by Fastenal will be headlined by the NHL teams Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Buffalo Sabres, and the New Jersey Devils.

‘nhl.com’ stated that the Stars and the Panthers will meet at the Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland, on November 1^st and November 2^nd.

New York (US)-based the National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams – 25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season.

Apply for membership

Toronto (Canada)-based the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) is the labor union for the group of professional hockey players who are under the Standard Player Contracts to the 32 member clubs in the National Hockey League (NHL) located in the United States and Canada.

Beverly Hills (US)-based the Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American multinational entertainment company that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It promotes, operates and manages ticket sales for live entertainment internationally.

The 13,455-capacity Nokia Arena, also known by its non-sponsored name the Tampere Deck Arena, is an indoor arena in Tampere, Finland, which hosts ice hockey games and large cultural events. It is the home arena of the Finnish professional ice hockey teams Ilves and Tappara of the SM-liiga, the top professional ice hockey league in Finland.

The 2024 NHL Global Series presented by Fastenal will be the first experience for the Stars playing regular-season games outside North America, becoming the 27^th franchise to play in such games. The Sabres and Devils will begin the 2024-2025 regular seasons by facing off in a pair of games in Prague, Czechia, at the O2 Arena on October 4^th and October 5^th.

The 18,000-capacity O2 Arena is a multipurpose arena in Prague, Czechia. It is home to the Prague-based Czech professional ice hockey team HC Sparta Prague of the Czech Extraliga, the highest-level ice hockey league in Czechia and is the third-largest ice hockey arena in Europe.

‘nhl.com’ further stated that Tampere will welcome back a pair of native sons, in Stars forward Roope Hintz (Finnish professional ice hockey forward for the Dallas Stars) and the Florida Panthers Captain Aleksander Barkov (Finnish professional ice hockey centre). In addition to hailing from Tampere, both of those mainstays spent time with the SM-liiga teams that call the Nokia Arena home. Hintz started his SM-liiga career with Ilves Tampere in 2013-2014, and Barkov was drafted second overall in 2013 by the Panthers from the Tappara Tampere. There will be a homecoming for a trio of other Finnish-born Dallas Stars regulars, defensemen Jani Hakanpää, Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell. Additionally, the Florida Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola also spent a season (2017-2018) with the Tappara Tampere, and two other teammates, forwards Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, will also be returning to their home country.

Tickets for the games in Tampere, Finland will go on sale on March 22^nd at 3 am CT (10 am EET).

The 2024 NHL Global Series presented by Fastenal will mark the 11th season that the NHL has traveled to Europe to play regular-season games. These games reward the legions of loyal and passionate fans in Europe that enjoy live NHL games available via international broadcast and media partners, including MTV Oy and Viaplay (Finland), TV10 and Viaplay (Sweden), TV3 and Viaplay (Norway and Denmark), Nova and NovaSport (Czechia and Slovakia), Dajto (Slovakia), Sky and ProSieben (Germany), Sky (Austria) and MySports (Switzerland), as well as the NHL’s streaming service, NHL.TV. The NHL’s biggest star players are also featured across numerous social media platforms and on NHL.com in seven languages, for the league’s international fans.

Of the 42 previous NHL regular-season games played outside of North America, there have been seven games played in Czechia, all at the O2 Arena in Prague. The two games in Tampere this season will mark the third and fourth games to be played at the Nokia Arena in that City, and the 10th and 11th in Finland.

More information on the 2024 NHL Global Series presented by Fastenal, including start times and broadcast information, will be announced when available at NHL.com/GlobalSeries.

Continue to follow Coliseum for latest updates on venues business news. Coliseum is dedicated towards building the best global community of sports and entertainment venue executives and professionals creating better and more profitable venues.

Become a member of the only Global Sports Venue Alliance and connect with stadiums, arenas and experts from around the world. Apply for membership at coliseum-online.com/alliance and make use of the 365Coliseum Business.

Watch 250 member-exclusive videos with valuable tips for your venue