It could be the busiest weekend in Tampa history, with the potential to be a logistical nightmare and the mother of all traffic jams. But the Tampa Bay Lightning, the National Hockey League, the City of Tampa, Hillsborough County, and the Tampa Bay Sports Commission are convinced they can host the 2018 NHL All-Star Game Gasparilla weekend. Team Tampa Bay has successfully pulled off so many championship events we should expect nothing short of a spectacular weekend in Tampa January 27-28, 2018.

The Big Weekend, Tampa as a Hockey Town

The task, to stage the NHL All-Star Game, and our giant Gasparilla celebration, on the same weekend in January 2018. Good luck, you say?  We’ve got it covered, says Team Tampa Bay. Back in 2001, the parade coincided with NFL Super Bowl XXXV, drawing over 750,000 parade goers.

Lightning owner Jeff Vinik has been pushing NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman for years, to bring the All-Star Weekend to Tampa. "We take the great, historic 100-year-old Gasparilla parade and marry that with the great, historic, probably 100-year-old All-Star Game,” Vinik told a roomful of media, community leaders, and Lightning staffers.  “You put them together, and we're going to have one of the best weekends…that has happened in a long time in sports."

Bettman wasn’t bashful about the progress the Lightning has made, in establishing itself as a world-class franchise, "Tampa's a great city for hosting major events, and for us to be able to be a part of that, particularly on Gasparilla weekend, is just going to be a lot of fun."

Photo by Dave Wirth

Bob Buckhorn, "I have the power to shut the water off to those hotels!"

No one at the head table had any doubt that Tampa could pull this off. "This is going to be an opportunity for the world to see a city that has transformed itself," Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said. "This is a city that does these big events as well as anybody in the country. We've proven it over and over and over again."

And when the question was raised about local hotels and price-gouging, Buckhorn was more than ready with an answer. “I have the power to shut off the water to those hotels!” There are more than enough hotel rooms available to the NHL for the weekend.  The league marketing pooh-bahs are already salivating about the ASG/Gasparilla tie-ins.

Think “All-Starrrgh Game”.. and this is just the beginning.

Photo by Gasparilla Fest

Yes, there are dozens of reasons to question why our area would take on such a monstrous hosting job. But let’s face it… In the big leagues of staging championship events.. even if they’re on the same weekend.. if you don’t go big, you might as well go home. To read more by local sports writer Dave Wirth check out our Tampa Sports Guide or if you are looking for hotels in Tampa and on the beach bookmark our Tampa Bay area Travel Page.