Bucket Hats, Fishing Vests and a Hockey Puck: Predators Outdoorsmen Night Lands at Bridgestone on Oct. 13
For nearly three decades, the Nashville Predators have been convincing a Southern town that a sport played on ice belongs here. On Tuesday, Oct. 13, the team makes its pitch to a different crowd: people who own more waders than skates.
That night's home game against the Vegas Golden Knights at Bridgestone Arena is Outdoorsmen Night, a theme game the club is putting together with the Tennessee Wildlife Federation. The stated idea is to celebrate the state's outdoor community, from hunters and anglers to conservationists and the groups working to protect Tennessee's wildlife and natural resources. In a state where opening day of deer season is practically a regional holiday and the bass boats come out long before the sun does, it is a natural fit.
The giveaways
There are two, and they are the kind fans tend to remember. Anyone who buys tickets through the special Outdoorsmen Night offer gets a themed bucket hat as part of the deal. And the first 5,000 fans through the gates at Bridgestone will pick up a gold fishing vest, presented by World Bass Enterprises. In a building that seats far more than 5,000, the advice writes itself: do not wander in at the second intermission.
Where the money goes
The ticket offer has a purpose beyond the hat. Fans who buy through the promotion can designate the Tennessee Wildlife Federation to receive support, which the organization puts toward its conservation work. If you were going to the game anyway, it is a way to point some of that spending at rivers, forests and habitat rather than nowhere in particular.
Fitting it into the season
Outdoorsmen Night is one of the theme nights the club has scheduled for the 2026-27 season, and it arrives early. The Predators open at home on Thursday, Oct. 1, against Minnesota, so the season will already be under way by Oct. 13. For more on the opener, see our season-opener coverage.
A practical note: the announcement did not include a puck-drop time, so check the event page before you plan dinner and parking around it. The listing below is the place to find the current ticket details and the promotion itself.
For families, this may be the friendliest kind of theme night on the calendar. It asks nothing of you except a willingness to wear a bucket hat in an arena, and it sends a little help to the people who keep Tennessee's outdoors worth fishing, hunting and hiking in. Whether the vest ends up in a tackle closet, on a scarecrow or on a kid who suddenly wants to try the Cumberland River, that seems like a decent return on a hockey ticket.
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