TELEVISION: Sixty-three Lightning games will be shown locally with 60 on Sunshine Network and two on ESPN2. Rick Peckham enters his ninth season as the play-by-play announcer and will be joined by analyst Bobby "Chief" Taylor, entering his 11th season. Paul Kennedy joins as rinkside reporter. He will host a half-hour show, Lightning Ice Time, before each game on Sunshine, a similar role to one he played in the team's first two seasons. Kennedy also will host Inside the Lightning monthly during the season. Ch. 28 will broadcast the All-Star game Feb. 8, five weeks of ABC's regional regional games in the second half of the season and part of the Stanley Cup final. ESPN and ESPN2 will broadcast 70 league games throughout the season.
FOOD/DRINK: Fans may not bring food and drink into the arena, but concessions are available. Also, the XO Club is a special season ticket level with food and drink included and Shots at Channelside is a sports and entertainment bar on the west side of the building.
CAMERAS: Still cameras are allowed as long as they don't have detachable lenses. No video cameras or camera bags.
SECURITY: Bags, backpacks, laser pointers, weapons, bottles, cans, sharp objects, sticks, poles, fireworks, pepper spray, mace, food, beverages and wrapped gifts are prohibited. Fans are subject to search at all entries.
SMOKING: It is prohibited in the building, but smoking is allowed outside exits behind section 126/128, behind section 212 and behind section 326/328. Fans can exit and re-enter the building during events at those areas.
AUTOGRAPHS: Players enter and leave through Gate D. Some stop to sign autographs before and/or after games.
POWER PLAY: THE ENTERTAINMENT ZONE: The area opens two hours before home games on the main plaza west of the St. Pete Times Forum. It allows fans to show their form in activities such as a hockey slapshot and a bungee run. It also features food, live music and drink specials in Shots.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?: The St. Petersburg Times bought naming rights to the arena formerly known as the Ice Palace in September 2002, paying $30-million over 12 years to rename it the St. Pete Times Forum. Palace Sports & Entertainment continues to run the team and the arena.
Down on the farm
MINOR LEAGUES: The Lightning has partial affiliations with two American Hockey League teams, allowing it to send as many as six players to Hershey, Pa., and four to Hamilton, Ontario. The team has a full affiliation with the Pensacola Ice Pilots of the East Coast Hockey League.
JUNIORS: The Lightning holds the rights to many amateur players in the Canadian junior leagues, the Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the Western Hockey League. These players may be signed at a later date.
