Booking most AirBnb’s involves as much gambling as we cover on this here website. Will you get a charming cottage with a big backyard and an outdoor dining area with clean towels? Or did the artfully taken pictures not show the freeway and train tracks running across the front lawn?
But here’s an AirBnb listing we think should work out well for those looking for something homier than a hotel: An overnight stay at the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Amalie Arena, with the Stanley Cup included.
For some reason the listing doesn’t actually say the words “Stanley Cup” in the description. Instead, they call it “An Evening With The Most Famous Trophy In Sports,” but we can’t imagine that’s the Prince of Wales or one of Victor Hedman’s Norris Trophies.
Spend the night like a champion in this once-in-a-lifetime, pinch-me-this-can’t-be-happening, we’re-gonna-need-more-hyphens experience when you spend an evening with the most famous trophy in sports at AMALIE Arena, home of the World Champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
You’ll have the run of the place, and a luxury box will be converted into a fully-sleepable suite for six people. Champagne and a five-course meal are included, as are plenty of ice time and the chance to “set off the tesla coil, sound the goal siren, take a Zamboni ride and get up close to the pipe organ.” The team mascot Thunder Bug will be there too.
One of my roommates in college was that Lightning mascot, and he locked himself on the roof of this same arena for an entire playoff run. Besides the skating and great views of an empty arena with the ice down, some friends may or may not have taken a joyride in a golf cart around the second deck of the stadium full of free food and drinks one evening. If that actually happened, I cannot recommend it enough in terms of fun.
All proceeds from the listing go to the Lightning Foundation, which gives away $50,000 per home game, playoffs included, to a local charity in Tampa Bay. Bidding starts at $5000, and even though I live down the street and have five friends that would consider this at that price, there’s no way this is going for less than five figures. For that reason, I’m out.