The NHL Panthers finished 29th out of 30 teams in attendance last season, and although the team "expects to do much better on the ice," its ownership group said Tuesday that it is "prepared for even smaller crowds this coming season," according to George Richards of the MIAMI HERALD. Panthers Vice Chair & Partner Douglas Cifu said that the team has "eliminated giveaways and deeply discounted tickets that have been a staple of the franchise for years." Cifu: "We are 100 percent ready for the reality that we’ll have smaller attendance this season." Cifu said that by "giving away so many tickets as well as dumping inventory onto the secondary market ... the Panthers devalued their product and helped chase away season-ticket holders upset by seeing the deep discounts others received as they paid full freight." The team will "tarp off a good portion of the upper deck for non-marquee games this season, further lowering their attendance figures." Capacity at BB&T Center will be "around 15,000 for most games." Previous capacity was 19,250. The Panthers "averaged an announced 14,177 last year." Owner Vincent Viola and Cifu last week "released a letter reiterating their desire to keep the franchise in South Florida." Cifu said, “We have nowhere to move nor the rights to move.” He added that the team will "honor the 14 years remaining on its lease with Broward County." Cifu: “We’re committed to being here. This is a long-term investment. You don’t fix a dozen years of a lack of success on the ice as well as doing things that weren’t hockey-related and non-fan-centric in one season." Viola and Cifu said that they are "confident their business acumen as well as an improved on-ice product will help the Panthers turn 'a manageable profit' in the coming years" (MIAMI HERALD, 9/24).
TIME WILL TELL: CBSSPORTS.com's Chris Peters wrote when the Panthers were giving away tickets, they sent "a bad message to the paying customers and perhaps even the team itself." On "top of that, even when the Panthers gave tickets away, it didn't make things look a heck of a lot fuller in the building." The product on the ice "may yet improve, perhaps even this year, and that will help, but there's a lot of creativity, and gobs of patience that will be required to make things work in South Florida over the longer term" (CBSSPORTS.com, 9/23).
