NHL Panthers Vice Chair & Partner Doug Cifu said Broward County's recent approval of $86M in public funding to keep the team at BB&T Center "really just eliminated a cloud over the team." Cifu: "[Panthers Owner & Chair Vinnie Viola] and I have been saying since we bought this team, we’re not moving it. Although we love Quebec and Hartford and Vegas and all these other great cities that people talk about, we bought this team to win a Stanley Cup in South Florida, period, end of story. To have Broward County invest $86 million into our building and take away the financial burden of operating that building was monumentally important." The Panthers are currently in first place in the Atlantic Division and earlier this month extended the contracts of Exec VP & GM Dale Tallon and coach Gerard Gallant. Cifu said of the extensions, "The buzz word Vinnie and I have used since we bought the team is really about stability and character and both of those guys demonstrate that. ... We’re trying to create a consistency and a stability in the franchise so we can develop players. This is the blueprint that Dale had in his mind that he brought over from Chicago, and it’s working pretty well this year."
CATS' NEW CLOTHES: Cifu said of plans to rebrand the club next season, "Nothing is wrong with the logo. We like it a lot, but we really wanted to put our own mark on the team and really have it embody a lot of the values and character that we wanted. So we’ve been working with the good folks at the NHL and Reebok, frankly, for the last couple of years so it will be unveiled at the end of this season. I think people are going to love it. The players that we showed it to were over the moon about it. I think it really will brand this team for the future" ("NHL Live," NHL Network, 1/11).
