According to the Florida Panthers, there were 7,311 fans at Monday night’s game against the Ottawa Senators. These pictures suggest otherwise.
Someone forgot to tell Florida Panthers fans that their team is playing http://t.co/P8B1ogU90z pic.twitter.com/qjrPQWaFH2
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 14, 2014
Maybe 700 in the arena. Maybe. MT @EmptySeatsPics: Announced crowd of 7,311 at the Florida Panthers game last night. pic.twitter.com/YsGVk9Jinx
— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) October 14, 2014
The Panthers set a record tonight… But it was not a good one. http://t.co/v652j4bL9x pic.twitter.com/2kNtJFsLxl
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) October 14, 2014
The Panthers have made the playoffs once since 2001. Unsurprisingly, attendance has been an issue for quite some time. But this being the second game of the year? Wow. There’s 40 more of these to go. Despite all that, owners Vinnie Viola and Doug Cifu are optimistic about the Panthers this season. Here was an open letter to fans in September.
As we close in on the one-year anniversary of our ownership of the Florida Panthers, we want to reiterate our commitment to Broward County, South Florida and our Panthers fans and business partners. As we said at the press conference when we bought the team, we view ourselves as stewards of the team for the community and our plan is to build an organization that makes South Florida proud and to win the Stanley Cup in South Florida. Despite media speculation to the contrary, we have no plans or intentions to move this franchise.
We made a commitment to the Panthers and to South Florida when we bought the team to build a successful organization on and off the ice. We have been working hard to live up to that commitment. Starting with the trade to bring Roberto Luongo, one of the world’s top goaltenders, back home to South Florida, and continuing with our committing over $80 million to new players, including bringing six talented veteran free agents to South Florida and re-signing all of our restricted free agents, we have dedicated ourselves to improving the team. Off the ice, we continue to expand our community outreach initiatives and look forward to continuing to contribute to the quality of life for residents.
It is no secret that the Panthers and BB&T Center have lost tremendous amounts of money over the last dozen years. We are working hard to address this situation, which we believe we can do with the support from our loyal fans, our business partners, the business community and our community-at-large.
We look forward to a winning season and bringing a Stanley Cup to South Florida.
With Warm Regards,
Vinnie Viola and Doug Cifu, Co-Owners
God that’s just so depressing.
