Quote:
Originally Posted by Djeffery
But the NHL isn't losing money in Florida, the owner of the team is. And the several owners they have had have each decided it wasn't worth it to them to keep bleeding cash waiting for Bettman's grand plan to payoff for them.
I always thought the location of the arena out at Sawgrass Mills was ridiculous. I always thought they should be in downtown Miami with the Heat, not out on the edge of Alligator Alley. To put the 2 arenas locations in perspective. BB&T is about as far from the American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami as Copps Coliseum in Hamilton is from Scotiabank Centre in Toronto. And the drive is at least as ugly between the 2. When they originally got that franchise, Wayne Huizenga figured it would be supported by snowbird hockey fans. I figured the support they were shown from the local community originally would have shown ownership that catering to the locals would have been the way to go, instead of building way out where they actually did.
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The Panthers actually played in the Miami Arena (shared with the Heat) during the first 5-6 years of their existence.
Attendance wasn't stellar there either - about the same as in Sunrise.
There aren't any sure things in terms of building hockey support in South Florida, but I think moving closer to the snowbird population in Broward County (people from the northern states, Québécois and other Canadians) is probably not a bad calculation. Compare those demographics to those of central Miami in terms of hockey-interested people.
Their arena's location is not the source of their woes.
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