Panthers Fire Entire Sales Staff

[Aksu]

Ugh, I hate that board when it comes to threads about the Panthers. So many joke posts/ignorant people claiming that the Panthers have no fans and should relocate somewhere north. Nobody deserves to have their team taken away, if those people in those threads had THEIR team in jeopardy of being moved, I doubt they would act the way they do.

Whats BOH?

 

[RCDeltaFixer]

Whats BOH?

It stands for "Business of Hockey". Its a "General Hockey Discussion" board, which can actually be really cool. Except when there's a thread about the Panthers, then it's all doom and gloom.

 

[Aksu]

It stands for "Business of Hockey". Its a "General Hockey Discussion" board, which can actually be really cool. Except when there's a thread about the Panthers, then it's all doom and gloom.

Ooohhhh. I've been to the business boards once and read a couple bad threads about us and haven't been there ever since.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Whats BOH?

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/forumdisplay.php?f=124


Sorry I should've typed the whole thing. it's the business of hockey forum. It can be interesting, unfortunately there are a lot of Nords and Whalers fans who are like vultures circling over the Coyotes and occasionally the Panthers. Some of the topics are cool though.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Ooohhhh. I've been to the business boards once and read a couple bad threads about us and haven't been there ever since.

Yeah if you want to read it you have to have a fairly long temper

 

[angry_treefrog]

I actually liked my new rep so hopefully still employed.

 

[PBPantherfan]

I went 4 years with absolutely horrible useless reps I finally get a good one and he gets fired.

 

[PanthersHockey1]

IMO, this is a big step in the right direction for turning this organization into a legitimate business rather than a clown show a la SSE and yorkman.

Trimming the fat. Maybe the overpayment of these employees and trimming the corporate fat could mean more money for gaborik, moulson, vanek, and orpik...

 

[HockeyRulez]

IMO, this is a big step in the right direction for turning this organization into a legitimate business rather than a clown show a la SSE and yorkman.

Trimming the fat. Maybe the overpayment of these employees and trimming the corporate fat could mean more money for gaborik, moulson, vanek, and orpik...

 

[NewEraPanther]

I don't want to seem out of line one way or another. I see two scenarios coming out of this:

1. Using this as leverage with Broward County. (I hope I am not too optimistic).

2. The first step in moving the franchise. (Too pesimistic)

Lol whirlwind of emotions. Oh yeah so do we have a coach yet?

 

[Acadmus]

I dont see how replacing a mostly new ticket rep staff with another new staff is going to accomplish that. Keep in mind that they (Violas, Cifu, Babich, etc) had already replaced many of the ticket reps by midseason that were here previously once the sale went thru. I had a pretty average ticket rep to start the season but he "left" by mid November and was assigned a new rep who was actually good. Just doesnt make much sense to me if the end goal were what you were talking about. The way to do that is to train your staff properly that were recent hires and not fire the whole lot (I'm sure not all of them were poorly performing too).

Also, I just dont see how a sales staff is going to better sell seats to a team thats finished in the bottom 2 in 2 straight yrs. Better orgs than ours (see Detroit in the 80s) have gone thru worse attendance numbers and I'm sure they didnt constantly have upheaval in the sales staff.

Collateral damage, Rich. New ownership comes in, cans a bunch of people in an underperforming department to send them a message, then when the department doesn't show results by a deadline they clean house inasmuch as the functions of that department allow. Sales staff in this case tends to be pretty replaceable.

I'm not saying it's a good move, though - the fact is the sales staff is tasked with selling crap and getting people to pay top dollar for it. They're not in the fertilizer business so it isn't easy. But I'm going to guess a guy like Viola doesn't take excuses and doesn't show mercy - he's a New York City type executive. So when the team ain't selling tickets because, frankly, no one in Florida wants to watch a losing hockey team except diehard fans and fans of their opponents who winter there, then the sales department is going to get wiped out.

It's speculation on my part (most everything said in this thread is speculation), but I don't think Viola is trying to move the team right now, so I think this would be the most likely cause of the move.

That, or he's planning to outsource ticket sales to India.

 

[CoolburnIsGone]

Collateral damage, Rich. New ownership comes in, cans a bunch of people in an underperforming department to send them a message, then when the department doesn't show results by a deadline they clean house inasmuch as the functions of that department allow. Sales staff in this case tends to be pretty replaceable.

I'm not saying it's a good move, though - the fact is the sales staff is tasked with selling crap and getting people to pay top dollar for it. They're not in the fertilizer business so it isn't easy. But I'm going to guess a guy like Viola doesn't take excuses and doesn't show mercy - he's a New York City type executive. So when the team ain't selling tickets because, frankly, no one in Florida wants to watch a losing hockey team except diehard fans and fans of their opponents who winter there, then the sales department is going to get wiped out.

It's speculation on my part (most everything said in this thread is speculation), but I don't think Viola is trying to move the team right now, so I think this would be the most likely cause of the move.

That, or he's planning to outsource ticket sales to India.

I get what you are saying, and it seems logical on the surface. Its just not a good way to do business if you ask me. Also, why send out a blanket email to all SSOs when not everyone may have been affected by the staff changes (as SCF stated, their rep remained). It causes more confusion for your most loyal ticket base and makes them believe that there's more instability in the organization.

Yeah I think that was mostly my point, the sales staff can only do so much in terms of producing results when we all know, its an inferior product in the current marketplace which still has a less than ideal population to pull from in the first place (this isnt Canada or the northeast where there are just hockey diehards everywhere, we can all admit that). That "New York"-type of executive is definitely the one thing I feared with Viola and seems thats coming to fruition.

You joke but that "outsourcing ticket sales to India" sounds exactly like something a NY executive would think is a "good idea"

 

[flomarilius]

Just called to find out if my season ticket rep got canned... yup she's outta here. I guess it's the nature of the business, but I wonder if I'll get someone even more hardheaded

 

[Panthersfan1989]

So Viola's been lying the whole time? Shocking....

 

[Dr Beinfest]

Viola going to Broward County and asking for more money is what should be concerning, both for signing free agents and for the franchise's health in South Florida, not this. This is nothing. how much salary is being saved? 300k at most probably. I don't see how firing staff and free agency are really connected, the staff makes nothing lol.

300K? How did you arrive at that? It could be millions. I don't think the sales staff was one executive, or just 6-10 employees.

Chances are they eliminated a superfluous department that was designed to sell bad hockey.

And I don't see how this days Viola lied. That's to be determined at free agency. It's still a business, guys. If they can save money they will. Green light doesn't mean floor it. They're still going to negotiate, get the smart deals, etc. Tallon can still be fired for stupid overspending. I think the point of the green light was "if it makes sense, do it."

 

[Aksu]

300K? How did you arrive at that? It could be millions. I don't think the sales staff was one executive, or just 6-10 employees.

Chances are they eliminated a superfluous department that was designed to sell bad hockey.

And I don't see how this days Viola lied. That's to be determined at free agency. It's still a business, guys. If they can save money they will. Green light doesn't mean floor it. They're still going to negotiate, get the smart deals, etc. Tallon can still be fired for stupid overspending. I think the point of the green light was "if it makes sense, do it."

Well said.

 

[CanadianPantherFan]

What are these sale reps like? Who can you compare them to ? A video clip might help

 

[RCDeltaFixer]

Just read a tweet that said something along the lines of "I just spoke to Tallon recently, he said he still has permission to spend up to the cap limit this offseason"

If true, good news

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

300K? How did you arrive at that? It could be millions. I don't think the sales staff was one executive, or just 6-10 employees.

Chances are they eliminated a superfluous department that was designed to sell bad hockey.

And I don't see how this days Viola lied. That's to be determined at free agency. It's still a business, guys. If they can save money they will. Green light doesn't mean floor it. They're still going to negotiate, get the smart deals, etc. Tallon can still be fired for stupid overspending. I think the point of the green light was "if it makes sense, do it."

At the time I posted this I thought they only fired sales associates and business ops people, I was unaware they fired vps etc

 

[gauseka15]

My brother who knows Viola said that he is being investigated by the SEC lol. Maybe this whole broward thing is to throw the SEC off his back. He is extremly rich, and it is pretty sketchy how rich he got lol, he was in the army for like 20 years, and a major in the army makes less than 200,000

 

[RainingRats]

My brother who knows Viola said that he is being investigated by the SEC lol. Maybe this whole broward thing is to throw the SEC off his back. He is extremly rich, and it is pretty sketchy how rich he got lol, he was in the army for like 20 years, and a major in the army makes less than 200,000

He made his money with his High Frequency Trading firm. All HFT is getting investigated right now. The whole industry is under the eyes of the SEC after the 60 Minutes story about HFT a few weeks ago. It's not specific to Viola.

 

[gauseka15]

the matter of the fact is yes canadian markets do better, but the american market is where the money is. If the NHL were to sucessfully crack the florida market, the panthers would be more profitable than any canadian team(except the leafs). Refer to the Miami Dolphins and the Heat. The american market is where the NHL wants its teams. So i can assure you the NHL will not let the panthers leave. The NHL wants the panthers to be a perennial make the playoffs and exit first round team, according to my buddy working for them.(obviously they want the top 4 markets in the cup)

 

[RCDeltaFixer]

the matter of the fact is yes canadian markets do better, but the american market is where the money is. If the NHL were to sucessfully crack the florida market, the panthers would be more profitable than any canadian team(except the leafs). Refer to the Miami Dolphins and the Heat. The american market is where the NHL wants its teams. So i can assure you the NHL will not let the panthers leave. The NHL wants the panthers to be a perennial make the playoffs and exit first round team, according to my buddy working for them.(obviously they want the top 4 markets in the cup)

I'm sorry, but I just can't accept this as fact. #1 I think your point about american markets is true. #2. I'd love to be perennial first round exits, honestly the playoffs are all that matters to me after the last decade+ of dissappotment (obviously excluding 2012). #3 I'd like to know where you're getting this information from. I could just as easily say "Yeah my buddy works for the NHL, he says they want the Panthers in Quebec City" Now that's obviously made up (I hope ) by me, but its basically the same amount of credibility that you have.


Just to be clear, I'd love for it to be true. I can remember George Richards saying on twitter awhile back that the NHL doesn't want the Panthers to move.

 

[Dr Beinfest]

At the time I posted this I thought they only fired sales associates and business ops people, I was unaware they fired vps etc

Fair enough, but either way I don't think this was just 6-10 employees fired (which would be around 300K). It's probably more along the lines of 30-50 if they're saying an "entire sales staff."

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

the matter of the fact is yes canadian markets do better, but the american market is where the money is. If the NHL were to sucessfully crack the florida market, the panthers would be more profitable than any canadian team(except the leafs). Refer to the Miami Dolphins and the Heat. The american market is where the NHL wants its teams. So i can assure you the NHL will not let the panthers leave. The NHL wants the panthers to be a perennial make the playoffs and exit first round team, according to my buddy working for them.(obviously they want the top 4 markets in the cup)

Montreal and Toronto are worth ore than Florida could ever make, but I digress... I disagree with your point about the NHL not letting the Panthers leave. Arizona is Bettman's pet project, that's why he's so stubborn about letting them leave. Florida is not a Bettman related team. If you look at Hartford, Winnipeg, and Quebec, the NHL did nothing to stop that from happening. Atlanta is unknown, because unfortunately nothing could be done since A$G had arena rights.

I don't think he cares about the Panthers as he does the Coyotes.