Viola, Cifu talk about the future of the Panthers (explanation in OP)

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

More positives from the new management:

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/flap...lorida-panthers-change-in-business-pract.html

Owners Vinnie Viola and Doug Cifu as well general manager Dale Tallon and the team's hockey operations department met with the team's beat writers on Tuesday morning and covered a variety of subjects.
One of those was the team's struggles at the box office and the team's change in the way it does business.
Cifu said the team has eliminated giveaways and deeply discounted tickets that have been a staple of the franchise for years.
"We are 100 percent ready for the reality that we'll have smaller attendance this season,'' Cifu said.
"We want people who are there to be paying a fair price, the same price and enjoying a great product on the ice. We can get 15,000 in there if we gave away 5,000 seats. We don't want to do that. It's not fair.''
By giving away so many tickets as well as dumping inventory onto the secondary market, Cifu said, 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 -- or more likely curtain -- 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.
The Panthers averaged an announced 14,177 last year.

"We have nowhere to move nor the rights to move,'' Cifu said, adding that the team will honor the 14 years remaining on its lease with Broward County.
...
Viola and Cifu said 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.

Okay so with the well publicized low attendance this thread has some new people in it, I feel like this article gives a pretty good explanation of what's happening in Sunrise right now: http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/11700444/florida-panthers-seeing-dismal-crowds-start-season

Click to read more...

 

[blueandgoldguy]

Wonder if they should tear out a few sections of the stands in the upper deck behind the goal lines and turn it into a plaza area similar to what Tampa did a year or two ago. They could reduce their seat inventory by 500 - 1000 depending on the number of sections they tear down.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Wonder if they should tear out a few sections of the stands in the upper deck behind the goal lines and turn it into a plaza area similar to what Tampa did a year or two ago. They could reduce their seat inventory by 500 - 1000 depending on the number of sections they tear down.

Problem with this is they regularly sell out concerts and need the seating.

 

[Fugu]

Moved from the thread on the Broward funding request.

 

[Slashers98]

What is positive about being forced to put a tarp in the upper deck for a lack of fans? Expect low attendances this season and excessive losses...

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

What is positive about being forced to put a tarp in the upper deck for a lack of fans? Expect low attendances this season and excessive losses...

Well they've stopped selling tickets cheap and prevented brokers from selling tickets on stubhub for under 5 bucks that everyone made fun of them for, reduced the rediculed Club Red from 3 sections to 1, and reiterated that they don't expect it to take one year to turn it around. Hard to view anything they're doing as a negative...


If you read the article it says they'd rather have 10k attendance a night and not make it feel like sthers are getting screwed over 15k a night where 5k got in for free and make the dedicated fanbase feel like they're getting fleeced for supporting their team.

 

[Beezeral]

Well they've stopped selling tickets cheap and prevented brokers from selling tickets on stubhub for under 5 bucks that everyone made fun of them for, reduced the rediculed Club Red from 3 sections to 1, and reiterated that they don't expect it to take one year to turn it around. Hard to view anything they're doing as a negative...


If you read the article it says they'd rather have 10k attendance a night and not make it feel like sthers are getting screwed over 15k a night where 5k got in for free and make the dedicated fanbase feel like they're getting fleeced for supporting their team.

This. I stopped even buying mini game plans because it was so much cheaper to go on stubhub 5 minutes before puck drop and pay pennies on the dollar to sit lower bowl. I think the panthers understand that the optics will be terrible this year to the national audience, but season ticket holders who have been getting screwed for years will start to feel like they aren't a bunch of suckers for paying face value for seats. The hope is that the team will be better and the people will come. However, it will be ugly the first couple months of the season

 

[trueblue9441]

Problem with this is they regularly sell out concerts and need the seating.

they should do it in the end that they put the concert stage in then. those seats almost never get used for wrestling or concerts.

 

[Fugu]

What is positive about being forced to put a tarp in the upper deck for a lack of fans? Expect low attendances this season and excessive losses...

May I introduce you to Eugene Melnyck?

Ottawa also feels that their arena is too big for the market and will remove some sections. Even with newer buildings, teams seem to be favoring the 16-18K arena size.

 

[dh2824]

they should do it in the end that they put the concert stage in then. those seats almost never get used for wrestling or concerts.

The only problem with that is that it is on the side where the Panthers shoot twice and they have the sky bar on that side as well.

 

[The CyNick]

30 healthy franchises! !!

 

[Slashers98]

May I introduce you to Eugene Melnyck?

Ottawa also feels that their arena is too big for the market and will remove some sections. Even with newer buildings, teams seem to be favoring the 16-18K arena size.

Do you have a link because CTC only has 19,153 seats?

 

[trueblue9441]

The only problem with that is that it is on the side where the Panthers shoot twice and they have the sky bar on that side as well.

learn something new everyday, did not know that, ty.

 

[Fugu]

Do you have a link because CTC only has 19,153 seats?

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=89708613&postcount=1

See my post #8 in that thread.

 

[DJ Omnimaga]

Didn't I read somewhere that they'll also announce real attendance like the St-Louis Blues now do, rather than paid tickets (which included the unsold ones on Stubhub)?

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Didn't I read somewhere that they'll also announce real attendance like the St-Louis Blues now do, rather than paid tickets (which included the unsold ones on Stubhub)?

They aren't doing that AFAIK.


Edit: Do you have a link about the Blues doing this, I'm just curious because I didn't think any team used turnstile attendance anymore?

 

[pondnorth]

Bold move but ballsy and well overdue.Great for ownership to treat their real fans, the st holders,with such class.The NHL should mandate this league wide.

 

[Killion]

... I didn't think any team used turnstile attendance anymore?

Yormark most assuredly did. Arent you & the rest of the hockey world lucky he's gone yes? Couldnt stand the guy.

 

[TheFederalLeague]

I'm not trolling, but genuinely curious. I get that it's nice for season-ticket holders to feel appreciated, but how does this make fiscal sense? Even if people aren't paying a pretty penny to get in, wouldn't ownership want people spending money there?

 

[Killion]

I'm not trolling, but genuinely curious. I get that it's nice for season-ticket holders to feel appreciated, but how does this make fiscal sense? Even if people aren't paying a pretty penny to get in, wouldn't ownership want people spending money there?

This is not a simplistic question. The previous regime nuked the market. Sociopathic intransigence. Insanity. Before you ask that question, better you understand what that franchise has been put through.... and its idiocy.

 

[PanthersHockey1]

I think small arenas with a greater percentage of premium seating is the way to go. Obviously it works in winnipeg, but I would argue if places like Broward or Phoenix built 15,000 seat arenas rather than 20,000 seat arenas they could charge premiums for concerts and sell out way more hockey games.

The greatest profit is made on premium/club seating.

 

[Fugu]

I'm not trolling, but genuinely curious. I get that it's nice for season-ticket holders to feel appreciated, but how does this make fiscal sense? Even if people aren't paying a pretty penny to get in, wouldn't ownership want people spending money there?

It seems it's about protecting your best customers and their willingness to commit to you for an entire season. By giving away tickets, the season ticket holder may often encounter people sitting next to them who paid nothing, or a fraction of their cost, and if this gets to be a large enough number, it removes any incentive for someone to commit to an annual plan. Speaking fiscally, why would pay more than the going market rate? If those tickets end up on the secondary market, your entire pricing structure can be eroded.

 

[Killion]

...your entire pricing structure can be eroded.

... not to mention seriously disturbing to someone who paid full pop sitting next to someone who paid maybe 20% face value in comparison. That was/is the reality in Florida, Phoenix & elsewhere. Appalling situation.

 

[MarkhamNHL]

Maybe they are hoping to lose more money... demand more subsidies for their dire needs... and poof in the end have the county set them free from the lease.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Maybe they are hoping to lose more money... demand more subsidies for their dire needs... and poof in the end have the county set them free from the lease.

Well they're definitely not going to demand more from the County considering they're not getting all of the 4.5 million they're asking for now, if they get anything. Why would the county ever let the Panthers leave without paying their share of the debt? County wants the Panthers to stay, they just don't want to be shaken down ala Glendale.


Again, I really believe they're trying here, just not sure how many years they'll give it.