I am involved in Bruins TV and Sunday afternoon we were faced with a bizarre situation where most of the lower bowl at BB&T Center was empty between the blue lines and it looked bad on TV.
How did this happen?
I know many Bruins fans wanted to buy tickets in advance and the Panthers using dynamic pricing wanted close to $150 per seat.
I can tell you that Panthers execs after the first period asked both NESN and FS Florida to try and avoid showing the empty seats and both networks said no. The FS Florida feed also was shown on NHL Net.
The Panthers were trying to cash in with the Boston crowd in Florida ( which is huge )
On a local level having the game go head to head with the Daytona 500 was insanity.
All I can tell you is Tampa has their act together and there is a hockey culture in that market which the Panthers don't have.
The thinking of the Boston media is the Panthers will be the team that winds up in Quebec City and the Coyotes go to either Portland or Seattle.
How did this happen?
I know many Bruins fans wanted to buy tickets in advance and the Panthers using dynamic pricing wanted close to $150 per seat.
I can tell you that Panthers execs after the first period asked both NESN and FS Florida to try and avoid showing the empty seats and both networks said no. The FS Florida feed also was shown on NHL Net.
The Panthers were trying to cash in with the Boston crowd in Florida ( which is huge )
On a local level having the game go head to head with the Daytona 500 was insanity.
All I can tell you is Tampa has their act together and there is a hockey culture in that market which the Panthers don't have.
The thinking of the Boston media is the Panthers will be the team that winds up in Quebec City and the Coyotes go to either Portland or Seattle.