Florida Panthers Are On The Endangered Franchise List

Last week I made a bold statement about the Arizona Coyotes, and I stand by that. But to be fair they are not the only franchise that has attendance issues. The Florida Panthers may be a bigger failure in that department. The Panthers have landed themselves on the endangered franchise list, and time is running out for them to be saved. The question of relocation will always point to Southern Florida unless their “fan” base starts showing up to games.

Last night the Panthers took on the Maple Leafs, a team that normally would draw a fan in but not in Florida. The reported attendance for last night games was just

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10,198. The attendance this season is just sad, but when you think about the Panthers being a fringe playoff teams it’s an insult to hockey.

Florida Panthers Attendance Issues (via ESPN)

• 2014-2015: Last in the league (10,776)
• 2013-2014: 29th (14,177)
• 2012-2013: 22nd (16,991)
• 2011-2012: 21st (16,628)
• 2010-2011: 22nd (15,685)

The Panthers are not a terrible hockey team, but with that being said it’s not like they set the NHL on fire. The issue here is location; playing in South Florida there is a lot to do, and unless you find a way to break into that market you are dead in the water.

If you look at the attendance numbers you may think this season is just a bad year. It’s not; the Florida Panthers gave away a boat load of tickets every year to inflate their numbers. Now under new ownership that has stopped and as a result there are more empty seats.

It will take time to make a final decision on the Panthers and if they need to be relocated and for now NHLPA chief Donald Fehr is willing to give the Florida

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Panthers a stay of execution.

The Panthers are trailing the Bruins for the finally wild card spot and with Boston having two games at hand it will be a hard fight to get in. But, getting into the playoffs may be the only way we see butts in the seats at the BB&T Center.

There has been an argument among hockey purists that hockey in the land of beaches and palm trees is just a bad idea, and while I think there are other cities more deserving of having a NHL team; the Florida’s and Arizona’s of the world deserve one last chance to prove they are a NHL market. Simply being a major American market does not give them the right to have a team, and that is something I blame the NHL for. They chased money and in doing so they have had to pay up.

It’s time for fans to put up or lose the team. There is only so much an ownership group can do; at some point the fans are responsible.