Knock Knock; Who’s There? 7,311 Panthers Fans.

By Brady Smith October 14th, 2014

In any sport, you look forward to playing at your home venue. Being the home team offers many advantage; comfortability, no jet lag, a crowd that gets behind you… or at least that’s what the expectation is. But on October 13th, 2014, the Florida Panthers didn’t enjoy much of a home ice advantage; in fact, they played in front of the smallest crowd in franchise history. Poor, poor Panthers.

The Florida Panthers organization is in trouble.

They’re basically broke, they’ve won just three playoff series’ since their inaugural NHL season in 1993-94. Not only did they set a franchise low in attendance, they also set the record for smallest attendance in a home opener this season. A year ago, they finished 29th out of 30 teams. It doesn’t help that the team they lost to Monday night was from Ottawa attracting many Canadian media outlets to the abysmal attendance the Panthers are producing.

But what are the Panthers supposed to do? They’ve brought in new talent, the team is under new ownership… maybe it’s time we all accept the fact that Florida doesn’t have a huge hockey market and fan base; aside from Tampa Bay, there may not be room for another Florida team.

https://twitter.com/TravisSBN/status/521813864233848832

Game time #Sens #Panthers pic.twitter.com/WR0Vwb2l0H

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) October 13, 2014

It’s hard to swallow for some, but it’s reality; the Panthers aren’t profitable and there are other cities where they could thrive. The average attendance for an NHL game is more than 17,000 fans, with almost half of the NHL teams averaging sellouts. Last season, the Florida Panthers ranked last in average percentage of arena filled at 75.5%. That’s not good enough.

Rank	Team	Arena	Average ▼	% Capacity	# Games	Total
1	Chicago Blackhawks	United Center	21,640	109.8%	42	908,859
2	Montréal Canadiens	Centre Bell	21,273	100.0%	43	914,739
3	Detroit Red Wings	Joe Louis Arena	20,066	100.0%	41	822,706
4	Philadelphia Flyers	Wells Fargo Center	19,845	101.6%	42	833,507
5	Toronto Maple Leafs	Air Canada Centre	19,447	103.4%	41	797,310
6	Calgary Flames	Scotiabank Saddledome	19,302	100.1%	41	791,389
7	Vancouver Canucks	Rogers Arena	18,910	100.0%	40	756,400
8	Tampa Bay Lightning	Tampa Bay Times Forum	18,626	97.0%	42	782,300
9	Pittsburgh Penguins	CONSOL Energy Center	18,619	101.3%	43	800,609
10	Buffalo Sabres	First Niagara Center	18,576	97.4%	40	743,048
11	Minnesota Wild	Xcel Energy Center	18,523	102.5%	42	777,950
12	Washington Capitals	Verizon Center	18,506	100.0%	41	758,746
13	Los Angeles Kings	Staples Center	18,147	100.2%	41	744,025
14	Ottawa Senators	Canadian Tire Centre	18,109	94.5%	41	742,468
15	New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden	18,006	104.7%	43	774,258
16	St. Louis Blues	Scottrade Center	17,593	91.9%	43	756,495
17	Boston Bruins	TD Garden	17,565	100.0%	43	755,295
18	San Jose Sharks	SAP Center at San Jose	17,562	100.0%	43	755,166
19	Edmonton Oilers	Rexall Place	16,839	100.0%	41	690,399
20	Nashville Predators	Bridgestone Arena	16,600	97.0%	41	680,619
21	Anaheim Ducks	Honda Center	16,511	96.1%	43	709,968
22	Colorado Avalanche	Pepsi Center	16,386	91.0%	43	704,609
23	Dallas Stars	American Airlines Center	15,590	84.1%	43	670,355
24	Carolina Hurricanes	PNC Arena	15,484	82.9%	41	634,832
25	New Jersey Devils	Prudential Center	15,012	85.2%	40	600,480
26	Winnipeg Jets	MTS Centre	15,004	100.0%	41	615,164
27	Columbus Blue Jackets	Nationwide Arena	14,901	82.1%	43	640,737
28	Florida Panthers	BB&T Center	14,525	75.5%	41	595,527
29	New York Islanders	Nassau Coliseum	13,858	85.7%	40	554,335
30	Phoenix Coyotes	Jobing.com Arena	13,776	80.4%	41	564,798

7,311 for Sens at Panthers tonight. And that number seems generous, given the pictures I saw. Not good.

— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) October 14, 2014

It’s a tough way to start a season. In two homes games, they’ve set two franchise records for lowest attendance’s. How can we expect it to get any better? How can we take the seriously the owners statements that indicate a winning season and a Stanley Cup run? I’m sorry, but a Stanley Cup run doesn’t happen when you can’t fill your arena. There are plenty of cities that would fill an arena, and after a bad, embarrassing start for the Florida Panthers, something has got to change. This isn’t just a bad night for Panther fans, it’s a sad night for hockey fans.

Loyalty is best earned on the back of virtue, honor and integrity. Together, we climb. Thanks to all who came. #FlaPanthers

— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) October 14, 2014

The Florida Panthers organization is in trouble.

Join the conversation by commenting below or chiming in on twitter using #THW