Florida Panthers sold

[brwi]

Guy has SOME bucks and has been looking to buy a pro sports team before. 250M for the Panthers seems kind of high, but best of luck to him because this seems highly leveraged:

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/97267 ... eport-says" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Idoit40fans]

Guy has SOME bucks and has been looking to buy a pro sports team before.

For a second I thought Balsille got them.

[mikey287]

The Panthers - AFAIK - have a pretty sweet arena deal, so it makes them quite palatable. The Panthers themselves are pretty much a loss leader it seems...

[shoeshine boy]

cue every Canadian I know talking about the Panthers relocating to Quebec City........

[GSdrums87]

I don't think they're eligible for re-location until 2025

[Crankshaft]

I don't think they're eligible for re-location until 2025

Where did you see that?

[Idoit40fans]

The arena opened in the 90s and the team is probably on a 30 year lease.

[GSdrums87]

The contract with BAC will not permit the team to move without a HUGE penalty/payout.

[Crankshaft]

The guy just spent 250 million for the team, he may be willing to pay a penalty.

[pcm]

The Panthers won't make the playoffs this year. But they've got a nice collection of young forwards. If Barkov and Bjustad (guy's a monster) pan out as expected, they'll finally have their 1-2 centers that they've forever lacked. Add in Huberdeau, and a decent supporting cast, and they've got the forwards to do some damage.

They just need another top 4 dman who can add a bit more "shutdown" to their group. With new owner and a healthy UFA crop next year, I could see them being good again soon.

[shoeshine boy]

The arena opened in the 90s and the team is probably on a 30 year lease.

I guarantee you there are some out-clauses. we used to say in Atlanta that the Thrashers couldn't be moved because of their arrangement with Philips Arena but somehow ASG found a way to weasel out of it.
besides, I didn't say they were leaving I just said all of my Canadian friends would start talking about it.

[columbia]

I just looked into who bought the Panthers. He founded this company:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtu_Financial" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Someone like that is not moving them to QC (or probably any other Canadian city).
Or probably at all.

[shoeshine boy]

Someone like that is not moving them to QC (or probably any other Canadian city).
Or probably at all.

totally agree but any time a Southern team is sold/doesn't sell out every game Canadians start talking relocation.

[Crankshaft]

I just looked into who bought the Panthers. He founded this company:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtu_Financial" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Someone like that is not moving them to QC (or probably any other Canadian city).
Or probably at all.

Why wouldn't they move them to Canada, based off the type of company?

[Kaizer]

if i were a billionaire i would buy a canadian team and move them to mexico city.

[MRandall25]

if i were a billionaire i would buy a canadian team and move them to mexico city.

Albuquerque Meth-heads.

[brwi]

if i were a billionaire i would buy a canadian team and move them to mexico city.

Albuquerque Meth-heads.

Breaking Bad!

[FLPensFan]

From what I have heard, the talk is if you thought Bettman was nuts for as hard as he fought to keep Coyotes in Phoenix, he's even more entrenched in keeping the Florida teams where they are.

I've only been here in South Florida since 1998. When I first moved here, they still had Pavel Bure, and they weren't that bad. Bure was the big draw. I can remember going to games and the whole arena standing up when someone finally got him the puck while he was cherry picking at the red line. Once he moved on, they never replaced that "big star," which is something I think is a necessity in a non-traditional market. They thought Weiss/Horton were going to be their next superstars, but they never panned out that way. They thought Jokinen would help, but he also didn't pan out to that level. Luongo came along, but it was hard to get excited about having your top player as your goalie. Then Mike Keenan traded Luongo to Vancouver for Bertuzzi (hurt, played seven games), Bryan Allen (ok defenseman) and Alex Auld (career backup). That killed the fanbase.

After they finally got Alan Cohen to sell the team, the owners slowly started getting better. The county owns the arena, but the Panthers operate the arena, so they get income from non-hockey events. The suites in the arena are the largest arena suites in the country, it can seat almost 19,000, and is one of the better arena in the US.

Bringing in Dale Tallon has been the best thing for the franchise since the mid 90's. They have a lot of young talent up and coming in Huberdeau, Bjugstad, Markstrom, Barkov, Shore, Kulikov, and Gudbranson. Huberdeau is showing the promise of being that big name star the team needs. South Florida has so many transplants from other areas, it is hard for teams to have a solid fanbase. I think they will start being a constant playoff contender in another 2 years if their talent pans out.

I don't see them moving.

[Idoit40fans]

Keep tanking for McDavid.