Oh boy, the Panthers’ arena is empty again (PHOTOS)
It seems like overkill at this point, but the Panthers had, again, notably few people show up for their game on Monday night.
As was the case for last season’s most high-profile mess, they were playing the Ottawa Senators on a weeknight. But it’s the second game of the season, guys. Hoo boy.
Lower-bowl tickets were available for around $20 before gametime, and that gave way to this:
Fans are not exactly pouring into BB&T Centre 20 minutes before game time. #sens #panthers pic.twitter.com/8UMJfE73en
— Wayne Scanlan (@HockeyScanner) October 13, 2014
Crowd during warmups of the Panthers/Senators game: pic.twitter.com/iOERdQPxDJ
— The NHL Files (@TheNHLFiles) October 13, 2014
Part of the reason for all this: the team ended its long-running practice of “giving away tickets for free just so the building will have people in it” for this season. Tarps will also be used at BB&T Center to reduce its capacity, thus making it easier — in theory — to sell out.
Still, 11,000 and change at the season opener (and now this) doesn’t bode particularly well for attendance figures. The teams’ second-year ownership group said at the start of the season that they have “no plans or intentions” to move the franchise, but also noted that it has “lost tremendous amounts of money over the last dozen years.”
An empty arena isn’t going to help fix that. Not directly, anyway.
MORE: SN’s NHL preview, Cup pick
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