Florida Panthers Have Devastatingly Low Turnout

The Florida Panthers cannot seem to bring out the crowds to start off the 2014-2015 season

As the 2014-2015 season begins, rumors continue to fly about the *somewhat* ludicrous “league expansion” talks heard around the NHL all summer.

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Were all the rumors to be believed, the league will see teams placed in Seattle, Las Vegas, Toronto (again), and Quebec City before 2017. Likely?Probably not.

The likelihood of these rumors blooming into truth, though, seems to be having no effect on the jokes being made around the league, as the Florida Panthers play for a nearly-empty at the start of the season. They’re pictured above with just a smattering of fans sitting at ice level and that seems to be the theme for the season as the team heads into its third game of the year.

New York Islanders commentator Daniel Friedman defends the team in a tweet Monday night, suggesting that “when the team wins, the crowds will come”. The Arizona Coyotes have seen monstrous crowds turning out for the start of the season, though, and the team has one of the spottiest playoff records in the league. They hit bankruptcy just years earlier and have yet to advance to a Stanley Cup Final in their nineteen years of existence.

What's happening with the Panthers is nothing new. Florida sports teams in general do not draw well unless they win. You win, people come.
— Daniel Friedman (@DanJFriedman) October 14, 2014

Whether the Panthers remain in Florida or not, though, the team will need to do something about the fan turnout- or there might be another team bailed out by Gary Bettman before you know it.

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