Florida Panthers in Jax?

[jaxjaguar]

With the plummeting attendance at Florida Panthers games and the NHL considering expanding to accommodate las Vega's expansion... Do you think the panthers could survive if they moved to Jacksonville? I know I for one would prefer to watch pro hockey over the sharks.

[I-10east]

It worked for Nashville (NFL/NHL) and they have a roughly similar metro population to Jax. Although I don't think that it will happen though, because I don't see a major league hockey team moving from a Florida city to another; No doubt that Tampa is the king of hockey in Florida.

Just looking at it objectively, the Las Vegas move seems to make sense (the only major league sports team, in a big time destination like LV). To tell you the truth, I prefer Northern/Canadian cities for the NHL (Seattle, Quebec, Hartford, Milwaukee etc) vs this continued expansion of the Sun-Belt. 

[tufsu1]

I'm pretty sure they would look at Atlanta or Orlando before considering Jacksonville...while Atlanta didn't support the Thrashers well, both cities have a good history in the IHL

[I-10east]

^^^No way in hell those cities would be chosen, just like Jax.

[thelakelander]

They'd select to move to some place within their existing market like DT Fort Lauderdale or Miami before considering a small city like Jacksonville.

[I-10east]

^^^I'm not denying that Jax isn't gonna get a NHL team, but do you really think that keeping the team in South Florida (a place that don't give a damn about hockey) is the answer?

[jaxjaguar]

Based purely on arena size, our current arena could support them with minimal upgrades. The Winnipeg jets arena only seat's 15k like ours. With all of the Chicago / Pittsburgh / new Jersey transplants living in Jacksonville, I could see them getting decent support here. I know many of my millennial friends miss the lizard kings and barracudas...

[I-10east]

^^^I would love to see that, but I just think that the NHL Sun-Belt expansion/relocation fad is dying. The Atlanta Thrashers was an epic failure (Atlanta Flames before that), the Florida Panthers have one foot out of South Florida (I'm surprised that they still are there), the Arizona Coyotes are on borrowed time, and the Carolina Hurricanes are suffering very poor attendance that's in the same realm with the Panthers. Big wigs in the hockey circles are getting smart, and going back to their roots up North.

[thelakelander]

^^^I'm not denying that Jax isn't gonna get a NHL team, but do you really think that keeping the team in South Florida (a place that don't give a damn about hockey) is the answer?

It's a better answer than relocating them to a market that's 5 times smaller.  Their arena is essentially as far out from any urban center in South Florida as possible. The Everglades are basically across the street. They might as well close up shop if the best answer they can come up to survive is moving from a metro with 5 million to one with less than 1.5 million. Ultimately, the best answer for them is to build and put a consistently good product out on the ice. South Florida loves its winners. Panther games were packed back in 1996 when there was a decent product. When the team went down the drain, so did ticket revenue.  I think this season is the first in a long time that there's been a quality product worth seeing.

[I-10east]

IMO Jax may very well have a better hockey fan per capita ratio than Miami, but we are also much smaller than MIA, so IMO a hypothetical Panthers move to JAX would just be a lateral move at best. The Panthers are currently averaging 10,853 with an arena capacity percentage of a dismal 63.7 percent. 10,000+ would be pretty tough of for Jax to attend on a consistent basis. I don't see the NHL in Jax for the foreseeable future. 

[Tacachale]

^^^I'm not denying that Jax isn't gonna get a NHL team, but do you really think that keeping the team in South Florida (a place that don't give a damn about hockey) is the answer?

It's a better answer than relocating them to a market that's 5 times smaller.  Their arena is essentially as far out from any urban center in South Florida as possible. The Everglades are basically across the street. They might as well close up shop if the best answer they can come up to survive is moving from a metro with 5 million to one with less than 1.5 million. Ultimately, the best answer for them is to build and put a consistently good product out on the ice. South Florida loves its winners. Panther games were packed back in 1996 when there was a decent product. When the team went down the drain, so did ticket revenue.  I think this season is the first in a long time that there's been a quality product worth seeing.

There are other problems for the Miami area. It's a weak sports market for its size and cost and has no history of supporting hockey.  Some other places are similar; Atlanta has now lost 2 NHL teams to small Canadian cities.

[iMarvin]

The Panthers don't play in a great location, but that location doesn't stop thousands of people from going shopping at Sawgrass Mills (across the street) everyday. Jacksonville has already showed that they'll support a team when it's losing, so if the team clicks with the market, attendance won't be that big of an issue.

[thelakelander]

There are other problems for the Miami area. It's a weak sports market for its size and cost and has no history of supporting hockey.  Some other places are similar; Atlanta has now lost 2 NHL teams to small Canadian cities.

There may be. I just don't see a market Jax's size....one that somewhat struggles to support the one major professional franchise that it does have, being a logical relocation possibility for something not working in a market South Florida's size. Supporting NHL in Jax would be more difficult to pull off than supporting Mayor Brown's NBA dream. If they abandon South Florida, they'd be better off finding another Canadian market before relocating to another Florida city.

[thelakelander]

The Panthers don't play in a great location, but that location doesn't stop thousands of people from going shopping at Sawgrass Mills (across the street) everyday. Jacksonville has already showed that they'll support a team when it's losing, so if the team clicks with the market, attendance won't be that big of an issue.

Comparing a major shopping mall to a sports arena and who they'll attract is an apples to oranges comparison. All Jax has shown with the Jags is that we don't have the capacity to support two major sports franchises on a consistent basis. Whatever struggles the Panthers have in South Florida won't be resolved by relocating to Jax.

[I-10east]

South Florida loves its winners. Panther games were packed back in 1996 when there was a decent product. When the team went down the drain, so did ticket revenue.  I think this season is the first in a long time that there's been a quality product worth seeing.

I know that you are a big South Florida fan Lake, but what you said is part of the problem. No offense, but South Florida is known to be a big touristy fickle bandwagon area. When the team is competing for championships, it's all good, but during tough times they crawl into the woodwork. Also, I don't know if MIA have that suitable hockey demographic for a downtown arena to alleviate any reoccurring attendance problems. In baseball, the Miami Marlins has the ideal stadium, suitable demo, and still was 27th in attendance. While I don't think that NFL, NBA, and MLB is going anywhere in MIA, I can't say the same about NHL. Maybe if the Panthers played the Rangers everyday.