Hey guys, I didnt want to clog up the main Panthers thread with this.

 

I have always wondered? Does that location of the Panthers arena, so far north to Miami inhibit fans in coming to the games. Do the Panthers pull a different audience then say the Marlins or Heat?

Would the Panthers do better attendance wise closer to Miami then Ft. Lauderdale?

 

As a Carolina Canes fan, I dont follow the Panthers much but considering liked the Marlins, I figure I would start paying more attention. Im not trying to knock attendance or anything like that. I was just thinking the other day about it.

It is in a much nicer area. I've actually never been to a game either, but the stadium is about 10 minutes from where I grew up. If I were to move back down there, that would be the area I would go back to.

Their attendance is generally in the bottom 3rd of the league, around 15K a game, but not in the cellar.

 

 

Just an observation from my attendance of many Panthers games: they pull a ton of white people. The cultural and racial differences between the "whiteness" of their crowds vs Marlins, Dolphins, and Heat is clearly present. I don't know if this is comes from being in Broward where whites are the majority [White (non-Hispanic): 43.5%; Black (non-Hispanic): 26.7%; Hispanic or Latino of any race: 25.1%] vs Miami-Dade [Hispanics or Latinos of any race: 62.4%; Black (non-Hispanic): 19.5%; White (non-Hispanic): 17.8%] or if it comes from hockey not being preeminent outside white culture (the NHL has to be like 95% white).

 

Sunrise is probably the best place for them, as that's where their key audience lives. Also a decent amount of Canadians in Broward.

Sunrise is probably the best place for them, as that's where their key audience lives. Also a decent amount of Canadians in Broward.

 

 

I believe more of this happened because of the Panthers being in Sunrise rather than the Panthers going to Sunrise for it.

 

And by that I mean Incredible Ice as the practice facility, etc. in the mid and late 90s when the Panthers made the slow move over there it brought an interest in hockey. Drew out the Canadians.

 

Note: I'm not saying that there wasn't more Canadians there back when, but I'm saying now the hockey demographic seems to circulate around the Sunrise/Plantation area because of the presence of Incredible Ice and the growth of recreational hockey over the past decade in the area.

 

So yeah, the Panthers pull a different crowd for sure. The Panthers get the majority of their fans from Broward and Palm Beach whereas the majority for a Marlins or Heat game would be from Broward and Dade. And of course the Dolphins being the most mixed, diverse crowd in my eyes (being that football is arguably the most popular sport, they likely have the widest fanbase).

Any sources for that because I'd be surprised to hear that that's true.

Sources? I mean... I've been involved around all the hockey and such for quite some time. People who play hockey are indefinitely centered around where it's available.

 

You've got Incredible Ice and there's tons of people down there. You've got Palm Beach Ice Zone in Lake Worth and there's tons of people who play hockey up there. Park Vista High School in Boynton Beach has a roller rink and they're like the best in the state with tons of players.

 

It's not a matter of targeting an audience and building it. It's a matter of if you build it, they will come.

That's like the opposite of the first rule of business.

I mean what can I say?

 

There was no hockey and none to be interested in down here in Florida. We got a team. Now there's interest. Bam. Build up PBIZ and all of the people interested decide to put their kids in hockey. It grows. You make hockey fans and players out of them. The cycle repeats.

 

I mean... this stuff doesn't just happen. I can get down to very minute examples. My old high school is about 5 miles from their cross-town rivalry high school, West Boca High. Previous to West Boca's existence, there was no hockey in the area. When West Boca was built in like 2003 or something... a park with a roller rink was also built just down the road from it. West Boca now has a top school in the state for ice hockey. Down the road at Olympic Heights? They don't even have a team. And trust me, I was at that school. I tried to start a team. We got really close. Really, really close. It turned out we were just short. Not enough people.

from my experience going to games back when they played at the Miami Arena, I'd say it's mostly just because it's hockey. Because the crowd was overwhelmingly white there as well.