As most of you know by know, the Broward County Board of Commissioners voted to loan the Panthers $7.7 million so the team can renovate their exisiting suites and boxes.
A big chunk of the money will help create a huge luxury bar called Club Red -- a lot of cement will be
blown out once hockey season is over -- that will encompass a large number of center ice seats in Sections 102, 101 and 134.
As you can see by the above illustration, there will still be center ice seats. They just won't belong to the season ticket holders who currently hold them now -- unless they decide to pony up and join (use deep voice here) CLUB RED. Some will, sure. Many probably won't.
And, yes, the area will likely look pretty bad on television. Think about all the empty seats you see behind the Maple Leafs bench at the start of periods (while everyone is still 'visiting' in the luxury bar). Same with the Heat.
Of course, both of those entities are making a ton of cash on those bars. The Panthers think they can do the same thing. Will Broward patrons go for it? We'll see.
It does look like a cool place to be seen, kind of South Beach meets the burbs.
You can read all about the details of the loan here and the questions that were raised (it doesn't seem to be a very good deal for the county, but what else is new?) by the county's auditor here.
Channel 10's Bob Norman tried to get some answers from Panthers president Michael Yormark following the meeting but it seems Yormark wasn't very interested in speaking with Channel 10.
Dude has some pretty good dance moves.
Yormark did send out a Thank You tweet to the Broward commission. It was a sweet tweet.
Of course, this loan is nothing but a drop in a Flanigan's cup if the Panthers land one of the destination casinos that may or may not be coming to South Florida in the coming years.
I've heard the Panthers are in very tight with the Wynn group. They'll be able to pay that loan back pretty quickly then.
Again, we'll see.
Wow....That was embarrassing. Yormark really came off looking like worm in that clip. I guess its easy to have a motto like "dare to fail" if you use taxpayer money. I expect shady behavior from a ruthless business man but the Broward Commissioners should be thrown out of office. John Q Public will never see ClubRed. I hope the commissioners enjoy the view.
Posted by: Kevin | February 02, 2012 at 07:21 PM
O....m......g.......Yormark never ceases to surprise me.
Posted by: Eric | February 02, 2012 at 10:22 PM
This Club red is a joke! I cannot believe the Broward Commissioners agreed to pay for this. I am an original season-ticket holder and my seats are in section 102, so I will be losing my seats next year to this ridiculous plan. How many people can pay between $9,000 - $22,000 per seat!. You are not kidding George, these 3 sections will be empty most nights, but why should Yorshmuck care, he's getting it for free!
Posted by: Chris Wells | February 03, 2012 at 01:44 AM
Yormarks is a scumbag and if Sacco put his shoulder into me, I would have knocked him out. I work for the county and they are cutting our salaries and benefits but yet they give this dirtbag 7.7 million? I wanna puke!
Posted by: Darcy Tucker | February 03, 2012 at 03:42 AM
Someone please edit that video to music! Slo-mo him doing that twist.
Posted by: Eric | February 03, 2012 at 10:31 AM
Yormark shows his lack of class again
The used car salesman strikes again
Posted by: Season ticket holder since day one | February 03, 2012 at 10:12 PM