notahomer wrote:Wonder what Luongo is thinking playing in front of those Florida hockey crowds?
"I don't pay attention when I'm playing,'' Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo said after Monday's 1-0 loss. "I focus on my job. If we want to get some people in the stands we have to start winning some hockey games."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/flor ... story.html
Panthers' low attendance in part due to policy changes
By Harvey Fialkov, Sun Sentinel
Oct 14, 2014, 4:08pm, Sunrise
Before the season, Panthers owners Vinnie Viola and Doug Cifu decided to eliminate the disparities in ticket pricing that have alienated season-ticket holders in the past.
They did away with a lot of discounted tickets and ticket giveaways. They blacked out sections in the upper bowl with tarped-off seats and shrunk the Club Red area. They felt that under past regimes the premium tickets were devalued.
They knew that attendance would suffer, and might not improve until the team was consistently winning. But even they couldn't have envisioned Monday night's all-time franchise low of an announced 7,311 for the 1-0 loss to the Senators or the record-low home-opening crowd of 11,419 on Saturday.
"We are 100 percent prepared for the reality of the fact we're going to have smaller attendance this season,'' Cifu said during training camp. "The ownership is prepared for that because we want people to be paying a fair price, paying the same price and enjoying the product on the ice.''
"We could get 15,000 people into the arena if we gave away 5,000 seats,'' he added. "That's not fair to the community, to the players and the folks paying $100 sitting next to a guy paying 10.''
It didn't help the Panthers' cause that they went 0-4-2 in the preseason and have started the season at 0-2-1, including their most lopsided home opener Saturday, a 5-1 shellacking by the Devils.
On Tuesday afternoon, Cifu tried to calm down the furor over Monday's meager turnout by telling fans to be patient with them.
"When it comes to hockey in South Florida, we can assure our fans that the past is not prologue. We invested a lot of money in the offseason in the right players for our franchise long term. Vinnie and I have said we will earn through honesty, integrity and transparency the patronage of each and every person who comes to our games.
"Like anything under construction there will be costs and things may look dim before they turn bright, but that is the price of building a model organization that we can all be proud of. Nothing comes free.''
The players realize that after two straight seasons finishing 30th and 29th in the league that they need to win to win back the fans.
"I don't pay attention when I'm playing,'' Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo said after Monday's 1-0 loss. "I focus on my job. If we want to get some people in the stands we have to start winning some hockey games."
First-year Panther center Derek MacKenzie agreed.
"You can always find excuses," MacKenzie said. "If you got 20,000 people getting on you it's just as bad, right? For us, our main concern is playing for each other. The owners have made it clear what the expectations are and where this organization has to go.
"We understand it's not going to be easy as far as putting fans in the stands until we do our part."
Panthers new coach Gerard Gallant is still seeking his first win, but he also downplayed the attendance.
"That's part of the game and you get used to that stuff,'' Gallant said of the crowd.
Some diehard fans said they're concerned about the possibility of relocation, although the owners and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman have repeatedly said no such plan is in place.
"I hate to say this but it feels like we're seeing the end of a franchise,'' John Butler, a season-ticket holder for three years from Tamarac, said from his upper level perch. "So many rumors are flying around and [the owners] sent out a letter restating their commitment to South Florida. It doesn't feel totally positive.
"If they do leave we'll be sad, but we're still coming because we love hockey and are happy to be here,'' added Butler's wife, Alaina.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.