Back in November, the Florida Panthers were finally able to get new owners. I wrote an article back then that talked about it and how this was a good thing for the team. I can remember being shocked at some of the comments I received. I knew that they weren’t happy with the previous owner, but some of the comments I was getting made it sound like him leaving was a national holiday.

Of course, I also had those people that reminded everybody that the new owners hadn’t done anything yet. They were skeptical, and after as many bad years as Florida has had, I can’t blame them.

Now, the owners have had time to make some changes to the team and their presence has begun to be felt. Back in November, a couple weeks after the new ownership was announced, the Miami Herald wrote an article about the new owners going after new fans. That article had a few things that really spoke to me, and should make any Florida fan excited.

The first thing that it said was that they were going to try to target younger fans that have grown up around the game. They are trying to create a stable fan base among young people that will last for many years.

One of the owners, Stu Siegel, said even said that they were “under-marketing” the team. As well as the kids, they had a bunch of people in Florida that were from up north, but weren’t Panther fans. His goal is to change that.

He believed that they haven’t given those people enough to cheer for on the ice and as a result they weren’t coming to games. That really spoke to me because I’ve been saying the exact same thing on other blogs and websites. The key to a good franchise is a winning team.

This is something the NHL franchises are starting to figure out. I just wrote an article about Phoenix, and how winning games is helping them get out of the financial slump they’re in, but the same is true for the Panthers. Granted, their financial trouble isn’t as bad as Phoenix’s is.

However, if you look at successful NHL franchises, like the Red Wings, or the Penguins now, you’ll see the importance of winning games. The Red Wings have not missed the playoffs in over two decades. All of these wins help them fill up their stands (or almost fill up) on a nightly basis. The Penguins acquired Sidney Crosby a few years ago, built a team around him, won the Stanley Cup, and vastly expanded their fan base as well.

The new Florida owners are saying that they’re going to do this strategy tool. Although they haven’t done anything that will be felt this year, they’re not trying to improve this year. They’re looking five to ten years down the road. I wouldn’t be surprised to see these two new owners rebuild this team into a contender in the future. If they want to have a successful hockey program, they have no choice.

See the Miami Herald Article that I talk About

Subscribe to Eric's Free Email Newsletter

More NHL News