In a previous entry on my blog (Florida Panther Season Ticket) I talked about the Panthers. Here’s more news. I finally got an e-mail asking if I was going to renew. Here’s my edited reply:
We had talked before and you were going to call me back. It’s been about eight weeks. Anyway, that’s beside the point. I am not renewing for a number of reasons, some of which you can control and some which you can’t. (From here on down, when I say “you” I refer to the team and not you personally)
Cohen and Keenan deserve each other — I on the other hand can’t deal with them. It’s like Jekyl and Hyde — or maybe it’s Sybil. I’m not sure.
- You’ve turned into a marketing organization. You care far more about your sponsors than your fans. I hear this all over the arena. Everything has a sponsor. You’ve got so many ads in the arena you don’t even have a CLOCK anymore. Yeah, no way to tell them time. Nice.
- Important issues like fixing the broken lights on the B&W matrix LED displays go ignored. For an entire season I asked for this to be fixed so I could actually READ what was on the board. It’s okay if you don’t want to fix it, but I won’t reward you for bad behaviour.
- You send out letters insulting people who stuck with you — renew now or else seems to be your attitude — go ahead. Tell me whatever you want. When I got your playoff plan was the final insult. (I pay to park at the arena and even I was insulted by your organizations desire to charge people who chose to walk. Absolute lack of class and tact.)
- I’ve written a few blog entries about my travails and opinions if you want further reading.
(A) nov 05 http://www.darsys.net/2005/11/whither-yon-nhl-florida-panthers.html
(b) feb 06 http://www.darsys.net/2006/02/florida-panther-season-ticket-renewals.html - And, when I come to the arena, I get raped at the concession stands.
- 7pm games suck — you start them at 7pm but I live in Dade County. You have basically said you don’t want us Dade County folks there. We got the message. Thanks.
You make promises and fail to deliver. You promised us our season ticket holder gift and the season is almost over, dammit. And the in-arena ‘premium’ giveaways are, quite frankly, everything but premium. (Okay, the Panther Potato Head was REALLY cool. I admit it.)
All that being said, I support the team. I just don’t support management. I’ll probably just buy combo meals at Miami Subs and go on the free tickets they (or any of your 1,000,000,000 other sponsors give away). There is zero motivation to buy. [I’m sure you’re a nice guy and you don’t have to take it personally, but I run a business and if I ran my business the way the Panthers did I’d have NO customers.]
I want to give Mario full credit. He actually called me after getting this e-mail. At least he isn’t the typical cowardly rep that vanishes when things go wrong. He’s going to come by my seats and introduce himself after the game Saturday — something his predecessors haven’t done in over five years.