This photo was snapped just before puck drop of the Florida Panthers-Nashville Predators Monday afternoon preseason game. The attendance was absolutely abysmal, but it’s hard to expect much for an afternoon preseason game during the week. Panthers President Michael Yormark had a great explanation for the lack of attendance:
“This is the third consecutive full season (excluding last year) we have hosted a weekday preseason doubleheader with Nashville and one of the primary reasons we began this series was to afford both franchises the opportunity to evaluate their full training camp rosters in a game situation in just one day. And while the day game attendance is not as high as we would like we believe the doubleheader still represents a unique opportunity for our fans.
“However, in no way does today’s attendance reflect our expectation for the upcoming season. In fact we fully expect an Opening Night sellout, our new full season equivalent ticket sales are up 41-percent over last year and we also expect the 2013-14 season to be the fourth consecutive year in which we see an average home attendance increase at the BB&T Center.”
It’s a great idea to do a double-header to help evaluate the roster, but there were more players on the benches than people in the stands, which is just flat-out sad. Oh, and the Panthers were charging $20 for parking.
$1 tix on stub hub $20 to park “@Canesfan3234: thinking of going to the 2:30 game. Are the @FlaPanthers charging for parking/admission?”
— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) September 16, 2013
Yeesh.
