All signs are beginning to point that the Florida Panthers are not leaving South Florida anytime soon.
Last week, the Broward County Commission voted 5-3 in favor of giving the Panthers a new financial package worth $86 million. That money will come from tourism taxes and will go towards off-setting losses the team suffered from lackluster attendance and revenues. It also allows them to renew their lease with BB&T Center. The deal is for 13 years but there is a clause that allows the ownership group to get out of it after eight, once they’ve given the county a one-year notice, paid back $72 million and prove that they’ve suffered losses of over $100 million in the previous seven years.
Now that it appears that the ownership group – headed by majority owner Vinnie Viola – won’t be seeking relocation for a while, the next thing for the team to do is to rebrand the logo and uniforms.
George Richards of the Miami Herald has the scoop:
The team will change their primary ‘leaping cat’ logo for the first time in franchise history and will have new logos.
From what a player who saw the new jerseys said, this is a complete departure from everything the team has had in the past.
“It’s completely different,” the un-named player said, adding that he really liked the new look.
From what I’ve been told, my latest idea of the ‘101st Airborne‘ patch/logo/shield is apparently on mark.
Instead of an eagle, a Panther head will adorn the front of the jersey.
In addition, Richards said there will be a horizontal stripe like what is on Montreal’s uniforms. In terms of colors, blue is being minimized, while red is the signature color and the yellow gold is going to be a much deeper, darker shade.
We saw another team with young, promising studs change their look and it’s turned into success on the ice. Dallas changed their look before trading for Tyler Seguin and naming Jamie Benn their captain. Now those two studs are bringing real meaning to their “Victory Green” uniforms. The Panthers are led with young guns such as Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, Nick Bjustad, and Jonathan Huberdeau to go with grizzled veteran Roberto Luongo in net. All of the young players are under the age of 24.
Check back later in 2016 when the jerseys and logo are revealed.