Economy takes bite out of Panthers' staff

by James Mirtle on Oct 29, 2008 11:19 AM CDT Comment 8 comments

The Panthers put at least 10 of their loyal employees on waivers today, folks who stood up for this organization over the years. People in sales, charity, PR.

All of this blamed on a crummy economy.

Michael Yormark, whom I hope to speak to tomorrow, broke the bad news to his staff earlier this afternoon. From all reports, he delivered the news with a heavy heart. From what I've been told, five of the cuts came from his sales staff.

— George Richards, On Frozen Pond

Things are bleak in Florida. I wrote about the "free tickets" promotion they're running a few weeks ago, and then last week, a PR firm contacted me about giving away Panthers tickets on this site.

And I'm not even sure anyone in South Florida stops by.

The Panthers are still announcing decent crowds, but as I've said in the past, that's a bit of a mirage given the number of giveaways they put on. There are going to be hard times for a number of teams in the NHL this season.

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Wouldn't surprise me if Tampa was next.

I was at opening night and while the attendance was telling, I think the two sections across from me had 20 out of 250 seats filled, there was something else that really stood out. The advertising on the boards. It seemed like 8 or 9 out of every 10 ads were for the NHL or events that were taking place in the arena.

Contrast that with the Sabres. The night they were on Versus there were two advertisements that were not “real.” A tiny NHL on Vs. sign stuck in the corner and one for HSBC.

by twoeightnine on Oct 29, 2008 12:07 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Ouch

If you are cutting sales staff that isn’t good.

by Exit716 on Oct 29, 2008 12:16 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

CN dollar slide!

1) With the Canadian dollar down to .77 cents on the US dollar (down from .95 3 months ago) many of those teams that could be on ‘hard times’ will be north of the border!
2) The currency exchange worked for their benefit for the past 2 years allowing for the 6 CN teams bringing in 35% of all NHL revenue.
3) We wonder when Mr. Bettman will actually admit that the change in the economic landscape is actually affecting the league? On a related note, we wonder how much LESS the salary cap will be next summer! We might see tons of highly paid players in the AHL, and a lot of AHL-ers in the big leagues getting the minimum!

by Fauxrumors on Oct 29, 2008 12:29 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

It looks like the dollar’s up to about 82 cents today for some reason. It’s hard to say where it’s going to settle right now.

by James Mirtle on Oct 29, 2008 12:35 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Not entirely certain of the relevence of this to the Panthers situation. One would expect that the Canadian teams would have hedged to help take some of the bite off this year’s books… especially in Calgary where the owners are so connected to the O&G industry. Somewhat ironically, the Canadian teams will benefit if they end up paying less, or no, revenue sharing money this time around.

Revenues are going to take a tumble from both sides of the border. In the US, it’s gonna come from the usual suspects. They announced 15,000 people in Phoenix for their game against Calgary on Saturday. The Flames radio panel was guessing it was half that, at most.

You are right though, the cap implications will be something to watch. Doubly so the PA’s reaction to getting hammered by escrow.

by Resolute on Oct 29, 2008 12:39 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Indeed. However, in this economy if the PA intends to cry about the escrow — essentially, crying about a provision they agreed to should revenues fall short — they’d be losing another PR battle.

SBN now has a NY Islanders blog at LighthouseHockey.com.

by Dominik on Oct 29, 2008 2:05 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs