“SOOOOOOOOONNNNNKKKKKK” – Keith Yandle

Arena: BB&T Center (1998)

Location: Sunrise, Florida

Game Attended: December 14, 2019 vs. Boston Bruins

Game Result: 4-2 Bruins Win, the Panthers got SONKed!

Seat Location: Upper Level Blue Line, Bruins Shoot 2x End

Overall Impression: Nice Building, Fan Support and Neighborhood Need Some Work 

I really hate winter.

I know, I know, I’m a hockey fan, player, and writer, so I really should appreciate hockey season more. But as I think back on my journeys on this great Tour, I can’t help but think of myriad cold nights last season. Freezing walks in Columbus and Detroit, snowy arrivals in Pittsburgh and Calgary, and don’t get me started on that BRUTAL day in Winnipeg.

So in search of a winter streak-breaking trip, I enlisted the help of Boston Drew and we jetted to sunny South Florida. Palm trees and hockey pucks: what a combination!

Founded in 1993, the Florida Panthers play their home games at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, a suburb about 20 miles west of Fort Lauderdale. It’s really a bizarre location; the arena is sandwiched between the Everglades and the Sawgrass Mills shopping mall. It’s close to a highway for fans to drive to, but there’s little to do other than shop or attend an event at BB&T. And it was a pretty long and expensive Uber ride from Fort Lauderdale.

The good news is that once we got there, we found that the building itself is actually pretty nice and modern! There’s a large plaza outside the building with palm trees and some tents for sponsors, including a local radio station blasting some music and some free samples from the Funky Buddha Brewery. Free beer = me beer!

Inside BB&T, concourses were large and well-designed, with plenty of color. It was really a nice facility!

The lower level concourse had a cool section with team memorabilia and stories from the team’s past.

During the first intermission, Drew and I went downstairs to watch a live band for a few minutes before noticing a special guest by the entrance doors. And y’all, it was easily the highlight of the night!

The interior of the rink was pretty plain, though the large video board over center ice was nice and large. Our seats on the blue line provided pretty good views of the attacking zone, though it was somewhat tough to see over the fans in front of us.

What really disappointed me though were the fans. I had somewhat low expectations of South Florida hockey fans and they unfortunately met those expectations. The arena was MAYBE half full at the opening faceoff, and only got about 75% full all night, with the upper bowl looking especially sparse. Even a Saturday night matchup against Boston couldn’t draw a great crowd. And the Boston fans were seemingly louder and more excited all evening.

So my experience at BB&T Center begs an interesting question: Is South Florida really a hockey market? I think it’s a fair question. The Panthers have built a great core of talented players, including Alex Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, and Jonathan Huberdeau, and recently added Sergei Bobrovsky in net and Joel Quenneville behind the bench. This is an exciting team! I think the Florida fans need to appreciate it and their nice arena more. Because trust me, it’s not everywhere you get to leave a hockey game on a 75 degree night in December!

Building: 4 / 5

Atmosphere: 2 / 5

Neighborhood: 2 / 5

Overall: 2.5 / 5