Florida marketing to Montreal Canadiens fans?

[Manoir 70]

Is this the first time ever in sports where an organization has targeted fans of another team?

http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2010/11/05/florida-panthers-marketing-to-montreal-canadiens-fans/

http://panthers.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=64824

[wings1110 184]

ha!

[Echolalia 2,961]

Pssh. Phoenix has been doing this for Wings' games for years.

Wait a minute...

[Matt 1,048]

We had a large contingent of Wings fans from here that got a group rate to see the Wings in Florida two years ago. I've been in touch with the Panthers' ticket office this season and we'll be getting another discount for the game in February this season. I'll be posting something up soon.

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

They are part of a great cottage industry in Florida.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Only in Florida.

[Chelios57 31]

This is really common.

The Pistons just recently did this to Cavailier fans in the playoffs. This is not a "only in Florida" thing. It happens much more often than you realize.

[selkie 10]

But Florida in particular works well for this kind of business model. Tons of Northeast/Midwest/eastern Canada snowbirds down here every winter, most of them with money to spare even after paying their greens fees, and a perfectly logical group to market to if you're familiar with Florida demographics.

[ShanahanMan 473]

Financially smart or not, I think this is gutless and demonstrates a complete lack of respect for the team and their fanbase.

[MacK_Attack 108]

They had a similar promotion for Leafs fans last year, maybe....Could have been two years ago.

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

Is it me? or is anyone else confused by the FLA logo?

The broken stick makes no sense. Does their mascot hate hockey? I'm unsure a panther could break a stick like that either. Wouldn't you want it clawing the stick instead?

[GMRwings1983 8,793]

Financially smart or not, I think this is gutless and demonstrates a complete lack of respect for the team and their fanbase.

What fanbase?

[Guest Stolberg]

Financially smart or not, I think this is gutless and demonstrates a complete lack of respect for the team and their fanbase.

gut·less/ˈgətlis/

Adjective: Lacking courage or determination.

they seem pretty determined to get habs fans in their building

[Wings_Rule_1010 4]

Pssh. Phoenix has been doing this for Wings' games for years.

Wait a minute...

Seriously. Before the last game in phoenix versus the wings, a bunch of stores were selling red wing gear. Guess they need to make money when they can.

[ShanahanMan 473]

gut·less/ˈgətlis/

Adjective: Lacking courage or determination.

they seem pretty determined to get habs fans in their building

Exactly. They're so worried about money and filling seats that they rather concentrate their efforts on getting fans of OTHER teams in their building, instead of trying to fix their own.

[SweWings 45]

Exactly. They're so worried about money and filling seats that they rather concentrate their efforts on getting fans of OTHER teams in their building, instead of trying to fix their own.

I think they've tried to fix it... it didn't work very well so now they're supplementing by attracting other customers. Sounds like a pretty good idea.

[F2B&G 15]

The Panthers' marketing gurus are just openly acknowledging what's been true for about a decade - save for the occasional playoff appearance, franchises like Phoenix, Florida, Tampa, and Atlanta scrape by on revenue from snowbirds who are either fans of the northern team that's in town, or just looking for a hockey fix. What else are they supposed to do? It's simply smart business for them to target a traditional team with a large transplanted fanbase and put together some special rates for them, especially when your own product on the ice hasn't exactly been conducive to building a home fanbase since about 1996.