Update: The Panthers received funding for a new scoreboard, which is expected to debut in September. Full story via the Herald here.
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A topic dear to the heart of any Panthers fan – discussion of replacement of the 15-year old scoreboard hanging from the rafters of BB&T Center since the building opened in 1998, showing every minute of its age – is finally seeing the light of day as the club evidently plans to ask for taxpayer dollars from Broward on Tuesday, but county auditor Evan Lukic assures that securing said funding won’t be a cakewalk:
“[The Panthers] are responsible for replacing the scoreboard. We are not. They have other means in which to pay for it.”
Of course team president Michael Yormark would have none of that…
“The county has not put one dollar into this building as a gift or as capital improvement. Not one. We’ve taken loans out, but we’re responsible for those. It’s their building. They own it.”
Regardless of who ultimately ends up taking on the cost, there’s not a breathing soul in South Florida who would debate the obvious need for a modernized scoreboard, as the current example remains a major thorn in the side of those who regularly invest in games, and an embarrassingly primitive device in an age of, well, this and (especially) this.
The entire mess comes via the Miami Herald in a must-read article here, along with Yormark’s NHL Draft-in-Sunrise-soon proclamation, which of course translates somewhat loosely to no-Draft, no-Draft-dollars-for-Sunrise-if-no-new-scoreboard.
Public dollars to upgrade county-owned building in which privately-held sports franchise plays?
| Yes…any improvement to the BB&T Center benefits Broward; multi-use “scoreboard” goes far beyond hockey | 53 |
| No…enough is enough with public financing of privately-held, for-profit concerns. | 23 |