Florida Panthers bidding to host NHL All-Star Game
The Florida Panthers have submitted a bid to host the 2011, 2012 or 2013 NHL All-Star Game at BankAtlantic Center.
The league did not hold an All-Star Game this year because NHL players are participating in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Bids for the next three games were due to the league earlier this month. An NHL spokesman said the league hopes to announce sites for future All-Star Games this spring.
Several other teams, including the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes, and Ottawa Senators, are also bidding.
The Panthers hosted the 2003 NHL All-Star Game, when a soldout crowd of 19,250 fans saw the Western Conference beat the Eastern Conference 6-5 in a shootout. For a non-traditional hockey market, South Florida embraced the game and its accompanying festivities, including the NHL All-Star Block Party, a three-day festival celebrating hockey held outside the arena. In all, NHL officials said 88,000 people attended the events surrounding the game, including the Block Party, fireworks show and Stanley Cup arrival party at Las Olas Riverfront.
CRAIG DAVIS In more than 33 years at the Sun Sentinel, Craig Davis has written about a wide variety of sports topics from baseball to yachting, fishing to triathlons, and also worked as a copy editor and page designer. Recently he reported on local sports, including running, swimming, cycling, equestrian and beach volleyball. He enjoys sports as a participant as well as a spectator, is active in the South Florida running scene plays in the curling club at Saveology Iceplex. This blog offers a glimpse at the business side of sports in the interest of enhancing enjoyment of the games and sporting options as a spectator as well as a participant.
