I have a group chat with a couple buddies that we discuss hockey in. One of these guys lives down in Florida. Wednesday evening during the game between the Panthers and Lightning he heard rumours they were kicking Panther fans out of Amalie Arena in Tampa if they were wearing Panthers jerseys. This guy is a bit of a moron, so I usually take what he says with a grain of salt. The following day he shared a video of the incident that has since gone viral.
The incident
Prior to puck drop a fan was approached by two members of the arena staff. They informed him that because of where his seats were, both him and his 11 year old son would either need to remove and turn in their Panther jerseys, or would be given a refund and forced to leave the building. At one point one of the employees threatened to bring in the Tampa Police Department for assistance. The staff members stated everyone who purchased seats in that section were sent emails to inform them of this team policy during the playoffs. Because it’s 2021 the fan was filming the whole interaction.
The policy
According to the the Tampa Bay Times, prior to the 2015 playoffs the Lightning instituted a policy that forbade fans from wearing the jerseys of other teams in their premium seats and club lounges. This accounted for less than 10% of the building capacity when filled. The Lightning took this seriously enough to inform fans who purchased seats in those areas. The Lightning have said they only did this at the request of their season ticket holders in those particular sections.
The response
The Panther fans ended up watching the game from those seats with their jerseys on. The Lightning announced shortly after the game they would no longer enforce this policy.
Final thoughts
Well I am not sure who the bigger embarrassment is, the season ticket holders for making this request, or the Lightning organization for enforcing the policy. What kind of legitimate fan bitches to an organization about people wearing the other teams jerseys. That’s what sports are all about. Is there anything better than harassing opposing fans after the home team scores a big goal? I don’t think so. Especially during the playoffs. Before this came to pass it must have gone through several people. How did no one come to the logical conclusion that this would come back and bite them in the ass one day. On the other hand, I actually don’t like that the Lightning got rid of this policy so soon after the incident. You are the defending Stanley Cup Champions. You circumvented the salary cap and are one of the favourites to win it all. People already hate your organization. I wish they would have leaned into this a bit and said, “ya, if you’re an opposing fan and want to come into our barn and sit in these seats, you bet your ass we are taking your jersey away from you.” Everyone is so afraid to be the villain these days. I say embrace it. There is no team I would rather see Colorado beat in the finals than Tampa Bay.
Here’s the deal, Tampa Bay is for all intents and purposes being the villains of the league. Tampa was a joke of a franchise for the first decade of its existent, and if it weren’t for “Stevie Y” their early 2000s success would have subsided and they would have faded into oblivion. Everyone wants to see these guys lose cause there is just something about them, watch Kucherov whenever things don’t go his way, he’s one of the sneakiest dirty players in the league. Go Canes, and fuck the Lightning.