Florida Panthers co-owner Doug Cifu (@Dougielarge) took to Twitter today in response to a newspaper column that criticized his team’s potential deal with Broward County.
The column by Michael Mayo in the Sun Sentinel started like this:
The Florida Panthers are back with helmets in hand, looking for another handout from Broward County to help their struggling finances and shore up their future at the county-owned hockey arena in Sunrise.
County commissioners will vote Tuesday on the $86 million aid package.
Their choices are bad and worse: Dole out corporate welfare to help billionaire owners and millionaire athletes, or perhaps lose an anchor tenant at an arena that still has more than a decade of bond repayments left.
And it ended like this:
Considering the worsening impact of tidal flooding and sea rise along the coast, it also might be time to explore using hotel-room taxes for that situation.
Somehow, a hockey team on thin ice takes higher priority than a potential crisis that could dampen tourism and swamp us all.
That last part is what seemed to draw Cifu’s ire.
We’ll have more on all this tomorrow after the big vote. The Sun Sentinel wrote last week that the deal “could pass by a slim margin,” but Broward Mayor Marty Kiar expects it to be close.
Related: About this reported deal that’s going to keep the Panthers in South Florida
