The Florida Panthers will be getting a new publicly funded $4.2 million scoreboard and master control room, thanks to the Broward Commission.
The commission voted to allow Broward County's bed tax to pay for it -- which was the same exact tax the Miami Dolphins were asking for from Miami-Dade County.
Thank you Broward county for your support.Big day for the arena and the county.
— Michael R. Yormark (@PanthersYormark) May 14, 2013
Broward County auditor Evan Lukic says that, even though the county owns the BB&T Center where the Panthers play, the team should've paid for the scoreboard themselves.
"They are responsible for replacing the scoreboard," told the Miami Herald Tuesday morning. "We are not. They have other means in which to pay for it."
Panthers presiden Michael Yormark, of course, disagreed with this assessment, saying the team has put tens of millions of dollars into the BB&T Center for the past 15 years of its existence. And that Broward had "not put one dollar into this building as a gift or as capital improvement."
"It's [the county's] their building," Yormark added. "They own it."
And now, apparently, the Broward Commission sees it Yormark's way, and will dip into the county's bed tax and help pay for a new scoreboard.
Yormark released a statement on behalf of the team following the commission's decision:
"This is a great day for Broward County, the BB&T Center and the Florida Panthers. We believe strongly, that thanks to the support of the county, we will have one of the best scoreboards in professional sports and be able to attract major national and international events to the BB&T Center on a regular basis."
The Dolphins tried getting Miami-Dade to let them dip their feet in the bed tax thing to fund renovations for Sun Life Stadium, although the amount of what the Dolphins were asking for versus what the Panthers were asking for was huge.
The Dolphins may have had intentions of going to Broward County for the stadium funding, but the Panthers and their new scoreboard may have just crapped all over that Plan B.
Derp.
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