Florida Panthers Arena to Get Upgrades Starting Next Season

SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers agreed to extend their lease at Amerant Bank Arena and should play there for the foreseeable future in September.

Upgrades to the 27-year-old venue on their way.

The Panthers will have a new scoreboard in time for the coming season.

The current scoreboard was installed in 2013 and replaced the original one from when the arena opened in 1998.

The biggest change to the arena will come to the upper deck.

As team president Matt Caldwell noted, most of the improvements to the arena over the years have been in the main 100-level concourse, as well as the suite and club levels.

There are places in the 300 level which look identical to how they did when the arena opened.

It’s kind of a nice walk through time although it certainly could be a refresh.

The most noticeable change will come in the shoot-twice end zone where approximately 1,400 seats will be removed to create a viewing deck similar to what the Tampa Bay Lightning constructed in 2011.

The capacity of the 19,250 seat arena will be diminished, but Caldwell said because the deck can hold 800 fans, it will be a small reduction in capacity.

As far as the new scoreboard goes, do not expect an end-to-end video board which so many arenas and domed football stadiums have in place.

Caldwell said the new board will generally fit in the same footprint as the one that is currently in place so it can be raised closer to the rafters when concerts take over the arena.