Florida Panthers Public-Private Partnership, Baptist Health IcePlex & War Memorial Auditorium at Holiday Park

Forum Speakers:
* Bryce Hollweg, Chief Operating Officer, Florida Panthers
* Melissa Fitzgerald, General Manager, War Memorial at Florida Panthers
* Pete Worrell, Operations Manager, Hockey Director, Florida Panthers
Moderated by Mayor Jack Seiler

~ The Florida Panthers have settled into their new home — the Baptist Health IcePlex next to the War Memorial Auditorium at Fort Lauderdale’s Holiday Park.

The Baptist Health IcePlex facility features two regulation-sized indoor ice rinks, including a dedicated public rink offering a variety of youth and adult hockey programs, public skating, and figure skating. The Panthers’ official practice rink will feature a private locker room, fitness center and stadium seating for up to 1,000 fans during practices and training camps, which will be free and open to the public.

Along with the two new ice rinks, a full-service restaurant and flagship retail store, the centerpiece of the project is the completely restored War Memorial Auditorium. Partnered with Live Nation, the venue will program music and comedy of all genres. The state of the art 3,500 capacity concert venue and private event space is expected to open in the Fall of 2024. The War Memorial Auditorium will continue to serve as a tribute to honor Broward County’s fallen military heroes.

What will become the recreational hub of Fort Lauderdale, the $65M+ Panthers Ownership privately funded project will be a shining light by preserving the past and investing in the future of the community. Panthers’ President & CEO, Matt Caldwell, said, “We’ve been working on this for a number of years now.” A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into making this first class.”

We are so pleased to have with us the key representatives of the Florida Panthers organization who will give us an inside look at the new facility and speak about the team’s future here in Fort Lauderdale.