MIAMI — It seemed like a thief in the night, except in broad daylight.
They came in a stole it with everybody watching.
Nobody saw a thing.
One moment the Florida Panthers and South Florida had the 2022 NHL All-Star Weekend ... and then it was gone. The league this week quietly announced its ‘22 signature midseason party would be held in Las Vegas. Wait. What. No explanation was given. As if none were needed.
Florida was supposed to host this season’s 2021 all-star show, but that was canceled due to the COVID-19-related shortened schedule.
So first the Cats get punched by the pandemic. Now they get punched by the NHL’s infatuation with being in Vegas and all things Vegas? Not quite fair, right?
I was getting ready to file a police report.
“Hullo, 9-1-1? Someone stole my All-Star Weekend.”
But wait. Turns out it’s OK.
Florida will host the 2023 NHL All-Star Weekend festivities instead, a source with the city of Fort Lauderdale told me Wednesday.
Panthers president and CEO Matthew Caldwell had said in a statement this week, “We are confident that the NHL All-Star Weekend will come to South Florida in the near future.”
Reached Wednesday, Caldwell reiterated that but said he could not confirm that would be as soon as ‘23. However the Miami Herald’s source with the city said the swap — Vegas next, then Florida — was the Panthers’ suggestion because by then the club’s new $60 million practice facility being built in Fort Lauderdale would be complete, and all-star related events could potentially be held there.
Caldwell did speak about the upward arc of the franchise, coming off its best regular season in club history and with premier leadership in coach Joel Quenneville, general manager Bill Zito, and two legit stars in Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau.
“I think we’ve passed a really big inflection point,” Caldwell told us. “We knew this would be a long, big turnaround situation to take into that extra gear. It takes a lot. But we feel like we’ve finally gotten it right. A great combo with Zito and Joel. A couple of superstars. We are entering that prime window of being able to compete for a Stanley Cup.”
That the Cats aren’t being wrongly passed over and will get the event in ’23 is good news, because there had been an ominous echo of familiarity to Florida losing the ‘22 game.
The Miami (then Florida) Marlins were scheduled to host the 2000 MLB All-Star Game but did not, as punishment for the club’s 1998 fire-sale dismantling of its ‘97 World Series championship team.
At least with that there was plain cause.
South Florida sports has had a rocky relationship with all-star games:
— NHL/Panthers — Sunrise hosted its one and only hockey All-Star Game on February 2, 2003, a sold-out, 6-5 shootout thriller. That was a handful of arena name changes ago; it was Office Depot Center then.
Almost 20 years later, the drought was scheduled to end. And then it wasn’t. And now it is.
Caldwell said he was hopeful to get it back soon, but you know how that goes. Arizona lost the 2006 game due to the Winter Olympics and was assured it would get another one soon. Still waiting...
— MLB/Marlins — After some 20 years’ punishment for the team’s first fire sale, the Marlins finally hosted the All-Star Game on July 11, 2017.
Notably, the thrilling Home Run Derby was a turning point in the HRD becoming bigger, more anticipated, than the game itself.
There is nothing on the horizon or in the foreseeable future for Miami to host again. Derek Jeter delivering a winner and Miami fans responding in kind at the gate may be a prerequisite for another ASG.
— NBA/Heat — Miami hosted its only All-Star Game on Feb. 11, 1990. Magic Johnson was MVP. Nothing since. No ASG as a reward for the (no longer) new bayside arena. Nothing on the horizon.
It isn’t an anti-Heat conspiracy. More like timing. NBA all-star festivities coincide with major, hotel-glomming South Florida events like Coconut Grove Arts Festival and Miami International Boat Show.
The Heat are a victim of being in a tourist destination where people flock to other stuff going on, as opposed to, say, Utah.
But is does seem like the NBA and the Heat need to tweak the calendar to make this happen. No city and climate more than Miami (a.k.a. South Beach) is better suited for the star power of an NBA All-Star Weekend.
— NFL/Dolphins — The Pro Bowl was held at the Orange Bowl on Jan. 20, 1975, and again in the current stadium on Jan. 31, 2010 — ending a string of 29 consecutive PB’s at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii.
But nobody cares about the Pro Bowl, or hosting it, so let’s move on.
On the font of immense popularity that is the King Sport NFL, the Pro Bowl is the pimple it can’t get rid of.
— MLS/Inter Miami — Miami is in the queue to host Major League Soccer’s All-Star Game at its new Miami Freedom Park facility, if and when that is finally completed.
To mind comes the phrase, “Don’t hold your breath.”
