A few hours before the Florida Panthers game against Columbus on Saturday night, the team's co-owner told jokes to fans gathered in an arena ballroom while its CEO took on a guy in an inflatable dinosaur costume in a push-up contest.
The team promises nothing is going to change.
Doug Cifu and Matthew Caldwell's roles with the Panthers may be expanded a bit in the coming weeks as team owner Vinnie Viola goes through his confirmation process after being Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of the Army.
Viola's confirmation hearing isn't expected until after Trump's inauguration and the Panthers are expecting a smooth transition.
Not only with the Viola family still retain ownership in the team but Cifu _ the team's wise-cracking co-owner _ will slide into Viola's role as team governor.
"First off, this is going to be great for our country because Vinnie is going to be an awesome Secretary of the Army," Cifu said at the team's third annual social media meetup at the arena called 'PanthersPalooza.'
"There won't be many changes, just administrative stuff. I'll become chairman and governor which means I'll have to go to more meetings and stuff."
Caldwell, who easily won his contest against the dinosaur, is a West Point graduate as is Viola and says the pride the team has in Viola's appointment hasn't abated since the initial announcement.
"We're all just so proud of him," Caldwell said. "The players met with him on Tuesday and they were super-excited for him. But there will no change, it will be status quo, just some title changes. From an operational standpoint, there will be no change from us."
Viola will succeed Eric Fanning as his responsibilities, as Cifu says, makes him basically the CEO of the U.S. Army. Viola would be in charge of the Army's budget as well as have watch over the 1.4 million employees on the armed service.
Cifu will also take the reigns from Viola at their Virtu Financial firm.
"I get kind of emotional talking about it," Cifu said. "If you think about it, this is a guy who could do anything with his life; he has freedom, a great family, a great life. But he's just so passionate about the United States and about the Army that he wants to serve like he did in his youth.
"He told me 10 years ago that all he wanted to do was be Secretary of the Army. Then this thing just came together. I'm thrilled beyond belief for him and our country."
