The surprise appearance of the Florida Panthers in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final represents another milestone in the remarkable rise of one of the NHL’s historically lagging franchises.

For many years, the Panthers were singled out as a failure in league commissioner Gary Bettman’s long-running southern expansion efforts. That criticism piled up as the team failed to win a single playoff series between 1997-2021 and routinely finished in the NHL’s bottom five in attendance, including every season between 2017 and the start of the pandemic in 2020.

But in the last two years, the Panthers have won a league Presidents’ Trophy, signed a new media rights agreement with Bally Sports, completed a bevy of new sponsorships, hosted the 2023 All-Star Game, built attendance to the team’s best level in a decade, and are developing a new practice center and community ice facility in Fort Lauderdale.

As the team takes the next step in the Stanley Cup Final, set to begin at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday in Las Vegas, the numbers don’t lie: The franchise’s value has grown from $295 million in 2020 to the current $550 million.

“We talked a lot about making this a destination franchise,” said team president Matt Caldwell to Forbes. “That means it’s a place where people want to live, they want to build their families. They want to be in a community like South Florida and at the same time be part of a very first-class, top-tier hockey organization that has tradition and wins, that’s committed to winning the Stanley Cup.”

Vegas Frenzy

There has been no slow build for the Panthers’ opponents, the Vegas Golden Knights. 

They’re making their second Cup Final appearance in just six seasons of existence and have been a runaway commercial success from their inception, ranking among league leaders in numerous categories such as attendance, merchandise sales, and sponsorship.

The ticket resale market for this year’s Stanley Cup Final ranks as the fourth-most expensive NHL championship series on record, even factoring market decline from last year’s Colorado-Tampa Bay matchup.

The Manchester derby heads to London this weekend for a special edition at Wembley Stadium.

On Saturday, Manchester United and Manchester City will meet in the FA Cup final for the first time.

City has a chance to make history as just the second English club to win a treble — three trophies in one season. The Premier League champions need to defeat United, the only other treble-winning EPL team (1999), on Saturday, then secure victory in the UEFA Champions League final against Inter Milan on June 10.

The game could be the Glazer family’s last as owners of Man United, with a sale of the club potentially coming this summer.

There is a monetary incentive for both clubs, too. The FA Cup winners will be awarded an additional $2.5 million on top of the $2.38 million each team has already earned throughout the tournament. The runners-up will receive an extra $1.25 million.

The FA Cup final regularly brings in 80,000-plus fans to Wembley Stadium, and Saturday’s match will no doubt be filled with supporters from both clubs. Each team was allotted 30,500 tickets that are now selling for much more than face value, which started as low as $52.

Secondary ticket websites have get-in prices as well above $500, with some tickets as high as $5,000.

Work is officially underway on a new $1 billion stadium project for Indianapolis’ professional soccer teams.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held for Eleven Park, a new development in the city’s riverfront neighborhood to be built around a 20,000-seat venue that will host the Indy Eleven teams.

The Indy Eleven men’s squad currently competes in the USL Championship, while the women’s squad will play in the USL W League this year before joining the new USL Super League next year.

The team currently plays home games at the 12,000-seat IU Michael A. Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium.

While the source of the $1 billion funding isn’t completely clear, tax money could reportedly cover 80% of the construction, while Indy Eleven may cover the remaining costs.

Demolition at the site is beginning immediately before construction begins in the coming months.

Once finished in 2025, the stadium will be surrounded by more than 600 apartments, 205,000 square feet of office space, and 197,000 square feet of retail space, as well as restaurants, hotels, public plazas, green space, and parking.

The stadium’s architect is Populous, which has designed NFL venues for the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots, among others, and is working on the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium.

It’s been a whirlwind of a week for Leeds United fans, as the English soccer club was relegated from the Premier League amid uncertainty over the future ownership of the team.

It’s been no secret that Leeds majority owner Andrea Radrizzani has been in talks with minority shareholder 49ers Enterprises, also the ownership group of the San Francisco 49ers, about taking full control of the soccer club.

With Leeds moving down to the Championship, any deal would need to be reworked according to a lower valuation of the club. Leeds had once been valued at more than $500 million.

This week, Radrizzani secured a takeover bid for Italian club Sampdoria, which itself was relegated from Serie A after a poor season. Many have assumed Radrizzani would move on from Leeds and focus on his new club.

Adding another wrinkle to the process, The Athletic reports Radrizzani offered to use Leeds’ Elland Road stadium as collateral for a $32.6 million loan to help finance the Sampdoria purchase.

Radrizzani owns Elland Road, but the 49ers group — which owns 44% of Leeds — was apparently unaware of the stadium being used as collateral, which could complicate matters.

The next steps in the sale process will be determining a new valuation and a decision from the 49ers group as to whether it still wants to move forward with a takeover deal.