Florida Panthers fans will now be heading to the Amerant Bank Arena

SUNRISE, Fla. – The Florida Panthers’ arena is getting a new name. Now known as the FLA Live Arena since 2021, hockey fans and concertgoers will be heading to the Amerant Bank Arena, the Panthers organization and Amerant announced Tuesday.

The arena, built in 1998, and which has been the home of the NHL team since that year, has undergone a few partnership names including the National Car Rental Center (1998-2002), Office Depot Center (2002-2005), Bank Atlantic Center (2005-2012) and, the BB&T Center (2021-2023). It was temporarily named FLA Live Arena in 2021.

The Florida Panthers will open its NHL Preseason at the Amerant Bank Arena against the Nashville Predators at 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 25.

Before that, however, Lil Baby’s “It’s Only Us Tour” heads to Amerant Bank Arena at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 22. And although Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler was put on vocal rest after suffering vocal cord damage at a recent concert, the band is expected to be up and rocking with openers The Black Crowes for its show on Friday, Oct. 20 at the new Amerant Bank Arena. And Pink has Amerant Bank Arena on her tour stop at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 15.

The venue has played host to the 2001 and 2015 National Hockey League Drafts and the 2003 and 2023 NHL All-Star Game, as well as acting as the annual home for Y100 Jingle Ball and AutoNation Orange Bowl Basketball Classic.

“After a comprehensive search with WME Sports over the past year, we felt expanding our experienced and successful partnership with Amerant Bank would be the best business decision to align with both our goals of delivering first-class customer service and serving our local South Florida community,” said Panthers President and CEO Matt Caldwell in a statement.

According to the press release, last season, the Panthers and Amerant Bank partnered for the inaugural “Saves for Vets” where $40 per save made by a Panthers goaltender throughout the 2022-23 regular and postseason was donated to the campaign.

With over 3,011 saves by Panthers goaltenders, $120,440 will be split and donated to nine veteran-focused nonprofit organizations, according to the organization, including Broward County Community Development Corporation, Chariots On Ice Sled Hockey, DELIVER THE DREAM INC, Faith-Hope-Love-Charities, Inc., Heart2Heart Outreach of South Florida, Our Father’s House Soup Kitchen Inc., Rebuilding Together Broward County, Inc, Soldiers’ Angels and The 22 Project, Inc. within the South Florida area.

“Adding naming rights to the arena to the already strong and extensive partnership we have with the Panthers just seemed like the next logical next step for us,” said Amerant Bank Chairman and CEO Jerry Plush.

Amerant Bank is a community bank headquartered in Florida with a presence in South Florida and in Tampa, FL, and Houston, Texas, according to the press release.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but Amerant Bank did ink a multi-year deal with the venue.