When Matt Caldwell joined the Florida Panthers in 2014 under new owner Vinnie Viola, the franchise was in what is commonly referred to its dark era.
The team had been hemorrhaging money for years due to poor management both on and off the ice.
Locally, the Panthers were an afterthought having been to the playoffs just one time since 2000. Tickets were cheap and abundant.
Some games had so few attendees, the upper deck could have been closed and there would still have been plenty of room to stretch out in the lower bowl.
When Caldwell first was hired by the Panthers as their Chief Operating Officer, he made it his goal to help transform the franchise.
One of the first thing he did was call long-time season ticket holders, at least, those who had stuck around through all of the bad times.
Things, Caldwell promised, are going to change.
Boy, did they.
“Matt personally called some of us long timers, including me, and he said, ‘please be patient. I promise you, we didn’t come down here to move the team. Have faith in us. We will become a respected franchise again’,” said Dr. Jack Heda, who has been a season-ticket holder since the Panthers played their home games at Miami Arena in the 1990s.
“It was from that point forward that everything started to change.’’
Caldwell, 45, spent over 11 years with the Panthers — the past nine as the team’s CEO.
On Thursday, Caldwell announced he was leaving South Florida to become the new CEO of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA’s Lynx.
When speaking to Florida Hockey Now on Thursday morning, Caldwell used the term ‘bittersweet’ a lot when talking about leaving the Panthers.
New Wolves owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore gave Caldwell a 10-year contract to try and recreate some of his Panthers magic in Minnesota.
The Timberwolves are an up-and-coming franchise having advanced to the Western Conference finals this past season, and the team is looking to build a new arena in the Minneapolis area.
This new job will be a challenge for Caldwell, no doubt.
But he faced bigger obstacles with the Panthers and did so head on.
As he moves on to Minnesota, Caldwell leaves the Florida Panthers in a much different place than when he found it.
Once considered one of the worst franchises in all of professional sports, the Panthers are now looked at as the gold standard.
Matt Caldwell is leaving as CEO of the Florida Panthers to join the Minnesota Timberwolves. // Photo courtesy @FlaPanthers
Not only are they the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, but the Panthers even won the Sports Business Journal’s 2025 Team of the Year in May.
Yes, the Panthers are winners on and off the ice.
Caldwell, for certain, had a lot to do with that.
“I told Matt that I am going to miss him terribly, but this is an opportunity he cannot pass up,” said Jerry Plush, the Chairman and CEO of Amerant Bank who first got into business with the Panthers in 2021. Amerant Bank is now the naming rights partner at the Panthers’ arena in Sunrise.
“I have always said, this is not about a sponsorship. What we have set here is a standard of partnership. This was never about writing a check so we can put our name on the building, it was about being partners and working together. We have a full relationship with the organization which, top to bottom, is second to none. All of those people there are just so very special.
“Again, Matt leaving is just so bittersweet but I could not be happier for him. I just think he is really deserving of this and wish him nothing but the best. Imagine if he could pull off an NBA championship next? The Steinbrenners will be calling to try and hire him.’’
Turning around the Panthers was no easy task. In 2009, for instance, then-GM Randy Sexton compared his team to the Titanic.
With the team in financial distress, longtime fan and philanthropist Cliff Viner took ownership of the team.
As costs rose and revenue shrank, the team was in trouble.
Rumors of relocation were constant; dwindling crowds, attention-getting promotions and mass ticket giveaways that are common in minor-league baseball did not help.
“For years, there were all these conversations about moving to Quebec,’’ Heda said. “The team missed the playoffs year after year, and, as a season-ticket holder, I couldn’t give tickets away. You would walk into some restaurants, and had stacks of free tickets. It was difficult, for a long period of time, to be a season ticket holder.
“But part of Matt’s legacy is the dignity and respect he brought to the fans. He said ‘we’re not going to give away tickets any more,’ and they meant it.’’
The team was quietly for sale in 2013 when NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman found Viola, then a minority owner of the New York Yankees, to buy the team for a reported $250-million.
Caldwell was well-known to Viola.
A decorated veteran, Caldwell is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, who served five years as a U.S. Army Captain.
He was in combat in Iraq, led peacekeeping operations in Kosovo. Caldwell also trained soldiers preparing for deployment in Germany.
After his time in the service, Caldwell became a Vice President at Goldman Sachs and worked for Viola at Virtu Financial.
In 2016, he became CEO of the Panthers. At 36, he was the youngest CEO in North American major sports.
“The challenge is really the key,’’ Caldwell said of moving to his new job. “Vinnie is like a second father to me, you know, and he has been really supportive. He said, ‘listen, Matt, I can’t stop you from growing.’ The NBA is a huge global platform. And these opportunities are few and far between, especially with the ownership group that we have in Minnesota.
“So I really like the challenge of joining them and trying to do another turnaround, at least on the business side.”
Under Caldwell’s leadership, the Panthers mended relationships with the Broward County Board of Commissioners as well as with leaders in Sunrise and Fort Lauderdale.
The arena was built by Broward County yet rarely saw any money from the Panthers prior to Viola buying the team.
The Panthers ended up forging corporate relationships with numerous Fortune 500 companies over the years, and not only built a new training facility at Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale, but completely renovated the neighboring War Memorial Auditorium as well.
When it comes to local governments, the Panthers are now a proud partner and not a financial drain as they once were.
“He understood that you lead by example, and you lead with character and integrity,’’ said Jack Seiler, the former Mayor of Fort Lauderdale who is president and chair of the Orange Bowl Committee of which Caldwell is a member.
“The guy is just special. The more time you spend with him, the more impressed you become. Just a quality guy. He helped gain credibility for the Panthers not only locally, but throughout the league. He has been a great partner with the Orange Bowl.
“I know Vinnie has a policy of surrounding himself with great people and recognized Matt’s talent and let him do his job, take a leadership role in our community. Everything Matt did, he did it the right way. I am just so impressed with the guy. I am bummed he is leaving, but Minnesota is fortunate to be getting him.”
With Caldwell headed to Minnesota, the Panthers are actively looking for a new CEO.
Heda, for one, hopes the Panthers find someone who brings the personal touch that Caldwell did.
A few years back, Heda recalls, he was talking with Caldwell and mentioned that he was going to bring his father-in-law to a game.
He told Caldwell that his father-in-law was a World War II veteran, and Caldwell’s ears perked up.
The Panthers honored Harold Sloan at a game complete with a custom jersey, but started a tradition by honoring other veterans at each game with the team’s now celebrated ‘Heroes Among Us’ program.
It is little gestures like this, those who worked with Caldwell say, that set him apart from other executives in the business world.
“They rolled out the red carpet for my father-in-law, met him for dinner to talk to him,” Heda said. “They gave him a night he never forgot. And they gave him the respect he deserved. I’ll never forget that, and my family will never forget that.
“He helped make us all proud to be fans of the Panthers.”
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