Game Night at Amerant Bank Arena Now Starts Inside the Building

For years, a Panthers night near Metropica followed one pattern. People ate at Sawgrass Mills, drove the short distance to the arena lots and walked in close to puck drop. The 2026-27 season shifts more of that evening inside the arena. On October 22, 2026, the team announced a set of new and renovated spaces at Amerant Bank Arena. Several are standing-room bars and food areas built for the pregame and intermissions. In August, Broward County and the Panthers also filed plans to put most of a new district on the arena's existing parking lot.

So the arena is pulling the evening indoors this season, and the plan on file would change the lots where it all begins. Neighbors will feel this most in the middle of November, when the calendar is at its busiest.

Six arena nights in ten days

From November 12 through November 21, the arena hosts an event on six of ten nights. Three are Panthers home games from the official schedule, and three are shows on the arena's event calendar.

The theme nights come from the team's 2026-27 theme night announcement. November 20 is also the night of the City of Sunrise's Tunes 'N Trucks: The Rock Show at Sunrise Amphitheater, 6 to 9 p.m., according to the city's special events calendar. That puts a second Sawgrass-area crowd on the same evening as the second Olivia Rodrigo show.

November closes with home games against Ottawa on Nov. 25 and Tampa Bay on Nov. 28. December brings seven more, listed on the arena's Panthers page: Boston Dec. 8, Pittsburgh Dec. 10, Calgary Dec. 19, St. Louis Dec. 21, Tampa Bay Dec. 26, Nashville Dec. 28 and Buffalo Dec. 30.

The pregame the Panthers built upstairs

The new spaces matter to neighbors because they change how much of the evening takes place inside. Some are open to anyone with a ticket. Others require a membership or a particular credit card. Sorted by who can get in, using the team's October 22 announcement:

• Corona Sandbar, Upper Level, Section 318. A renovated concession area with a beach feel, food and drink, and plenty of standing room for the pregame or intermissions.
• Coors Banquet Bar, Upper Level, Section 332. A full-service bar with beer, wine and liquor, right where the north escalators reach the Upper Level.
• Nicklaus Children's Hospital Broadcast Booth, Upper Level, Section 312. Fans record their own play-by-play of one of three Panthers highlights in front of an LED wall, and the recording arrives by email.
• Pantherland, Plaza Level. The team store is bigger this season, with a large jersey wall and an Everglades-inspired mural behind the registers that hides a rat.
• Champions Club presented by JetBlue, Club Level. A redesigned club displaying the rings, trophies, photos and memorabilia from the back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, plus new bars and food stations.
• BMW Preserve, Suite Level. A sit-down restaurant in the former Chairman's Club space with Everglades-inspired biophilic design and live music each game night. It is for Glass Row 1 Territory Members and other Territory Members who add it to their membership.
• JetBlue Landing, Club Level. A 21-and-over cocktail lounge limited to JetBlue Premier Card and Plus Card members and Mosaic Level 3 and 4 status holders.

The food stands have new names too. The arena concessions guide marks Padrino's and How Ya Dough'N at stand 117 as new, serving Cuban dishes and pizza. How Ya Dough'N cheese and pepperoni items are also new at stand 129. The team says it has also added new HVAC units, a new sound system, an upgraded videoboard and LED lighting panels over the past three seasons. This season's rebuilt press box control room adds camera angles and stats to the videoboard.

Doors at sixty minutes, and the gate that changed

Spending the pregame inside the building only works if you get through the doors early. Here is how arrival works this season, from the arena's A-Z guide and its directions and parking page:

1. Know when the doors open. For hockey games, doors generally open 60 minutes before puck drop. For concerts and other events, the arena points guests to each event's own page.
2. Pack to the bag rule. Bags up to 12 by 12 inches are allowed, and they don't have to be clear. Anything larger than 4 by 6 inches goes through X-ray screening. Oversized bags have to go back to the car or into a paid locker.
3. Pick the gate that matches your lot. D Lot uses Gates 1 or 7, and A Lot uses Gates 2 or 3. The arena lists gate prices of $40 to $50 plus tax, notes that prices may change, and promotes buying parking in advance.
4. Rideshare uses its own route. Drivers enter through Gate 3, pick up at the north end of the North Pedestrian Walkway and leave through Gate 2.
5. Walkers use Gate 6. The arena says Gate 5 no longer admits pedestrians. That is the change most likely to catch anyone who has walked in the same way for years.

When dinner happens at Sawgrass Mills

The mall still handles the meal before the game, but the timing has gotten tighter. Visit Lauderdale's September 2026 Panthers game guide warns that traffic builds before games and suggests leaving extra time instead of lingering at pregame stops. The same guide recommends Yard House at Sawgrass Mills for beer, burgers, wings and TVs, and Flanigan's Seafood Bar & Grill for a sports-bar meal. Yard House is at 2610 Sawgrass Mills Circle, Suite 1401, in The Oasis, between Regal Cinemas and the game room.

The Sawgrass Mills dining directory splits the sit-down options between two outdoor wings.

For something quicker, The Taco Stand opened its first Broward location at 2606 Sawgrass Mills Circle, Space 1305, on May 4, 2026, serving Tijuana-style tacos and burritos, as Miami New Times reported. The Colonnade lost one option this summer. Matchbox, at 1860 Sawgrass Mills Circle, closed July 1, according to the Sun Sentinel's restaurant roundup.

Put the traffic warning together with doors opening an hour early and a Corona Sandbar built for pregame standing room, and one schedule makes sense on game nights. Eat at the mall early, or skip the mall and do the pregame inside.

December takes one night outdoors

On December 5, a Saturday, the evening crowd heads to a different venue. The City of Sunrise holds its free Light Up the Holidays from 5 to 9 p.m. at Sunrise Amphitheater, 10770 West Oakland Park Boulevard. It includes live music, food vendors, a 7 p.m. tree lighting and a 9 p.m. drone show. Some Winter Wonderland activities are limited to Sunrise residents.

Back at the arena, the Panthers' Hockey Holidays theme covers four home games: Dec. 8, 10, 19 and 21. Trans-Siberian Orchestra brings "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve" to the arena on December 18, between the Pittsburgh and Calgary games.

The lots where it all starts are part of the plan

The biggest change to these nights is still on paper. The City of Sunrise's economic development project page says the Panthers secured development rights around Amerant Bank Arena. It also says Broward County is working on a land-use plan amendment for the 156-acre site. The proposed program includes:

• 1.62 million square feet of office and educational space
• 1,400 multifamily homes
• 600 hotel rooms
• 60,000 square feet of meeting space
• 250,000 square feet of cultural space
• 8 acres of green space

The South Florida Business Journal reported in August 2026 that Broward County and the Panthers filed the plans, with most of the development proposed for the arena's existing parking lot. Today, A Lot and D Lot and their numbered gates set the rhythm of every game night. Under the filed plan, much of that ground would become offices, homes, hotel rooms and green space.

Metropica sits nearby with its own long build-out. The same city page describes it as a 65-acre project entitled for 3,300 homes plus office and commercial space, with one residential tower complete. Both plans together point to a Sawgrass area where more of the evening happens within walking distance of the arena, and the new Upper Level bars are the first version of that this season.

If you want to know how the filed arena-district plan and Metropica's next phases could affect the blocks around your building, Alex Miranda Group follows Sawgrass-area development closely and can walk you through what is on file. Schedule a consultation, in English or en español.