Quinn confirmed this week that the Sabres have a July 1 deadline to decide whether to buy out the contract with Empires owner, Adelphia, for $1 million and sell the National Hockey League teams games to another cable sports entity with a wider audience reach in upstate New York. It will not be easy finding another carrier willing to pay $26 million for four years, which is what remains on the deal that Adelphia made with the NHL when the league was running the team.