Sabres' brass LOVES Leafs fans at FNC

[Stoner]

"Lorne Opler is a travel writer based in Toronto."

 

Have YOU read it?

 

Also, there's a quote from someone from Visit Buffalo Niagara.

 

​Yes, it's a travel piece.

 

And next morning, before heading across the street to Canalside rink for a few laps around New York State's largest outdoor recreational rink, you'll feel right at home enjoying breakfast at Harborcenter's flagship Tim Hortons — a Timmy's like you've never before complete with a statue of the famed Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leaf defenceman outside its front doors.

Why so Harbor Center centric? I suppose the Sabres didn't provide the photos that accompany the story either?

[darksabre]

When I don't get upset about a team vice president encouraging Leaf fans to populate our building, I will hang em up and do just that.

 

This has Brandon written all over it. I remember Ted Black on a number of occasions remembering how much he hated out of town fans coming to Pittsburgh. I think he also said the same about the Leaf fans. The bottom line was there wasn't much he could do to stop it. But to encourage it? Ick.

Now you're defending Ted Black?

[Stoner]

Purely out of curiosity, how did you find this article?

 

You do know that Sabres-related news links are gathered on sabrespace.com's The Sabres Report, right? :wallbash:

[SwampD]

Why so Harbor Center centric? I suppose the Sabres didn't provide the photos that accompany the story either?

Damn. Now you made me half to go back and actually read the article. That way I will know what there is to do when I come back and stay there.

[Taro T]

You do know that Sabres-related news links are gathered on sabrespace.com's The Sabres Report, right? :wallbash:

Ah, yes, thanks Gary.

[Stoner]

Now you're defending Ted Black?

Why not? What did he do wrong? Is he the new Tim Connolly now? Will his face be the default avatar? Ted listened to the fans, cared and had a big heart. He wouldn't have said what Gilbert said. Hmmm, giving away a piece of our sports heritage to Canada, who does that sound like?

Damn. Now you made me half to go back and actually read the article. That way I will know what there is to do when I come back and stay there.

There's a lot to do. And I'm sure there are mom and pop breakfast places within reasonable distance of that hotel that could have used a little publicity.

[darksabre]

Why not? What did he do wrong? Is he the new Tim Connolly now? Will his face be the default avatar? Ted listened to the fans, cared and had a big heart. He wouldn't have said what Gilbert said. Hmmm, giving away a piece of our sports heritage to Canada, who does that sound like?

This is some Donald Trump stuff right here. You've spent two years hating Ted Black and now he's Robin Hood? Good grief.

[sabills]

People know sports rivalries are like wrestling storylines right? They only exist in the minds of the fans. This isn't the 1940's. The players don't really care (T-minus 2 posts before someone mentions Gorges, give me 2 more recent examples), and the ownership CERTAINLY doesn't care. You pay to show up to a match? Sweet. Money. All that matters.

 

Its a ###### PR guy talking to a ###### travel blog. I COULDN'T GIVE LESS OF A ###### WHAT HE SAYS. Jesus, people.

Edited January 30, 2016 by sabills

[TheAud]

Did you read that dreck article? Dollars to doooonuts it's slightly rewritten copy provided by the team. The Sabres initiated the contact, I'd guess, because as Taro said Leaf fan attendance seems to be on the wane. And we can't have that.

Pure speculation. 

[thewookie1]

PA I think you've finally lost it. 

 

This is a article about traveling to Buffalo for Leafs fans, obviously it will be made more Leaf friendly. Its meant to create business, not kill the Sabres; we've always had a large number flock across the border so why not induce them to stay awhile longer and spend in our city. If anything this helps Buffalo as a whole since we are cashing in on desperate Leaf fans. I'd love for us to have a full Sabre fanbase at a Leafs game but that isn't realistic. Any fan will eventually be swayed by the loads of cash Leafs fans are willing to give to see a single game. Literally I've been told that you can pay for your season tickets by merely selling your 2/3 Leaf games, and for most Sabres fans that is a great deal. Then you can cheer on your team for 38/39 games for pretty much parking costs. Unless you have enough money to pay off all those people's tickets, they will find a way to pay off those tickets, and Leafs fans tend to be desperate enough to foot the bill. 

 

Also, this has absolutely nothing with our Stanley Cup aspirations; these aren't playoff games, and rarely have Sabres-Leafs games mattered to much of anything in the past decade. 

 

 

Now PA, please end this endless hatred for all things Pegulas....... Critique is welcomed but remember they own the teams, and they kept them in Buffalo. They at very least deserve credit for that.

[K-9]

Yeah, the Sabres' front office, in response to a foreign travel writer's inquiries, should do all it can to insult out of town fans rather than welcome them. WTF?

 

PA, I have grown to respect and sometimes rather enjoy your intellect and wit over the years here, but sometimes you jump the rails.

 

And your naivete regarding Harbor Center is astonishing. Gilbert's polishing of the southern Ontario apple has more to do with Canadian hockey moms and dads and tourney participants booking rooms for hockey tourneys than it does with Leafs fans coming to a handful of games.

 

GO SABRES!!!

[That Aud Smell]

Because that's what the article is about. It is a travel article about Leaves fans coming here to watch hockey.

Well, yeah. But is Gibby the writer? He is not. Why turn over and show your tummy lime that?

 

Better take: "Look, we love our barn and feel we have the best fans in the league. Those Leaf fans do show up in numbers, and they're welcome when they come. Maybe we can turn some into Sabre fans (laughs). They help create great atmosphere."

 

Having said all that: HarborCenter requires the Sabres to woo all of southern Ontario. The economics require it.

 

You can grouse about how that detracts or distracts from the one true goal, but I think that's misguided.

[Stoner]

Pure speculation. 

Of course. Hence the word "guess."

You can grouse about how that detracts or distracts from the one true goal, but I think that's misguided.

Of course. Hence the words "one of a million little things."

This is some Donald Trump stuff right here. You've spent two years hating Ted Black and now he's Robin Hood? Good grief.

That's unfair. I never liked his handling of the questions surrounding ticket price increases. I called him a Pegula crony and pointed out how he hired his former boss, Ken Sawyer. Overall I had no problem with him. I think he stuck to the business side and did some very smart PR things. I didn't spend two years, or four years, "hating" him.

[apuszczalowski]

When I don't get upset about a team vice president encouraging Leaf fans to populate our building, I will hang em up and do just that.

 

This has Brandon written all over it. I remember Ted Black on a number of occasions remembering how much he hated out of town fans coming to Pittsburgh. I think he also said the same about the Leaf fans. The bottom line was there wasn't much he could do to stop it. But to encourage it? Ick.

 

I still don't think you've read it. Does it read like a travel piece to you?

it sounds just like a travel piece, or like a written version of the video that would be looped on channel 1 of your hotel room tv

[nfreeman]

 

If Leaf fans start staying away and the season ticket holders who sell their tickets take a bath, great. Whatever effect that has on my wallet, probably minimal, would be a small price to pay if I was a multibillionaire who loved the Sabres.

 

Ah yes. A familiar refrain: "I want XYZ, and I want someone else to pay for it, because he can afford it. And I want to criticize him endlessly for not giving me what I want, right now."

[Stoner]

Interesting exercise. Small sample, but hardly any Sabres fans can muster any outrage about a team higherup inviting Leafs fans into our house. Deducting the "I will never agree with PA/I always have to defend our wealthy overlord" effect, it kind of shows how beaten down the fans are. It's sad, really.

 

I can't imagine there would be any more reaction to 10 home games being taken to Hamilton. Let's hope Brandon isn't testing the waters here. Or, how about this: market the Harbor Center by advertising in Columbus, Pittsburgh, Philly and Boston. "We love Jackets/Penguins/Flyers/Bruins fans."

 

Anything?

 

Puppies are cute?

[PromoTheRobot]

Umm, is the answer because the guy doing the talking is head of PR & he's speaking to a TO based reporter doing a piece for a Hamilton newspaper? :unsure:

 

You know how you can tell when a marketer is lying? Yep, when the gums are flapping. (And that one works regardless of the audience.) ;) The October Loafs game had a lot of empty seats IIRC. The guy in charge of getting butts in those seats is trying to do his job. Obviously he'd prefer (one would hope) to see '06 level fan distribution for that game (the blocks of ticket broker seats being the location for the vast majority of B&W short bus helmet wearing patrons), but it is pretty clear that until the Sabres get good again, it's not happening. At least not as long as PTR (& others) can get 4 times what he paid for the tix by selling to a B&W short bus helmet wearer. (And that is regardless of what the Sabres list the window price at.)

Okay I have to rebut this. Obviously you do not track secondary market prices. Leafs games barely crack $40 which is barely break even when fees come out. So no local fans are being priced out. In fact any Sabres fan can go to games right now at below box office prices, and they still don't go. So spare us the tears and sad violins.

Actually, the PR guy never said anything about Leafs fans, he said people from Southern Ontario, it's the writer from a Hamilton Newspaper who wrote the article advertising the game experience in and around the rink for Leafs fans.

 

What he left out was the fact that buying tickets is as easy as finding a Sabres fan with season tickets who will gladly sell his Leafs tickets for a profit to pay off his season tickets and then whine and complain that the arena is like a morgue or the arena is taken over by the enemy.

Again, games are not selling out now. No one is blocking rabid Sabres fans from attending. FNC is a morgue because no one cares, period.

The Sabres want butts in seats. Butts in seats spend money which in turn makes money. This is a business.

 

If the Sabres fans are going to sell their tickets to Leafs fans then the Sabres brass has no choice BUT to embrace those fans because they are the one's who are spending their money.

 

I suppose Gilbert could go the other way.

 

"No, we hate Leafs fans. We despise our season ticket holders selling their seats to them. We need to crack down on that and constrain the season ticket holders from selling their seats somehow."

 

The problem is the season ticket holders. I hate seeing so many Leafs fans at games but it's a hell of a lot better than empty seats. The season ticket holders are the ones who create the problem.

There would be less than 7,000 fans at FNC right now if it weren't for out of town fans. That's reality. So stop blaming STH'ers and go to a game yourself. Tickets are dirt cheap now. Edited January 30, 2016 by PromoTheRobot

[PromoTheRobot]

Why so Harbor Center centric? I suppose the Sabres didn't provide the photos that accompany the story either?

Because the story was about what to do right by FNC?

[Stoner]

You are so full of f###ing ###### it is amazing. F##k off you troll bag dick sucking wanna be douche nozzel. Seriously pa take your head, shove it up your ass. Oh and if it isn't clear what I'm saying, I'm telling you to go f##k yourself.

What happened to you? You used to be a good poster. I'm actually half concerned.

[Doohicksie]

Nope, try again. Man, you come off as arrogant.

 

I just read the whole thread up to this point, and you're the only one that comes off that way.  Sorry, but it's true.

[darksabre]

Interesting exercise. Small sample, but hardly any Sabres fans can muster any outrage about a team higherup inviting Leafs fans into our house. Deducting the "I will never agree with PA/I always have to defend our wealthy overlord" effect, it kind of shows how beaten down the fans are. It's sad, really.

 

I can't imagine there would be any more reaction to 10 home games being taken to Hamilton. Let's hope Brandon isn't testing the waters here. Or, how about this: market the Harbor Center by advertising in Columbus, Pittsburgh, Philly and Boston. "We love Jackets/Penguins/Flyers/Bruins fans."

 

Anything?

 

Puppies are cute?

As a fan of a college team that always traveled well at opposing arenas, we loved it when the home crowd got fired up over our being there. And I had no issue with other fans coming in and adding to the atmosphere. It's better than an arena full of Chet and Muffy home fans.

[qwksndmonster]

PA, I love you, but this is a non-story. None of what you got in this thread was "that old spooky PA."

 

Except for Liger... don't know what that was.

 

Also the conservative Freeman quote was pretty cute.

Edited January 30, 2016 by qwksndmonster

[...]

 

Now you're out of your mind.

No he's not. This is so common it's like regular bowel movements. You don't know how this sh:t works?

[Sabres Fan in NS]

I just don't like when the opposition fans come and invade our home arena, but reality is, like promo said, the arena is not sold out game after game.  A huge hockey market is close, so it is to be expected now.

 

I'm with you, PA, that it is just wrong for the Sabre big shots to welcome and encourage it.  Shows me where their bottom line is.

[...]

PA has a very valid concern here, IMHO. This is a travel article initiated by the FO marketing department. It's pretty obvious to anyone who knows what that kind of fluff looks like.

 

What's at issue here is the Sabres "selling out" the team and Sabres' fans in favor of selling as many tickets, hotel rooms, and donuts as possible. Its a lack of loyalty to the team and its fans and a winning, positive environment for the SABRES community.

 

It seems business of the Harbour Centre experience has taken precedence over a 100% commitment to a winning culture.

 

Hockey games are not Broadway shows where it doesn't matter where the audience comes from or who they favor in the show. While a place like Shea's benefits from filling their seats with these marketing tactics, the Sabres really should consider a different approach.