Sabres' brass LOVES Leafs fans at FNC

[pastajoe]

I have no problem with visiting team fans buying available single game tickets to fill the arena. What I don't like are all the STHs who sell their tickets so the lower bowl looks like a road game.

[Eleven]

So what do you want?

 

More poutrage.

[PromoTheRobot]

Keep in mind Sabres fans take over other teams buildings all the time. You want that to stop?

[Stoner]

So what do you want?

I want the Sabres to not make a pitch to Leaf fans. It's not a lot to ask. They'll come anyway. I don't blame Terry for this, by the way. But he is the owner and should know what's going on. I'd like to think he would slap Gibby's PP if the comment was off the cuff and if it wasn't, tell Russ to knock it off. Terry has the right thing in him -- "I don't want to come in here and raise ticket prices" he said on his first day -- but at least on the business side he does seem to let his people do what they want to do. An issue like this, though, rises to ownership level. HE IS A SABRES FAN.

Keep in mind Sabres fans take over other teams buildings all the time. You want that to stop?

Come on. You can't be missing the point that badly. I want the arena in Tampa to be 100% Sabres fans. If I was a Lightning fan, I'd be outraged if my team put an ad in the Buffalo paper saying how much they love Sabres fans.

More poutrage.

That's a complaint when the gravy is cold, you rube!

[darksabre]

I want the Sabres to not make a pitch to Leaf fans. It's not a lot to ask. They'll come anyway. I don't blame Terry for this, by the way. But he is the owner and should know what's going on. I'd like to think he would slap Gibby's PP if the comment was off the cuff and if it wasn't, tell Russ to knock it off. Terry has the right thing in him -- "I don't want to come in here and raise ticket prices" he said on his first day -- but at least on the business side he does seem to let his people do what they want to do. An issue like this, though, rises to ownership level. HE IS A SABRES FAN.

I don't put any stock in Terry's fanhood. I don't think he's a super fan and it doesn't matter. His job is to make the team profitable so that he has no reason to move it, sell it, etc.

 

Leafs fans make Terry money. Let them come.

[Stoner]

I don't put any stock in Terry's fanhood. I don't think he's a super fan and it doesn't matter. His job is to make the team profitable so that he has no reason to move it, sell it, etc.

 

Leafs fans make Terry money. Let them come.

This is way too cold-hearted and dead-eyed. It's OSP. I want the young, passionate d4rk back. He woulda been with me.

[darksabre]

This is way too cold-hearted and dead-eyed. It's OSP. I want the young, passionate d4rk back. He woulda been with me.

I can recognize when business is business. If the Sabres want to prey on the Toronto market then do it.

 

Maybe your soap box should be pointed towards the fans who sell their tickets? You can lecture them about honor and "protecting this house" and all that nonsense.

[apuszczalowski]

And not only is there precedent for doing that, I can't find or think of any precedent for encouraging rivals' fans to come to your game. Can you imagine an Isles exec saying how much they love Ranger fans? Those fans would not suffer it. And Wang needs the money more than Pegula does. Brandon: We love Dolphins fans. Is the welcome mat out at Lambeau for Bears fans. This is a disgrace, folks, and some of you can't call evil by its name. Obama? Pfffft. He's an amateur.

 

The Ahockalypse

 

And in the third straight winter

 

At the bottom of the standings

 

Pegula's minion will sound a clarion call:

 

"Come, Leafs fans, come

 

Enter the gates of Hockey Heaven!"

If you want to talk precedent, let's compare apples and apples here. Has any team ever prevented other teams fans from Attending REGULAR SEASON games in their rink?

 

It's funny how everyone wants to continue to suckle the Pegula teet because he apparently has an infinite supply of wealth and can rebuild the city without expecting to make any profits. He now owns a facility that requires out of owners to come in and stay to succeed so he promotes it in a fluff travel piece and it kisses some butt to try and fill an arena that the amazing local fans can't waste their valuable time to fill themselves.

[Eleven]

If you want to talk precedent, let's compare apples and apples here. Has any team ever prevented other teams fans from Attending REGULAR SEASON games in their rink?

 

It's funny how everyone wants to continue to suckle the Pegula teet because he apparently has an infinite supply of wealth and can rebuild the city without expecting to make any profits. He now owns a facility that requires out of owners to come in and stay to succeed so he promotes it in a fluff travel piece and it kisses some butt to try and fill an arena that the amazing local fans can't waste their valuable time to fill themselves.

 

He didn't even go anywhere close to that far.  

 

It's a freelance travel writer looking to make his $100 for a small article.  He probably made three phone calls--one to the Sabres, one to 716, and one to Visit Buffalo Niagara. Or sent three emails.  He got back some quote material and some photos.  I highly doubt Terry Pegula was involved in this at all.

[...]

Well, here comes more free consulting for the Sabres. If I ever apply to them for a job, I should mention Sabrespace...

 

No one will argue with, or "blame", the Sabres FO for marketing to the Southern Ontario market. The issue is how they do it. If they're going to market there use this as the mission statement: "we love hockey fans from Southern Ontario, and we love it when they come to our games. Our goal, every time they're here, is to turn them into Sabres fans if they're not one already..."

 

Boom. Done. Every time they mention a house packed with fans of the enemy team, they say that the goal is to convert them into Sabres fans.

They could have a lot of fun with a campaign like "come to the blue and gold side, it is your destiny..."

[That Aud Smell]

No duh.

Way to indulge your inner 12 year old.

Well, here comes more free consulting for the Sabres. If I ever apply to them for a job, I should mention Sabrespace...

 

No one will argue with, or "blame", the Sabres FO for marketing to the Southern Ontario market. The issue is how they do it. If they're going to market there use this as the mission statement: "we love hockey fans from Southern Ontario, and we love it when they come to our games. Our goal, every time they're here, is to turn them into Sabres fans if they're not one already..."

 

Boom. Done. Every time they mention a house packed with fans of the enemy team, they say that the goal is to convert them into Sabres fans.

They could have a lot of fun with a campaign like "come to the blue and gold side, it is your destiny..."

I like it.

[Stoner]

Way to indulge your inner 12 year old.

Says the guy who likes to keep it down with the OPP for realz.

[That Aud Smell]

Says the guy who likes to keep it down with the OPP for realz.

Using a kid's vernacular or listening to the kids' music is one thing (although OPP hasn't been kids' music for decades); acting like one is quite another.

 

To put a finer point on it: I'm into civil discourse; "no duh" has no place there.

[Neo]

"Yeah, you know me ..."

 

Riff Raff's dad.

 

 

PS:

 

I'm fine with the piece for reasons others have articulated clearly. Profit and marketing. Fill the seats, regional fan base.

 

And, not trying to sound all wishy washy, the OP is a "cause debate" post and I dig those immensely. Poke, PA, poke.

 

Boxes, and their outsides.

Edited January 31, 2016 by N'eo

[WildCard]

How would one go about offending you? Would calling you the Dunleavy of posters do the trick? Want a worthwhile insult in my back pocket, just in case! :p

I'm still waiting for the answer to this

[tom webster]

While there has been some good give and take and some not so good give and take, I think you are all missing a very important point. There is really little to no home ice advantage anymore as arenas become identical and going to sporting events has become a social night out.

The analytics crowd scoff's at the idea of momentum and if they are right, there can be little or no benefit derived from having people yell at you or against you. How often do we here how you have to withstand the first ten minutes of the home team's onslaught only to be told they were too wound up when said onslaught doesn't happen.

The front office's main job to maximize home ice results is too not request black out dates that result in too many back to backs or cause too many short road trips back and forth. A better home record is derived from taking advantage of being the better team compounded by being the more rested foe.

After that their main focus should be on maximizing revenue in order to maximize the ability to acquire and keep talent.

[WildCard]

I consider myself part of the analytical crowd and I certainly don't dismiss the effect of momentum

[Stoner]

While there has been some good give and take and some not so good give and take, I think you are all missing a very important point. There is really little to no home ice advantage anymore as arenas become identical and going to sporting events has become a social night out.

The analytics crowd scoff's at the idea of momentum and if they are right, there can be little or no benefit derived from having people yell at you or against you. How often do we here how you have to withstand the first ten minutes of the home team's onslaught only to be told they were too wound up when said onslaught doesn't happen.

The front office's main job to maximize home ice results is too not request black out dates that result in too many back to backs or cause too many short road trips back and forth. A better home record is derived from taking advantage of being the better team compounded by being the more rested foe.

After that their main focus should be on maximizing revenue in order to maximize the ability to acquire and keep talent.

Spock!?

[Taro T]

Well, here comes more free consulting for the Sabres. If I ever apply to them for a job, I should mention Sabrespace...

No one will argue with, or "blame", the Sabres FO for marketing to the Southern Ontario market. The issue is how they do it. If they're going to market there use this as the mission statement: "we love hockey fans from Southern Ontario, and we love it when they come to our games. Our goal, every time they're here, is to turn them into Sabres fans if they're not one already..."

Boom. Done. Every time they mention a house packed with fans of the enemy team, they say that the goal is to convert them into Sabres fans.They could have a lot of fun with a campaign like "come to the blue and gold side, it is your destiny..."

Can one of our Canadian brethren tell us if the Sabres are finally available to watch on a regular basis on the NP?

 

Making it easy to watch the "local" team would do wonders for increasing the quantity of Sabres fans there.

 

And just as it seems that they are going to market the begebus out of Eichel on this side of the river, they should market O'Reilly & Reinhart ridiculously on that side of it.

[spndnchz]

Oh jeez.

[PromoTheRobot]

I want the Sabres to not make a pitch to Leaf fans. It's not a lot to ask. They'll come anyway. I don't blame Terry for this, by the way. But he is the owner and should know what's going on. I'd like to think he would slap Gibby's PP if the comment was off the cuff and if it wasn't, tell Russ to knock it off. Terry has the right thing in him -- "I don't want to come in here and raise ticket prices" he said on his first day -- but at least on the business side he does seem to let his people do what they want to do. An issue like this, though, rises to ownership level. HE IS A SABRES FAN.

 

Come on. You can't be missing the point that badly. I want the arena in Tampa to be 100% Sabres fans. If I was a Lightning fan, I'd be outraged if my team put an ad in the Buffalo paper saying how much they love Sabres fans.

 

That's a complaint when the gravy is cold, you rube!

So, just curious, how many Sabres games do you pay to attend?

I can recognize when business is business. If the Sabres want to prey on the Toronto market then do it.

 

Maybe your soap box should be pointed towards the fans who sell their tickets? You can lecture them about honor and "protecting this house" and all that nonsense.

How about at the fans that simply don't attend games period?

If you want to talk precedent, let's compare apples and apples here. Has any team ever prevented other teams fans from Attending REGULAR SEASON games in their rink?

 

It's funny how everyone wants to continue to suckle the Pegula teet because he apparently has an infinite supply of wealth and can rebuild the city without expecting to make any profits. He now owns a facility that requires out of owners to come in and stay to succeed so he promotes it in a fluff travel piece and it kisses some butt to try and fill an arena that the amazing local fans can't waste their valuable time to fill themselves.

:thumbsup: BINGO!!! Edited January 31, 2016 by PromoTheRobot

[Sabel79]

Sabres fans descend en masse in Raleigh and Columbus (I've been in the middle of it in Columbus a few times, it was fun).  Neither franchise gets all hurt about the extra tickets sold (Columbus fans are pretty nice as well, even with the Cheektowaga inebriates going out of the way to be annoying.  Carolina... well...).  The BJ's still call me all the time in an attempt to peddle tickets, and it's been almost five years.  

 

Pittsburgh fans swarm Washington.  Montreal and Toronto sweaters can be found everywhere in large numbers.  It'll be fine.  As has been stated upthread, if you're so offended by who is buying tickets, perhaps you should buy them yourself.

[LTS]

Think about the children! Seriously, think about them. What do Eichel and Reinhart and the others think about the arena situation? About the Sabres wanting it to be ACC South. I would hope as pros it doesn't matter, but they're human beings too. I wish someone like ROR would speak out against it.

 

Yep, LTS, that's exactly what I want Gilbert to say. I wish Terry would say it. The template was laid when Terry said things like he'd drill another well or there's no salary cap on scouting and such. 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.

 

My God, can we not get behind anything on this board? Who can be in favor or more Leaf fans in our building? Or is it Obama telling the Republicans he's opposed to gay marriage and the Republicans saying, "Come to think of it..."

 

Misplaced rage. Leafs fans don't buy season tickets I would suspect. Therefore, in order to make an appreciable dent as they do they must use the resale market. From a pure ticket sales perspective the Sabres don't care because the ticket for that seat was sold to the STH.  However, since the STH is likely to sell a good amount of games the Sabres are in favor of welcoming the opposing fans into the market.  Why?  Because butts in seats makes more money than just empty air. The STH base makes value estimates when laying out that amount of money for a team that is at the bottom of the standings. Most often it's done by selling tickets to other teams fans. I would guess that as the Sabres return to winning ways the amount of available tickets will go down OR the price will have risen to a point where a STH can't or won't sell the ticket and end up attending the game themselves.  For now however, the Sabres want butts in seats.

 

The STH is who makes this happen. If you want to be mad, be mad at them. One might argue that by making this particular statement Gilbert is attempting to add value to the STH tickets for Leafs games. If more Leafs fans suddenly want to come then the demand is raised while the supply stays static.  If the STH raises their requested price on the ticket they make more money and it makes their investment a better value.

 

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.

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.

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.

 

A few flaws in this argument. The first assuming I can arrange time in my schedule to go to a game. The second is assuming i can afford to go to a game. It's not just a trot downtown for me.  The next flaw is assuming I have some angst towards the STH for selling tickets.  See above, perhaps that explains more.  The Sabres have placed a ceiling on ST sales. I doubt most Leaf fans buy ST and as such it is an assumption that most ST are sold to Sabres fans who then resell them to offset the cost of the investment. I understand why they do it. I don't have to like it.  It is still their fault however.  If they don't sell the tickets then the tickets can't be purchased and as such Leaf fans are not at the game.

 

FWIW, during the past couple of playoffs, certain teams blocked ticket sales to out of state credit cards. Why do you suppose they did that?

 

First and foremost, in my unsubstantiated opinion, they do it because they are idiots.  However, stupid statements and actions such as that do a great job of instigating the masses and making the fans believe that somehow their home team is in jeopardy because a few fans want to attend a game.  It's a moronic policy.  People's financial needs sometimes require them to travel to areas that are not within the marketing rights of a sports team they root for but they are banned from going to see the game because of what?  A few opposing voices in the crowd? 

 

Keep in mind Sabres fans take over other teams buildings all the time. You want that to stop?

 

Nope.  And I assume the fans of those teams don't enjoy it either. 

[PromoTheRobot]

As far as I'm concerned, this is a non-issue until Sabres game are all sold out.

 

On a side note, why don't the Sabres invite Canadian Forces veterans to stand on the ice for the Canadian anthem?

Edited January 31, 2016 by PromoTheRobot

[Claude_Verret]

Wait PA started another thread making Mount Everest out of a micro mole hill? Shocked I am!

Edited January 31, 2016 by Claude_Verret