OT: Erie County to allow control of Key Bank Center to revert to the City of Buffalo at the end of the current lease

[Scottysabres]

Rogers Media should buy it out right, it’s the Maple Leafs second home arena already anyways.

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, Scottysabres said:

Rogers Media should buy it out right, it’s the Maple Leafs second home arena already anyways.

Take a look at the seating map on Ticketmaster for next Tuesday's Leafs game. Thousands of unsold seats. Canadians aren't crossing the border anymore. (Lol, we finally got our wish to keep Leafs fans from taking over our building.) The Sabres have always relied on Canadians buying tickets. Without them the franchise is boned.

[LGR4GM]

58 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Take a look at the seating map on Ticketmaster for next Tuesday's Leafs game. Thousands of unsold seats. Canadians aren't crossing the border anymore. (Lol, we finally got our wish to keep Leafs fans from taking over our building.) The Sabres have always relied on Canadians buying tickets. Without them the franchise is boned.

Border crossings have dropped close to 50% year over year due to the stupidity going on in the US. 

[sabremike]

6 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Take a look at the seating map on Ticketmaster for next Tuesday's Leafs game. Thousands of unsold seats. Canadians aren't crossing the border anymore. (Lol, we finally got our wish to keep Leafs fans from taking over our building.) The Sabres have always relied on Canadians buying tickets. Without them the franchise is boned.

Yeah, the place would still be empty if the Sabres were on the verge of clinching a playoff spot instead of eliminated for the 14th season in a row.

And if you believe that I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

The fans on the other side of the Peace Bridge are generally people who don't give a flying ***** about the Sabres and just want to see NHL hockey. If we weren't historically bad SABRES FANS IN WNY WOULD BE BUYING EVERY ***** TICKET.

[PromoTheRobot]

On 4/10/2025 at 3:31 PM, sabremike said:

Yeah, the place would still be empty if the Sabres were on the verge of clinching a playoff spot instead of eliminated for the 14th season in a row.

And if you believe that I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

The fans on the other side of the Peace Bridge are generally people who don't give a flying ***** about the Sabres and just want to see NHL hockey. If we weren't historically bad SABRES FANS IN WNY WOULD BE BUYING EVERY ***** TICKET.

You overestimate how many people can afford Sabres games and would go every night. Buffalo was already one of the smallest NHL markets. Without Canada we lose half a million in market population.

Edited Sunday at 02:28 PM by PromoTheRobot

[sabremike]

2 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

You overestimate hour many people can afford Sabres games and would go every night. Buffalo was already one of the smallest NHL markets. Without Canada we lose half a million in market population.

Just FTR: Paul Weiland said in his book that the % of STH's from Canada was generally 13%. If you saw this level of futility for almost any other NHL team they'd be drawing <10k a night and fans probably would've burned the arena down. And somehow I don't think the Bills will be struggling at the gate this season (or anytime soon for that matter).

[spndnchz]

To be clear:

the lease is until Fall of 2026

The city owns the land, the county owns the building and is leasing it from the city, which is then subleased to an organization that subleases it to the Sabres,” Poloncarz said. “My goal is to eventually get the county out of that.”

 

[PromoTheRobot]

8 minutes ago, sabremike said:

Just FTR: Paul Weiland said in his book that the % of STH's from Canada was generally 13%. If you saw this level of futility for almost any other NHL team they'd be drawing <10k a night and fans probably would've burned the arena down. And somehow I don't think the Bills will be struggling at the gate this season (or anytime soon for that matter).

13% is still a couple thousand. And how long ago did he write that book?

[sabremike]

17 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

13% is still a couple thousand. And how long ago did he write that book?

Yes, the percentage is higher today and I already explained why (STH's from Canada are far more likely to not give a ***** about the Sabres and thus don't care that the team is *****). And not for nothing but the whole condescending idea that Buffalo and WNY is some impoverished basket case that depends on the charity of Fort Erie is such nonsense and is really getting on my nerves.

Edited April 10 by sabremike

[PromoTheRobot]

7 minutes ago, sabremike said:

Yes, the percentage is higher today and I already explained why (STH's from Canada are far more likely to not give a ***** about the Sabres and thus don't care that the team is *****). And not for nothing but the whole condescending idea that Buffalo and WNY is some impoverished basket case that depends on the charity of Fort Erie is such nonsense and is really getting on my nerves.

Sorry it offends you but it doesn't change things. Niagara County, ON population is 500,000 and losing them hurts.

[shrader]

4 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Sorry it offends you but it doesn't change things. Niagara County, ON population is 500,000 and losing them hurts.

And we’re talking about the nextdoor neighbors. Just imagine if you suddenly told the Craps that they can’t draw anyone from northern Virginia or Maryland. 

[Ogelthorpe]

Jacob's Arena or Delaware North Arena sounds pretty good. 

[PromoTheRobot]

11 hours ago, Ogelthorpe said:

Jacob's Arena or Delaware North Arena sounds pretty good. 

That's an interesting concept.

[LGR4GM]

18 hours ago, sabremike said:

The fans on the other side of the Peace Bridge are generally people who don't give a flying ***** about the Sabres and just want to see NHL hockey. If we weren't historically bad SABRES FANS IN WNY WOULD BE BUYING EVERY ***** TICKET.

 

17 hours ago, sabremike said:

Yes, the percentage is higher today and I already explained why (STH's from Canada are far more likely to not give a ***** about the Sabres and thus don't care that the team is *****). And not for nothing but the whole condescending idea that Buffalo and WNY is some impoverished basket case that depends on the charity of Fort Erie is such nonsense and is really getting on my nerves.

Rick Jeanerette was from across the river in Niagara. Check yourself before you ***** on the fans across the river.  

[JoeSchmoe]

19 hours ago, sabremike said:

Yes, the percentage is higher today and I already explained why (STH's from Canada are far more likely to not give a ***** about the Sabres and thus don't care that the team is *****). And not for nothing but the whole condescending idea that Buffalo and WNY is some impoverished basket case that depends on the charity of Fort Erie is such nonsense and is really getting on my nerves.

Impoverished or not, the Buffalo market is small compared to most other NHL markets. It's not about charity to appeal to Canadians, but it's about growing a fan base, selling corporate seats, etc. Stuff a franchise could do by moving to a bigger market like Houston. Hockey is the #1 sport here in Canada, as opposed to being the #2 sport in Buffalo, and done right, there's a lot of potential.

Prior to tanking, the number of Sabres fans here in Niagara were getting close to outnumbering Leaf fans. The tank (and the futility since) killed that. 

[sabremike]

4 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

 

Rick Jeanerette was from across the river in Niagara. Check yourself before you ***** on the fans across the river.  

What part of "People on the other side of the Peace Bridge GENERALLY are not Sabres fans" did you not understand? 

[sabremike]

2 hours ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Impoverished or not, the Buffalo market is small compared to most other NHL markets. It's not about charity to appeal to Canadians, but it's about growing a fan base, selling corporate seats, etc. Stuff a franchise could do by moving to a bigger market like Houston. Hockey is the #1 sport here in Canada, as opposed to being the #2 sport in Buffalo, and done right, there's a lot of potential.

Prior to tanking, the number of Sabres fans here in Niagara were getting close to outnumbering Leaf fans. The tank (and the futility since) killed that. 

Why would they move a team instead of take a north of a billion dollar expansion fee? It's the single worst kept secret on earth that Atlanta and Houston are getting expansion teams, they aren't relocating a 55 year old team and wiping their ***** with a billion dollars. And I find this whole thing even more hilarious when you realize there's a team in Canada struggling at the gate despite being a constant contender/playoff team. If the Sabres were playing at that level the STH wait list would stretch from Buffalo to Boise.

[LGR4GM]

13 minutes ago, sabremike said:

What part of "People on the other side of the Peace Bridge GENERALLY are not Sabres fans" did you not understand? 

Pretty much the entire bad premise of what you said, which is still some *****.

[JoeSchmoe]

1 hour ago, sabremike said:

Why would they move a team instead of take a north of a billion dollar expansion fee? It's the single worst kept secret on earth that Atlanta and Houston are getting expansion teams, they aren't relocating a 55 year old team and wiping their ***** with a billion dollars. And I find this whole thing even more hilarious when you realize there's a team in Canada struggling at the gate despite being a constant contender/playoff team. If the Sabres were playing at that level the STH wait list would stretch from Buffalo to Boise.

They can expand and move teams at the same time.

All it takes is the will of an owner to want to make more $ and lose less (though arguably he's still making money on franchise appreciation). Getting a 9-figure bill on an arena for a declining fan base might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. 

Also keep in mind... When the Sabres season ticket wait list was a mile long, they were dirt cheap... Bottom of the league. And the price could largely be made back by selling your Leafs and Habs games.

If prices went up to league average to cover the massive cap increases AND you couldn't sell your "Gold" games to Canadians, I question how well the seats would sell in an average year. Yes, they might do okay if the team is in cup contention like they were in the mid-00's... But say if we were Minnesota Wild level average over an extended period, I don't think people would want to keeping paying.

[sabremike]

34 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

They can expand and move teams at the same time.

All it takes is the will of an owner to want to make more $ and lose less (though arguably he's still making money on franchise appreciation). Getting a 9-figure bill on an arena for a declining fan base might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. 

Also keep in mind... When the Sabres season ticket wait list was a mile long, they were dirt cheap... Bottom of the league. And the price could largely be made back by selling your Leafs and Habs games.

If prices went up to league average to cover the massive cap increases AND you couldn't sell your "Gold" games to Canadians, I question how well the seats would sell in an average year. Yes, they might do okay if the team is in cup contention like they were in the mid-00's... But say if we were Minnesota Wild level average over an extended period, I don't think people would want to keeping paying.

If the Sabres didn't suck you would be able to make it up by selling your weekend games vs the Red Wings or Islanders and make a good amount of money back. 

And ask the Blackberry guy how easy it is to waltz in, buy a team and move it. That doesn't happen in the NHL.

[shrader]

5 minutes ago, sabremike said:

If the Sabres didn't suck you would be able to make it up by selling your weekend games vs the Red Wings or Islanders and make a good amount of money back. 

And ask the Blackberry guy how easy it is to waltz in, buy a team and move it. That doesn't happen in the NHL.

It's fine as long as you have the league's blessing (Winnipeg/Utah).  That's not going to happen with the Buffalo market.

[sabremike]

7 minutes ago, shrader said:

It's fine as long as you have the league's blessing (Winnipeg/Utah).  That's not going to happen with the Buffalo market.

Only two relocations in the last quarter century and only happened because both teams were literally kicked out of their respective arenas.

[shrader]

On 4/11/2025 at 5:15 PM, sabremike said:

Only two relocations in the last quarter century and only happened because both teams were literally kicked out of their respective arenas.

I mean, that’s not even remotely what happened in Atlanta, but ok. 

[Pimlach]

Not sure what the future is with the city taking control and responsibility for the Arena.  

It’s not a great place as it is, needs a remodel.  I doubt the City has the resources to do a better job with it.  

I just never warmed to that building either.  

[sabremike]

6 hours ago, shrader said:

I mean, that’s not even remotely what happened in Atlanta, but ok. 

The ownership ended up a total fiasco but I distinctly recall that the arena really just didn't want hockey at that point but "kicked out" might be too strong a term. Regardless, it took an absolutely bonkers situation for that relocation to happen.