Billsman
January 6th, 2006, 4:29:13 PM
Sabres give a big lift to game and city
1/6/2006
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060106/1049468.asp
By DONN ESMONDE
It is faith rewarded for those who believe that good things can happen here. It is evidence against the notion that this place is cursed, that what had gone wrong cannot be righted.
What they have done is a slap in the face to Wide Right, a punch in the gut to No Goal, a kick in the teeth to the mind-set that we can't win for losing.
I don't want to get too far gone. But once in a while the tide turns, the sick are healed, a damsel is saved from the clutches of a beast.
Not long ago, the Buffalo Sabres - one of our two major pro sports teams - were even money to be gone. The team was bankrupt, its owners led away in handcuffs. The inside of HSBC Arena for a midweek game looked like a Rothko canvas, with wide swatches of blue - the color of vacant seats.
With equal parts luck, planning and creativity, what once was nearly dead now is revived. The Sabres don't solve all of our ills, but having them helps to liven up the long winters.
Thursday night's game was a near sellout after four sellouts in a row. The next four games will likely sell out. Barring a collapse, the team will make money for the first time in more than 20 years. Cushioning any future stumble is the safety net of a billionaire owner, Tom Golisano.
We won one.
The Sabres did it by facing reality and meeting fans halfway. Desperation is the mother of creativity. The Sabres cut ticket prices and shaped a team to fit a smaller-market, job-challenged city. They won over fans who were fed up with an overpriced, underwhelming product and wary after a yearlong league lockout.
Largely credit Larry Quinn, a bright guy whose interests range from waterfront development to Irish playwrights to Russian right-wingers. The Sabres' managing partner went up in flames his first time around with the team. He has been smarter and easier to live with on his second go-round.
Buffalo is no Silicon Valley of innovation. Yet the Sabres are the first major American pro sports team to set per-game ticket prices on worth of the opponent and day of the week. It was the brainstorm of Quinn and Dan DiPofi, Sabres chief operating officer.
On a Friday night against rival Toronto, dig deep into your wallet. Midweek against so-what Phoenix, you're in for as little as 17 bucks. It's working. Average attendance is up more than 3,000 for weekday games.
"The [lower] pricing was a gamble [to boost attendance]," said Quinn, sitting Thursday in an office overlooking the downtown waterfront. "If we were wrong, we'd be looking at a 25 percent drop in revenue, and I wouldn't be sitting here now. I give people in Buffalo a lot of credit for supporting us."
It helped that rules changes made the game more lively and a leaguewide salary cap cut player costs. The Sabres passed the savings to fans, slicing some season ticket prices by nearly a third. They realized it is better to fill the place at fair prices than to gouge folks and have it half-empty. It is more than just the buzz of 18,000 bodies and the extra beer and pizza sales. Nobody sees acres of empty seats - in the arena or on TV - and thinks this is the place to be. Now it is.
"With the sellouts, people are getting locked out of games," DiPofi said. "That will pull more people into season tickets."
It helps that the team is winning. Like the city, the Sabres are hardworking, value-priced and better than outsiders think. It's a top-five team in an underdog town.
"We're not geniuses," Quinn said of the reversal of fortune. "We took a creative approach to marketing and pricing, but the main thing is the players are doing well."
It shows how far a little creativity can go. A team once on thin ice is now a hot ticket. Stop and smell the roses. This bouquet comes without any thorns.
1/6/2006
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060106/1049468.asp
By DONN ESMONDE
It is faith rewarded for those who believe that good things can happen here. It is evidence against the notion that this place is cursed, that what had gone wrong cannot be righted.
What they have done is a slap in the face to Wide Right, a punch in the gut to No Goal, a kick in the teeth to the mind-set that we can't win for losing.
I don't want to get too far gone. But once in a while the tide turns, the sick are healed, a damsel is saved from the clutches of a beast.
Not long ago, the Buffalo Sabres - one of our two major pro sports teams - were even money to be gone. The team was bankrupt, its owners led away in handcuffs. The inside of HSBC Arena for a midweek game looked like a Rothko canvas, with wide swatches of blue - the color of vacant seats.
With equal parts luck, planning and creativity, what once was nearly dead now is revived. The Sabres don't solve all of our ills, but having them helps to liven up the long winters.
Thursday night's game was a near sellout after four sellouts in a row. The next four games will likely sell out. Barring a collapse, the team will make money for the first time in more than 20 years. Cushioning any future stumble is the safety net of a billionaire owner, Tom Golisano.
We won one.
The Sabres did it by facing reality and meeting fans halfway. Desperation is the mother of creativity. The Sabres cut ticket prices and shaped a team to fit a smaller-market, job-challenged city. They won over fans who were fed up with an overpriced, underwhelming product and wary after a yearlong league lockout.
Largely credit Larry Quinn, a bright guy whose interests range from waterfront development to Irish playwrights to Russian right-wingers. The Sabres' managing partner went up in flames his first time around with the team. He has been smarter and easier to live with on his second go-round.
Buffalo is no Silicon Valley of innovation. Yet the Sabres are the first major American pro sports team to set per-game ticket prices on worth of the opponent and day of the week. It was the brainstorm of Quinn and Dan DiPofi, Sabres chief operating officer.
On a Friday night against rival Toronto, dig deep into your wallet. Midweek against so-what Phoenix, you're in for as little as 17 bucks. It's working. Average attendance is up more than 3,000 for weekday games.
"The [lower] pricing was a gamble [to boost attendance]," said Quinn, sitting Thursday in an office overlooking the downtown waterfront. "If we were wrong, we'd be looking at a 25 percent drop in revenue, and I wouldn't be sitting here now. I give people in Buffalo a lot of credit for supporting us."
It helped that rules changes made the game more lively and a leaguewide salary cap cut player costs. The Sabres passed the savings to fans, slicing some season ticket prices by nearly a third. They realized it is better to fill the place at fair prices than to gouge folks and have it half-empty. It is more than just the buzz of 18,000 bodies and the extra beer and pizza sales. Nobody sees acres of empty seats - in the arena or on TV - and thinks this is the place to be. Now it is.
"With the sellouts, people are getting locked out of games," DiPofi said. "That will pull more people into season tickets."
It helps that the team is winning. Like the city, the Sabres are hardworking, value-priced and better than outsiders think. It's a top-five team in an underdog town.
"We're not geniuses," Quinn said of the reversal of fortune. "We took a creative approach to marketing and pricing, but the main thing is the players are doing well."
It shows how far a little creativity can go. A team once on thin ice is now a hot ticket. Stop and smell the roses. This bouquet comes without any thorns.