The Buffalo Sabres have good news for their season ticket-holders about a 2022-23 season they hope will see the team finally make inroads in the standings.
Prices in KeyBank Center will go up an average of only 1% for next season in notices being sent to customers on Monday. But prices of many seats are going down or staying flat, and even customers whose seats are scheduled to see an increase can retain their current price for next season if they renew their seats by March 18 as part of a promotion the team is dubbing "Ice Your Price."
"At each level, we wanted to basically have a good entry-level price," said John Durbin, the senior vice president for marketing and business strategy for Pegula Sports & Entertainment. "So our 200 Club end is where we're coming down. We have a 100-level seat that is now $49 per game price, so less than $50 on the 100 level. And then we did not raise the price on our cheapest ticket in the building. So we will have a full season ticket for just under $1,000 available as well.
The Sabres are averaging just 8,657 tickets sold per game in the 19,070-seat arena for their 26 home games thus far, and in-house crowds have been far fewer than that some games.
"It wasn't a matter of like, 'Hey, let's just drop in the 300s and push everybody up there.' It was more how do we find something in each scale? So anybody who is feeling a little bit of a pinch on price, they can still stay on that level if they like that level. They would just need to move their seats."
At the behest of fans, the team is extending options for payment plans on seats from the current 3-5 months to 10 months. The team is asking for all renewal commitments to be made by April 25 to retain seats. Fans who renew are eligible for prizes to be awarded at each remaining game this season starting March 4 vs. Minnesota.
Next year's schedule, which is expected to be released in early July in conjunction with the NHL Draft, will feature the customary 41 home games rather than this year's 40, as the March 13 game against the Toronto Maple Leafs was taken outdoors to Hamilton, Ont., for the NHL's Heritage Classic.
Let UPL do whatever he can for the Amerks this weekend, take Monday off, be at KeyBank Center for practice on Tuesday and in the Bell Centre in goal for the Sabres against Montreal on Wednesday, Harrington says.
Both the Sabres' hockey and business departments are hopeful of major improvement on the ice next season, with the expected addition of recent top draft picks Owen Power, Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka, as well as goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Power, the team's No. 1 overall choice in July, is likely to sign with the team in April after his season ends at the University of Michigan and make his NHL debut at the end of this season. Quinn and Peterka, Buffalo's top two choices in the 2020 draft, have each debuted this season, and Luukkonen is expected to be ready to be the team's top goalie come fall.
In addition, the Sabres have three first-round picks in the draft this July, and one of them is expected to be a top-five choice that could be a candidate to be on the roster as well.
The Sabres' attendance has cratered this season, with the team about to miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for an NHL-record 11th straight year. The season-ticket count, which was around 16,000 for much of the 2010s, has dropped to around 6,500. And the per-game average of 8,657 per game presently rates as the lowest for any NHL team since 1999.
Buffalo owns a 14-24-7 record, 20 points out of a playoff spot, ahead of its matchup Thursday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets in KeyBank Center.
The Sabres are referring to their season-ticket holders as "members" in a distinct approach used by Frank Batres-Landaeta, the club's new vice president of ticket sales and service. He came to town in July from the San Jose Sharks and has worked in the business office of the New Jersey Devils. Offering a fresh set of eyes and some new approaches were among his mandates.
"That's the exciting part. And that's part of the reason why I took the opportunity to come to Buffalo," Batres-Landaeta said. "It's going to be driving the value to our members. My expertise is being able to engage and drive value through other things than just 'come to the arena and watch a game.' "
The team has already embarked on a program of several activities for its members in the arena around the games and a big upcoming one will be a renewal of a "paint the ice" event for members after the season, as is done in many other NHL markets. Also after the season, the club plans to start a program called "Blue and Gold Insights" to give fans the ability to ask questions to players, coach Don Granato, GM Kevyn Adams and other front-office staff.
"It will be intentional the way that we engage our season ticket members year-round," Batres-Landaeta said. "Ultimately, we're going to take some of the experiences that I've had in other markets and see what works here and be able to listen to our fans. They've told us plenty of what they want to see and what they want to do, and we're going to look to execute on those items."
The Sabres have engaged 25 fans to form a "Fan Council" to provide the organization with feedback on all aspects of its operation. And they believe it has a multiplier effect, with those 25 fans soliciting opinions from others and spreading information they learn from the team to their fellow fans.
An example of that direct fan feedback turning into action is the Sabres starting a formal ticket trade program for next season that will allow their members to return tickets for games they can't use but add tickets for other games.
"We've heard from our fans that they need flexibility," Batres-Landaeta said. "And we heard that a lot, especially around the holidays. They couldn't make it out to this game, but they wanted to bring out their family that's in town for the other game. So we're going to be introducing this program to be able to serve that and have them have the choice of exchanging games and really maximizing the value to their membership.
"They've been loud and clear, especially through the phone calls that I've taken and had with them, that it's an important piece to be able to keep and maintain it."
Ticket exchanges are common in Major League Baseball, which has an 81-game home schedule, and are starting to become more prevalent in the NHL.
What happened in Vegas the last four years (three Western Conference finals appearances, one Stanley Cup final appearance) doesn't stay there. It's the experience Alex Tuch can lean on to try to replicate with the team he grew up loving as a kid outside of Syracuse.
"The members are the lifeblood for us, the most valuable fans that we have in the building each and every day," Batres-Landaeta said. "So we want to make sure that we're actually executing on the feedback that they're giving us. An example is that 10-month payment option, which is going to be huge for a lot of members to be able to spread that out and afford to be able to come to as many games as they like."
"One of the things that we've learned is our season ticket members really view themselves as part of the organization and we feel the same way, that they are absolutely a part of the organization and not just merely a fan," Durbin said. "And it's a close-knit community. They talk to one another."
Batres-Landaeta said the Sabres have prioritized listening to the feedback and better serving their top customers, an area they've been heavily criticized for in the past. He added the team also is working hard to re-establish a foothold in Canada, as many of their 1,200 members across the border in places like Fort Erie and St. Catharines, Ont., put their accounts on hold this season because they could not cross the border for games. It's a problem unique to this franchise that has not been an issue in other NHL markets.
ST. LOUIS – Inside the hanger at Montreal Saint-Hubert Longueuil Airport late Wednesday nigh…
"The border was something very different, not anything that I had to deal with in the past," Batres-Landaeta said. "So I've had to learn quickly. It's reaching out to those fans. It's having quality engagements with them via phone, to set up face-to-face interactions to show them what we're trying to accomplish.
"We can say a lot and we can talk a lot but until we actually show them, they're not going to really see the difference or understand the difference. We're building out our sales team, we're adding more people to ensure that we have the capacity to engage as many Canadian fans as we possibly can."
