Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnSpringer
Then why haven't they spent it on other players? They had to spend it on Vanek or would have lost him but they haven't been going after anybody.
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I live in Buffalo (and listen to sports radio every morning...god am I sick of the Bills and the Sabres), so I have some insight into this argument...
1.) Though the Sabres sell-out most games, their ticket prices are lower than most in the NHL. In 06-07, Sabres tickets (at an average of $30.07) were third cheapest in the NHL (St. Louis - $28.23 and Phoenix - $25.41 were the only teams lower) and they were the President's Trophy winner that season. For reference, Wings tickets were $43.13 (which was also the league-wide average...surprisingly) and the most expensive tickets were in Vancouver at $58.96 (nearly double those in Buffalo).
2.) The corporate support for the Sabres is not what it is for other teams (suites are a large portion of arena revenue). Remember, the Sabres were near bankrupt in 2002 after the Adelphia fiasco (essentially the same year Hasek essentially forced the trade out of Buffalo). Corporate box sales are up again with the Sabres' recent sucess, but fan trust in owner Tom Golisano and GM Darcy Rieger is quickly waning.
3.) Buffalo has the 2nd lowest metro-area population (1.25M) of any U.S. based NHL team (Raleigh, NC is the lowest at 0.99M) and is thus a true "small market team."
4.) Not only is Buffalo a relatively small city, it is also a "rust-belt" city that did not have the same revival that other rust-belt cities saw in the 90's. The Sabres actually rely on a lot of support from southern Ontario to fill arena seats.
That being said, the Sabres can probably afford to spend more than they are right now. I assume they are holding some money for next season so they can push to re-sign Ryan Miller(
) and Jason Pominville (similar to the Wings holding money to re-sign Z and Mule).