Photo: SPECTRUM NEWS
BY: CARSON HAYEK, SPORTS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
Buffalo sports fans are extremely familiar with long playoff droughts and mediocrity. From 1999-2017, the Buffalo Bills experienced a 17-season playoff drought, which was the longest in NFL history at the time. For Buffalo’s hockey team, it has not been any better. The Sabres have not made the playoffs in an NHL-record 13 seasons and have gotten off to an inconsistent start this fall.
In a league where half the teams make the playoffs each year, fans’ frustration is at an all-time high. A direct correlation of this is with the team averaging almost 4,000 empty seats a night. According to Hockey Reference, the Sabres are averaging 15,361 fans per game. Excluding the 2020-21 and 2021-22 COVID seasons that limited attendance, 15,361 fans is the franchise’s lowest average attendance since the 2003-04 season. Buffalo’s arena, the KeyBank Center, can hold 19,070 passionate Sabre fans. The arena, being at 80.7% on average, ranks fourth worst in the league ahead of Utah—where the arena is under renovation—San Jose and Columbus.
The organization also isn’t in the same bottom-feeder category as San Jose or Columbus. The Sharks and the Blue Jackets are in mid-rebuild as San Jose owned the first overall pick and Columbus picked fourth this past offseason.
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams fired fourth-year head coach Don Granato this past April, 16. In Adams’ press conference following the firing, he repeatedly stated that the move was done in hopes of getting the team “over the hump.” On April 22, the organization announced the re-hiring of longtime head coach, Lindy Ruff. In Ruff’s opening press conference, the phrase “win now” was used by management and ownership multiple times.\
With management selling optimism to the fanbase, the Sabres marketing team also tried to offer cheaper season-ticket packages. Tickets in these packages were as cheap as $26 per game.
As a result of management claiming the team is in a “win now” phase and season tickets being cheaper, season-ticket holders increased from 6,500 to 8,000 for this season, according to the team. Although the number of season-ticket holders increased, the attendance is the lowest in 20 years and the major concern is with non-season ticket holders. The organization struggles to bring in the average fan who doesn’t possess season tickets. This is shown with lackluster attendance outings on weeknight games. Post-home-opener, the team averages 13,562 people (71.1%) at home.
The only way to improve attendance in the arena is for better play on the ice. The Florida Panthers are a prime example of this. The current defending Stanley Cup Champions struggled with attendance from 2012-2020. The team missed the playoffs in six of the eight seasons and exceeded an average of 16,000 (83%) fans just once. Post-COVID-19, Florida has not missed the playoffs and attendance has skyrocketed. In the 2022-23 season, the Panthers saw an 11.7% increase in attendance per game and have now eclipsed over the 16,000 people average in three of the last four seasons, according to Hockey Reference.
If the Sabres consistently perform better on the ice, the fans will return. But, if the Sabres continue to disappoint relative to expectation, it won’t be long before the fanbase is permanently lost.
hayekc24@bonaventure.edu
