Hey Terry, Do Us A Favor and SELL

[Jim Bob]

I think any investment into the arena now will be based on ROI for the owners. For example, a quicker ordering system that makes people buy more, etc.

I think large investments, like new seats, etc, will wait until the lease renewal.

There is no plan for relocation or even a new arena at this point. The cost over runs at the new bills stadium will scare them off of any big projects for the foreseeable future. Plus they bought the hotel, built the practice arena, lots of investment in the arena district. They'd be hurting themselves.

That would go against what Chad is hearing in that it wouldn't impact the fan experience.

And they did go with one have to maintenance item (roof) and one customer experience item (scoreboard) in year 1.

If it was all about ROI for the owners, they would have waited on the scoreboard and done that stuff last summer.

 

[Chainshot]

His stewardship of the franchise is a stain on the soul. Sell.

 

[Zman5778]

What happens when they are drawing 7-8k on a nightly basis with the cheapest ticket prices in the entire league and little to no corporate support (their money will be 100% going to the throwball team)?

I'm not sure that's ever going to happen. Even with us in the doldrums, they're still selling ~10k season tickets. And that's being supplemented by the fans of the road team.

It's not actual butts in the seats that matter -- it's the number of tickets sold. Now....if the number of tickets sold drops to 5-7k per game.....THEN something might happen.

 

[sabremike]

I'm not sure that's ever going to happen. Even with us in the doldrums, they're still selling ~10k season tickets. And that's being supplemented by the fans of the road team.

It's not actual butts in the seats that matter -- it's the number of tickets sold. Now....if the number of tickets sold drops to 5-7k per game.....THEN something might happen.

They are doing that now, that 10k is going to plummet this offseason barring the team doing something bonkers like signing Marner as a UFA. A lot of those visiting fans buy below face on secondary market, they may not be as willing to pay box office price.

 

[CaliSabresfan24]

Adams should have never been hired in the first place and yet Terry still employs him after missing the playoffs for another 5 years to extent your drought to 15 years..

The Sabres aren't going anywhere as long as Terry owns this team.

 

[Sabre Dance]

No he shouldn’t sell. He needs to hire a new front office, Sign checks, and stay out of the way.

People wanting him to sell are emotional. Pegula has signed pretty much every top player that has come up for a contract. I don’t want another owner. They need to find someone that can build a winning organization. Adams isn’t the guy.

 

[sabremike]

No he shouldn’t sell. He needs to hire a new front office, Sign checks, and stay out of the way.

People wanting him to sell are emotional. Pegula has signed pretty much every top player that has come up for a contract. I don’t want another owner. They need to find someone that can build a winning organization. Adams isn’t the guy.

He's literally running back a hockey version of The Hindenburg next season because he doesn't want to pay for a new GM (who has a whole one year left on his contract) and coaching staff. Seriously, go watch that Marek interview with Lance.

 

[Chainshot]

No he shouldn’t sell. He needs to hire a new front office, Sign checks, and stay out of the way.

People wanting him to sell are emotional. Pegula has signed pretty much every top player that has come up for a contract. I don’t want another owner. They need to find someone that can build a winning organization. Adams isn’t the guy.

There is no evidence that Pegula has any idea how to hire anyone for a pro sports team. He regularly has hired terrible individuals for both the Bills and Sabres at executive levels and below. Impulse hires based on youthful fandom or alignment of political beliefs, hires based on the hirees charisma rather than their skill, people who exhibit poor leadership traits like banging their coworkers or being drunk on the job, people who ignore the mental and physical well-being of the talent... he's done all of that and more than once. The method to repair the reputation damage to the team is with a different owner. Look at how Viola buying the Panthers has made a difference there - they were one of the longest running sob stories in pro sports. Vinik buying Tampa, Smith buying the now UTHC. Ownership matters.

Pegula is a complete and utter disaster as an owner and there is no way he's going to be able to hire someone to fix this because it's almost 15 years and Terry is still failing at it. He doesn't hire well and he doesn't get out of the way. He is an abject and total failure as an owner and yes, people should be upset. And yes, he should sell so that the team can remove the fundamental stain of his presence on the team.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

No he shouldn’t sell. He needs to hire a new front office, Sign checks, and stay out of the way.

People wanting him to sell are emotional. Pegula has signed pretty much every top player that has come up for a contract. I don’t want another owner. They need to find someone that can build a winning organization. Adams isn’t the guy.

That train left town 10 years ago.......... I get that people have good reasons to disagree with me but I believe Lafontaine was on board. A return trip is not planned.

Everything he's done since has FAILED.

 

[Sabre Dance]

There is no evidence that Pegula has any idea how to hire anyone for a pro sports team. He regularly has hired terrible individuals for both the Bills and Sabres at executive levels and below. Impulse hires based on youthful fandom or alignment of political beliefs, hires based on the hirees charisma rather than their skill, people who exhibit poor leadership traits like banging their coworkers or being drunk on the job, people who ignore the mental and physical well-being of the talent... he's done all of that and more than once. The method to repair the reputation damage to the team is with a different owner. Look at how Viola buying the Panthers has made a difference there - they were one of the longest running sob stories in pro sports. Vinik buying Tampa, Smith buying the now UTHC. Ownership matters.

Pegula is a complete and utter disaster as an owner and there is no way he's going to be able to hire someone to fix this because it's almost 15 years and Terry is still failing at it. He doesn't hire well and he doesn't get out of the way. He is an abject and total failure as an owner and yes, people should be upset. And yes, he should sell so that the team can remove the fundamental stain of his presence on the team.

No he shouldn’t sell. Put pressure on him to hire the best front office possible. Let them run the organization.

Selling the team will be the worst possible outcome for Sabres fans. We’ll be back to not being able to sign players. I don’t want that. Might even lose the team altogether.

Get the front office right. Stop shipping out players. Fix the front office! Bring respect back to the Sabres. The NHL is a GM league. Go get someone the league will respect and let them do their job!

 

[Sabre Dance]

That train left town 10 years ago.......... I get that people have good reasons to disagree with me but I believe Lafontaine was on board. A return trip is not planned.

Everything he's done since has FAILED.

Not everything. They always take a wrong turn whenever they’re heading in the right direction.

I promise everyone that they will not be happier with new ownership. This is not a major market with endless resources.

 

[Fjordsen]

No he shouldn’t sell. Put pressure on him to hire the best front office possible. Let them run the organization.

Selling the team will be the worst possible outcome for Sabres fans. We’ll be back to not being able to sign players. I don’t want that. Might even lose the team altogether.

Get the front office right. Stop shipping out players. Fix the front office! Bring respect back to the Sabres. The NHL is a GM league. Go get someone the league will respect and let them do their job!

But he doesn't want to do it, can't you see what's going on? He has a huge ego, who can put pressure on him? He doesn't care about anything, he's an idiot.

 

[Sabre Dance]

But he doesn't want to do it, can't you see what's going on? He has a huge ego, who can put pressure on him? He doesn't care about anything, he's an idiot.

I have never gotten this vibe from Terry Pegula. I think people are guessing. If anything he’s become less involved with the team.

 

[Fjordsen]

I have never gotten this vibe from Terry Pegula. I think people are guessing. If anything he’s become less involved with the team.

If you can't see it, you're either blind or don't want to see it. The dude has never hired experienced people to run his organization.

 

[Sabre Dance]

If you can't see it, you're either blind or don't want to see it. The dude has never hired experienced people to run his organization.

Teams hire inexperienced ex players to run their organizations all the time. He’s hired top candidates in the past. Tim Murray and Jason Botterill were top candidates.

But for whatever reasons those GMs hired the worst coaches. As I said before they head in the right direction but end up taking a wrong turn.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

If you can't see it, you're either blind or don't want to see it. The dude has never hired experienced people to run his organization.

He came close once and was talked out of it (my opinion, I have no facts or ledger). So he and the Mrs took it on themselves.

 

[Fjordsen]

Teams hire inexperienced ex players to run their organizations all the time. He’s hired top candidates in the past. Tim Murray and Jason Botterill were top candidates.

But for whatever reasons those GMs hired the worst coaches. As I said before they head in the right direction but end up taking a wrong turn.

Sometimes yes, but not for 15 years. If Murray and Botterill hired the wrong coaches or couldn't get the right roster together, they probably aren't very good GMs. Not every NHL GM becomes a good GM, there are plenty of examples and not just in Buffalo. Sometimes there are Zito, but not always. I thought after Botterill it would have made sense to hire an experienced guy, maybe a POHO with experience or a GM, but no, Terry hired a guy with no front office experience at all, who is his lackey and rejects any experienced help.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Not everything. They always take a wrong turn whenever they’re heading in the right direction.

I promise everyone that they will not be happier with new ownership. This is not a major market with endless resources.

Two bottom lines here for me.... as a fan from 1970....

1.) He's the owner and its his money. he can do whatever he wants with the franchise. My objections or opinions don't matter.

But IMHO....

2.) He's ruining the legacy of the franchise iand pushing it deep into the ground (ice) via the people he's hired.

Terry is the one constant in this series of follies.

 

[Sabre Dance]

Sometimes yes, but not for 15 years. If Murray and Botterill hired the wrong coaches or couldn't get the right roster together, they probably aren't very good GMs. Not every NHL GM becomes a good GM, there are plenty of examples and not just in Buffalo. Sometimes there are Zito, but not always. I thought after Botterill it would have made sense to hire an experienced guy, maybe a POHO with experience or a GM, but no, Terry hired a guy with no front office experience at all, who is his lackey and rejects any experienced help.

Obviously he’s getting it wrong. I just don’t think he’s making roster decisions.

Obviously there’s been less spending, I don’t know why. I don’t know if we’ve ever gotten any answers as to why the spending has decreased. Spending was through the roof for a while, still finished last.

There’s so many comments on how Terry runs his organization but I never see any of it. There’s no articles on it, no quotes. Maybe I’ve missed them. If things were that bad you’d think something would leak out over the years. Only thing I’ve heard leak out was about Kim being tough to work with.

 

[Sabre Dance]

Two bottom lines here for me.... as a fan from 1970....

1.) He's the owner and its his money. he can do whatever he wants with the franchise. My objections or opinions don't matter.

But IMHO....

2.) He's ruining the legacy of the franchise iand pushing it deep into the ground (ice) via the people he's hired.

Terry is the one constant in this series of follies.

I remember when we were all excited about this billionaire fan buying the team. I made a comment saying what if he’s another Dan Snyder?

I’m confident in saying that he’s nothing at all like Dan Snyder. I truly believe he’s a good owner that has just gotten it wrong. That probably makes no sense. I truly believe that once he hits on GM/coach that the Sabres will be a powerhouse organization.

I know it seems unlikely to happen but it will happen. The odds are in our favor. He can’t miss forever.