is there a clause in the lease that says if they don't sell enough tickets, they can relocate to phoenix or houston?
The million-dollar question is what's in the lease. If you think Paul Hamilton/Mike Harrington will dig that up, forget it. As we get closer, some Canadian national or other hockey media will get on this. And you can expect Pegula camp to leak stuff if they don't get what they need in the renovation. Who knows? Maybe, there is zero issues, and $400 Million or whatever gets approved, and he signs a long-term lease, and it's all a footnote.
I will say one thing. There is zero way Pegula agreed to a deal that keeps the Sabres in Buffalo in perpetuity under any circumstances. No way. Such an agreement would leave any owner at the mercy of their arena landlord. You'd have to sign anything because everybody would know you could never move the team. (That's beyond the question of whether such a permanent agreement would be even valid.)
The Sabres need to win, and it all likely solves itself. But the franchise and fan base is being chipped away by really bad management. That said, Buffalo's history with hockey is impressive and to really destroy the franchise, they have more work to do. People still love the team (me included) even in spite of all of it.