Don't they traditionally draw a large portion of their ticket sales from the Canadian side of the border (hence why they always play the Canadian anthem at the start of games even when playing an American team)? Obviously with COVID closing borders, that blocked a lot of people - and I think the season ticket holders from there were hesitant to re-up their packages this season - I figure it takes 2 "normal" seasons to get back to the status quo and not be scared that some other variant is going to come out and shut everything again and make that money you invested in hockey games another loss.
about 20%of the fans are Canadian.
buffalo us the only place to alway do both. The Arena is the closet to Canadian. Less than a mile as bird flies.
many split season tickets so the STH data is incorrect on who the customers are.
it was a combination of things…
1 Canadian border closing and whrn opened it caused border crossing issues with proper documents thst wasn’t the same going each way.
2. When Covid hit stopping the season buffalo was in the playoff hunt at the deadline but the team went on a 6-7 game losing streak. Thry we’re just outside of the bubble playoffs
3.21 season is shortened and crowds limited. Canadians coukdnt cross. they also had vax requirements for those attending games which missed some fans off.
4. after the season they traded away Ristolainen, Reinhart, and the stuff with Eichel was brewing. This signaled rebuilding again which pissed many off.
5. This season….fall is always bern lower fans come out because msny buy tickets for bills games. After the bills are done, focus changes to the Sabres and more tickets sell. Buffalo in recent years have started well and thrn faltered…now it’s like the boy who cried wolf.
IIRC Buffalo is, population-wise, the smallest city in the NHL. If they’re not the smallest then they’re close to it.
The bills are taking away attention, plus weather has been brutal up there, economy isn’t great right now, and from what I’ve heard there’s a lot of Canadian transplants in upstate NY who already have a team to root for.
Add that stuff in to the team being pretty bad in recent history and it makes sense.
Most people who are going to games right now are probably pretty big fans. It takes more than half a season of decent production to turn the tide.
Pittsburgh is basically a case study in this. Popularity of the sport didn’t increase significantly until they had some sustained success and made it to the first SCF in 08. Small population cities will always struggle with attendance when the team isn’t doing well because they just don’t have enough population of people willing to go to games to see a bad team.
Hell, even in 2017 as reigning champs I was getting tickets to Penguins games for less than $20USD each. Small cities just dont have the population to be able to drive up demand enough.
you are wrong on many things here
buffalo population does NOT count the Canadian populationthst lives across the border. the population would raise considerably if you count everyone within 75 miles like many large markets get to do.
look at Seattle..it’s tv market is 75+ mile radius. LA too. Phoenix too. Dallas, bsy area. Buffalo is cut off because of Rochester
media markets know Buffalo is a top 10 US market because of the southern Ontario population.
most of the Canadians who live in buffalo are Sabres fans.even those just over the border.
buffalo also gets one of the top market share/ ratings in nhl playoffs.
the fans are upset because of a second rebuild after supporting the team thru the first one.
you saw a similar affect with the Bills where they changed coaches/ gm every few years.
