That Aud Smell

His development trajectory has not been linear -- bit of a Paula Abdul progression, if you will. But I'm convinced: He's good (i.e., good top-4). Probably going to be really good (i.e., good top pairing guy). And that goes for a playoff calibre team as well.

One other thing that occurred to me as I was watching the Sabres curb stomp the Leafs: Salaries have gone up. But so too has the cost of building a new stadium. Commensurately, I should think.

Analyses as recent as 2021 are in line with the old studies (and not so old studies). If you have links, hit me up. Agreed that what we’re paying for is abstract — stuff people want.

I’ve been seeing things to this effect of late - most notably in a piece Tim O’Shei had in the Buffalo News. I don’t know where this is coming from. My best guess: Sophisticated press agents of the billionaire owner class. The academic and think tank types have been and remain in universal agreement: Stadiums are a sh1t deal for taxpayers. Full stop. They get financed for political reasons and for regional quality of life reasons. But there’s no economic justification for them. If there’s credible research to the contrary, I’d like to see it. I’ve seen talk lately about the payroll taxes that the teams generate. Colour me skeptical. That report from or for the ESDC refers to marginal tax rates. That’s misleading. Without knowing the effective tax rates, the cash flow from payroll taxes is unknowable. And a lot less than is being trumpeted. There’s also love for the sales tax receipts. But those just represent the moving around of existing discretionary spending. There’s no new money.

Oooh - I wanna get this joke. But don't.

Was he wearing one of those god awful hats that he designed?

Hire someone to spellcheck and otherwise vet written words.

Ha - always. “I don’t mean to interrupt…” Yes you do. “Not to be rude …” Yes you are.

Is true? Link? I remember him saying that they shouldn’t be mean to the Sabre players — and referenced his daughter’s tennis career.

Let's effing go, boys.

ahh, okay. thanks. initially, the timing confused me. middle of the summer? but the draft was held later because of the pandemic, IIRC. I do not mean to be pedantic, but that sort of thing would improve their cash position - not their cash flow.

Did that happen?

That's the number I recall. Cash and assumed debt.

"Old Sugar Packets" has often been a punching bag around here. But damn it all - the team was consistently good - sometimes really, really good - when he was the owner. Then again, there's his crusade to force municipal government to deal with his Canada Geese problem in Canandaigua. YMMV, as @Taro T might say.

The tool who had this custom jersey definitely had the price pegged as $189M.

Grand. That’s rich. My main criticisms of Jemal have little to do with what be actually *does* with his projects, once they’re greenlit. That said, I think you fail to apprehend or appreciate why his street-side design at Seneca One is more than an aesthetic issue - like one of mere preference. It’s god awful urban planning - right smack dab in our historically rich and beautiful Joseph Ellicott area. These sorts of things make downtown worse. The fact that this piece of his plan was passed is indicative of the “main criticisms” and concerns I have with him. The approach of “whatever this guy wants to do is better than en empty or disused building” is exactly what allows bad, ugly, short-sighted planning decisions to hurt Buffalo. It’s a shame.

Eeesh. I actually think PTR may be more correct than wrong on this point. If this were a Venn diagram drawn to scale, the Bills sphere would absolutely dwarf the Sabres sphere — and, sure, there’d be some overlap — and the Sabres sphere would largely be in the Bills sphere — but a lot of the Bills sphere would be independent.

If it's Joe Tsai, maybe bring in your Las Vegas lacrosse partner -- fella by the name of Wayne Gretzky

I know almost nothing about Tsai, but what intrigues me is that he's an actual legitimate businessman who built a massive company -- presumably using actual smarts, skills, and acumen. (This compares with Terry Pegula, whose wealth I have more and more come to view as mostly a product of testicular fortitude and good fortune.) What I would fear about a buyer like Tsai: Would he see the Sabres piddling around in this wee market and petition for them to be in a larger, more profitable one?

He does not have the money, no. The rumour is that he's trying to organize and lead a group. God save us. I think it means that the rumour is less and less quiet as the days go by.

Sabres Twitter also kicking around the name Joe Tsai -- he of the Alibaba fortune and a current owner of other sports franchises (the Nets of the NBA, maybe?).

Sabres Twitter can be funny.

Jeremy White's getting involved in the Sabres-for-sale Twitter chatter seems significant.

Have you been by, around Seneca One? Jesus Christmas. What an abomination it is from an urban development standpoint. How the funk did Jemal get the local planning board to approve those 15' high fortress walls? Amazing what having a "MFN" status can do for a guy. His treatment of the streetscape in that area never, ever should have been approved. It does additional violence to one of downtown's most valuable historical areas. I predict failure for whatever sterile-ass environment he's trying to manufacture behind those walls. Gross. That's one. I have others. But I'll keep that powder dry. EDIT: I will acknowledge that his work to secure the Statler has been far superior to what Croce was doing (which was essentially nothing). There no longer appears to be a risk of that building's masonry falling into the streets below.

The relevancy of Croce is that the City of Buffalo government has an unproductive, crony capitalist (at best) relationship with certain local developers. The Brown administration loved (loved, loved) them some Croce -- they even named a street outside the Statler after him! What exactly did Croce do to advance the cause of an economic recovery for greater Buffalo? I submit to you: Not a got damn thing. Some flashy, splashy projects got done -- with the help of public money, quasi public money, and private financing. Construction jobs? Okay, sure. There are those. Hooray for the trades. Maybe that's where your allegiance derives. But the role of these developers is wildly, even irresponsibly, overstated when it comes to the supposed "renaissance" of Buffalo. We're still the second or third poorest city in the country. These jabronis are shuffling proverbial chairs around the deck of the Titanic, making a healthy buck, and calling it progress. I call bullspit. So that's why I raised Croce. Jemal just slid into that role as chief among Mayor Brown's most-favoured-developers. But it's a sham. A fake. A hoax.