PromoTheRobot Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 There seems to be some discussion of a Sabres/Leafs outdoor game at RWS. An ESPN article proposed it, but no official word from the Sabres themselves. If you support the idea, why not e-mail the Sabres and let them know? PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 For the novelty of it, and just to say I was there, yes I would probably go to an outdoor game. But I would not be going for the game itself. Can you imagine how lousy the sightlines would be for hockey? You are looking at a 200'x85' rink inside a stadium built around a 360'x150' field. My guess is it would be much worse than attending a Saints game in the pre-Katrina Superdome as you are trying to follow a puck from several hundred feet away if you are up in the upper deck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PTS Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 A former colleague of mine works for the Sabres and he said there is a big push from within the organization to make this happen. I'm sure letting the Sabres hear it from the fans will help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saber61 Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 id love to see an outdoor game... but would the sabres be involved... probably not... it'd be more like the leafs and canadians.... they'd use 2 canadian teams before they use an american one i would think... just for the nostalgia of it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topshelfcookies Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Any suggestions on WHO people should contact with the Sabres to give support to a Leafs/Sabres outdoor game? An email address or phone number would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chileanseabass Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 having just attended the wisconsin/ohio state game, i'll throw my 2 cents in... i was worried about the sightlines, but they were actually quite good. i was right at center ice (40 yard line) half way up and could see everything fine. the first fifteen rows were filled with shirtless, drunken uw students, and that's the only place the view was lousy. lambeau is a lot smaller than i thought it would be. how does the size of lambeau compare to ralph wilson? i've never been to a bills game so I wouldn't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted February 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 http://www.sabres.com/contactus.cfm Click here to reach the Sabres contact form. I think sighlines are less of an issue than just having an excuse to tailgate and get rowdy. The only negative is if Leafs and Sabres fans decide to mix it up. That could be ugly. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BetweenThePipes00 Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 I don't know how I feel about this ... it is a cool idea, but here are my reservations: 1. Weather is definitely an issue ... too mild a day and the thing is a mess ... or, Since the Ralph is in the Southtowns, the you could start the game in perfect weather and by the second period 6 inches of show could have fallen. I'm sure many of us have experienced this first hand (like me vs. Phoenix in 1990 ... Miami in 2002) Which would of course just reinforce for the rest of the country the myth that Buffalo is somewhere north of the arctic circle. 2. 73,000 seats ... how many will be Leafs fans? Realistically ... I bet more than half. I am NOT knocking Sabres fans, but that's just reality. Especially because tickets to the game would be more expensive than your average game ... and don't get me wrong, for the Sabres to draw 35,000 for a regular season hockey game would be amazing, it's more than most teams could draw, and yet it would end up looking bad because the other half would all be Leafs fans. I know this stuff shouldn't matter and I am overreacting, I totally admit that ... the good stuff probably outweighs this stuff ... But as a transplantent Buffalonian, I hate to see the city put in a negative light ... I still take pride in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deluca67 Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 I don't know how I feel about this ... it is a cool idea, but here are my reservations: 1. Weather is definitely an issue ... too mild a day and the thing is a mess ... or, Since the Ralph is in the Southtowns, the you could start the game in perfect weather and by the second period 6 inches of show could have fallen. I'm sure many of us have experienced this first hand (like me vs. Phoenix in 1990 ... Miami in 2002) Which would of course just reinforce for the rest of the country the myth that Buffalo is somewhere north of the arctic circle. 2. 73,000 seats ... how many will be Leafs fans? Realistically ... I bet more than half. I am NOT knocking Sabres fans, but that's just reality. Especially because tickets to the game would be more expensive than your average game ... and don't get me wrong, for the Sabres to draw 35,000 for a regular season hockey game would be amazing, it's more than most teams could draw, and yet it would end up looking bad because the other half would all be Leafs fans. I know this stuff shouldn't matter and I am overreacting, I totally admit that ... the good stuff probably outweighs this stuff ... But as a transplantent Buffalonian, I hate to see the city put in a negative light ... I still take pride in it. WNY comes out big for special events. I would think an out door game at Rich would be a wild time. I would go. I would guess the Bills wouldn't mind making a few extra bucks as well. I think the NHL would go for it since Southern Ontario is a huge hockey market. You would draw fans from all over. New York City, Toronto and other cities just because of the novelty. The only problem is that somehow the local politicians will want to be in on it (get paid). And once that happens there is no chance of anthing happening. See Peace Bridge, Casino and Water Front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fushetti Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 I bet the game would sell out with 65,000 leaf fans in attendance. hahaha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chileanseabass Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 having a stadium full of leaf fans would be reservation as well, however, if you price the tickets so that they're affordable (highest priced seats only $25 or so), i think you would see half of wny at the ralph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knightrider Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 For the novelty of it, and just to say I was there, yes I would probably go to an outdoor game. But I would not be going for the game itself. Can you imagine how lousy the sightlines would be for hockey? You are looking at a 200'x85' rink inside a stadium built around a 360'x150' field. My guess is it would be much worse than attending a Saints game in the pre-Katrina Superdome as you are trying to follow a puck from several hundred feet away if you are up in the upper deck. Actually, it would be interesting if they did this with a larger ice surface... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted February 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 I don't know how I feel about this ... it is a cool idea, but here are my reservations: 1. Weather is definitely an issue ... too mild a day and the thing is a mess ... or, Since the Ralph is in the Southtowns, the you could start the game in perfect weather and by the second period 6 inches of show could have fallen. I'm sure many of us have experienced this first hand (like me vs. Phoenix in 1990 ... Miami in 2002) Which would of course just reinforce for the rest of the country the myth that Buffalo is somewhere north of the arctic circle. 2. 73,000 seats ... how many will be Leafs fans? Realistically ... I bet more than half. I am NOT knocking Sabres fans, but that's just reality. Especially because tickets to the game would be more expensive than your average game ... and don't get me wrong, for the Sabres to draw 35,000 for a regular season hockey game would be amazing, it's more than most teams could draw, and yet it would end up looking bad because the other half would all be Leafs fans. I know this stuff shouldn't matter and I am overreacting, I totally admit that ... the good stuff probably outweighs this stuff ... But as a transplantent Buffalonian, I hate to see the city put in a negative light ... I still take pride in it. I have no worries the game wouldn't sell out, assuming tickets are reasonably priced. (avg. $25) It's a given more than half would be Leafs fans. It's so hard to see a Leafs game live that if you offered a chance to see them (even in a stadium) for $25, their fans would travel 500 miles! (Give them credit fr that!) In fact you could probably charge more than $25, but then you hurt Sabres fan attendance. I wonder if there is a way for the Sabres to limit the number of tickets sold to Canadian fans to say 40,000? Quality of the ice surface is not an issue. Modern ice sheet technology allowed NHL hockey to be played in the Ceasar's Palace parking lot in Las Vegas. (Kings vs. Rangers) You know it wasn't freezing there. You can put a clear cover on the rink to protect it from rain. Lake snow is an issue, but if you do it in the dead of winter, when hopefully Lake Erie is frozen, that possibilty drops significantly. To me this is a no-brainer. In fact, it ought to be a an annual event, with the game moving between Skydome/Rogers Center and RWS in alternating years. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two or less Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 I don't think it will ever happen, although it'd be an amazing event for sure. I think there would be too much security risk, imagine how many security guards they'd need to get? Theres more then enough trouble in the 300's during games at HSBC arena now, imagine a pack house at RWS, with people tailgating all day long! It'd be like Denver/Bills from Sat night this past season all over again, except twice as bad. For that reason, i don't think they will do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topshelfcookies Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 I don't think that the security issue will be as big of a deal as everyone is making it. As rowdy as Leafs/Sabres games get, when was the last time you saw people actually fighting in the stands at HSBC? Also, remember back to the Broncos game...what were some of the contributing factors to the number of fights? 1 - It was a night game. 2 - The Bills were horrible, and out of it...the idiots who were doing the fighting and disrupting fans weren't there to watch the game, they were there to simply get hammered and hang out with friends. None of those people cared to pay attention to what was going on ON the field. Two of the biggest problems could be easily solved then! Start the Sabres/Leafs game in the afternoon, or late afternoon as OSU did. A 4pm start on a Saturday, with an Sabres Alumni/Leafs Alumni game at 1 or 2pm to start things off is totally feasible. People will be there because they want to watch the game...the crowd will be into the action on the ice, on the field, and won't be concentrating on getting hammered. Finally, instead of restricting the # of tickets sold to Leafs fans, why not just "block" tickets together? Many college stadiums do this... just have specific sections available to Leafs fans...sell those seats for Canadian at par to encourage Leaf fans to sit together, thus helping to minimize confrontation. It won't be perfect, and there will be some confrontation, but I think this event would be absolutely FANTASTIC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawerchuk Posted February 17, 2006 Report Share Posted February 17, 2006 Hell yeah, I'd go. You know it would be a great time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKnowPhysics Posted February 18, 2006 Report Share Posted February 18, 2006 having just attended the wisconsin/ohio state game,... the first fifteen rows were filled with shirtless, drunken uw students. WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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