Sabres Tickets

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

 

 

So something that happened 20 years ago that no team today would do anymore is somehow an example of how inept Sabres management/sales is? The world has changed, get over it.

 

It was a story....yes the world has changed....some people willingly gobble it up too.

[spndnchz]

So something that happened 20 years ago that no team today would do anymore is somehow an example of how inept Sabres management/sales is? The world has changed, get over it.

 

There's this thing called the internet now.

 

The Sabres let you pick your own tickets now. Before you just took the best available and had to exchange them. They've been working on the system for a few years and implemented it this year. Some may think it sucks, but it is what it is.

[Taro T]

I understand the frustration but isn't the lack of availability a good thing? Given the tone of this board over the last year, I expected a good amount of tickets available.

And how can you blame the team? Last year they had games that they had difficulty selling so they made some adjustments and apparently solved their problem .

On a certain level, it is a good thing. Been to waaaaay too many Hartford or Tampa games through the years that couldn't fill up the corners in any level even on a weekend night. (Used to be able to tell if there'd be a good crowd or not by whether the beer stand next to my aisle was set up or not. If they were expecting less than ~14k in the rink it wasn't opened. There were a lot of nights it wasn't opened.)

 

And if the lack of availability were due to an actual demand for sitting in the rink by the people buying / currently holding the tix it would be a great thing.

 

Unfortunately, the reality is, Stubhub rules. And I don't see that changing anytime in the near future.

[...]

So we've traded the morgue-like atmosphere and relative non-exclusivity for the team's market viability? When have ticket-sales been a concern for the Sabres? And when did we start thinking the market is tentative?

 

Whatever.

[Derrico]

So instead of trying to find out why they were having difficulty selling some games (AHL lineup, poor atmosphere, lack of star power), and working to correct and creating a buzz, THIS is the answer?

 

Also, correct me if I am wrong here...but, doesn't the team stand to gain more revenue via merch sales by having the largest number of actual Sabres fans in attendance? Do people spend more on food/drinks/etc when they are in a fun environment?

 

Bingo. Adding the 2,000 extra season ticket holders was a mistake in my opinion. Many were probably picked up as investments to sell to opposing teams fans. Also (and no offense at all to the die hard season ticket holders on here) but those arn't the guys lining up at the merch stands every game. It's the guys going for one or a handful of games that want to take their kids down to the rink. How many of the season ticket holders are children? I want to take my young son down there and sit in the lower bowl so he can actually see their faces and the speed of the game. Nope, not a single ticket available. And this is cutting the line by being a Mini-Pak holder?? Very disapointing.

[MattPie]

Bingo. Adding the 2,000 extra season ticket holders was a mistake in my opinion. Many were probably picked up as investments to sell to opposing teams fans. Also (and no offense at all to the die hard season ticket holders on here) but those arn't the guys lining up at the merch stands every game. It's the guys going for one or a handful of games that want to take their kids down to the rink. How many of the season ticket holders are children? I want to take my young son down there and sit in the lower bowl so he can actually see their faces and the speed of the game. Nope, not a single ticket available. And this is cutting the line by being a Mini-Pak holder?? Very disapointing.

 

For what it's worth, when I was kid (7 or so), I liked the corner in the oranges. Got to see everything and watch the patterns of the skaters.

[Andrew Amerk]

 

 

Bingo. Adding the 2,000 extra season ticket holders was a mistake in my opinion. Many were probably picked up as investments to sell to opposing teams fans. Also (and no offense at all to the die hard season ticket holders on here) but those arn't the guys lining up at the merch stands every game. It's the guys going for one or a handful of games that want to take their kids down to the rink. How many of the season ticket holders are children? I want to take my young son down there and sit in the lower bowl so he can actually see their faces and the speed of the game. Nope, not a single ticket available. And this is cutting the line by being a Mini-Pak holder?? Very disapointing.

 

Technically, there are about 2 dozen single seats in the lowers available for all the games. Just nothing together.

 

All of this makes being a mini pack holder pointless now. Unless, you don't mind rows 11-15 in the top corner.

[shrader]

There's this thing called the internet now.

 

The Sabres let you pick your own tickets now. Before you just took the best available and had to exchange them. They've been working on the system for a few years and implemented it this year. Some may think it sucks, but it is what it is.

 

And let's not pretend that this is a Sabres thing. These systems exist just about everywhere. I said pro sports before, but it goes much further than even that. These same exact ticket systems are in place for sports, concerts, theaters... you name it, they're there.

[spndnchz]

On a certain level, it is a good thing. Been to waaaaay too many Hartford or Tampa games through the years that couldn't fill up the corners in any level even on a weekend night. (Used to be able to tell if there'd be a good crowd or not by whether the beer stand next to my aisle was set up or not. If they were expecting less than ~14k in the rink it wasn't opened. There were a lot of nights it wasn't opened.)

 

And if the lack of availability were due to an actual demand for sitting in the rink by the people buying / currently holding the tix it would be a great thing.

 

Unfortunately, the reality is, Stubhub rules. And I don't see that changing anytime in the near future.

 

Not quite sure of what to make of the StubHub.

 

You look at the Sabres games available, most games have just under 1,000 seats for sale. Look at the Pens, it's about 300. from there you would say that, well, Pens are better, more season ticket holders actually go to the games, right? Take a look at the Blackhawks. Over 2,000 seats for sale to each game.

 

I don't think you can correlate how well a team is going to do by how many seats are available on Stubhub.

 

When the Sabres were really good and tickets were selling (aftermarket) well I had a choice to make between going or selling and making some Benjamin's.

[Taro T]

Not quite sure of what to make of the StubHub.

 

You look at the Sabres games available, most games have just under 1,000 seats for sale. Look at the Pens, it's about 300. from there you would say that, well, Pens are better, more season ticket holders actually go to the games, right? Take a look at the Blackhawks. Over 2,000 seats for sale to each game.

 

I don't think you can correlate how well a team is going to do by how many seats are available on Stubhub.

 

When the Sabres were really good and tickets were selling (aftermarket) well I had a choice to make between going or selling and making some Benjamin's.

I'd agree with the bolded. Many variables go into whether people will be listing tix or not.

 

To me, the Stubhubs significantly alter the ST lifecycle. (At least outside of places like NYC that already had 20 year waits for seasons.) People that have reached a point where they'd give up their seasons will hang onto them for at least a while longer figuring they can at least get their money back over the course of a full season. Which I'd expect is a big part of the annual 97%+ STH renewal rates. (It certainly wouldn't appear to be the product on the ice nor expectations of ST success driving those renewals.)

 

Prior to the waiting list forming when they caught lightning in a bottle, there were ALWAYS seasons available in the Mmarena and as mentioned above there were always empty seats when the "undesireables" came to town. To try to cut down on that some, Adelphia gave truckloads of tickets away when the Columbuses, Atlantas, and Is-land-ers of the league came to town.

 

The minipacks were created back when it was tough to sell out the rink. It isn't as tough to do it (at least on paper) courtesy of channels like Stubhub that let people resell conveniently. Though minipacks solve problems for the team they also add headaches for them, especially at playoff time. Not shocking the Sabres are driving minipack holders away. Just kind of sad that they're doing it from a nostalgic perspective for some of us old timers and from an inconvenience perspective for those minipack holders that can't get what they're used to getting.

 

As long as there's a STH waiting list, and as long as Stubhub's around and the team doesn't enter into NYI / Euler levels of relevance I don't see them losing the waiting list, I don't see them doing anything other than continuing to drive the minipacks away. (And to DeLuca and anyone else that want to argue the Sabres already are there among the dregs of relevance, we both know they aren't and that isn't the point of this post anyway so I'm not going to argue the point.)

[TrueBlueGED]

And let's not pretend that this is a Sabres thing. These systems exist just about everywhere. I said pro sports before, but it goes much further than even that. These same exact ticket systems are in place for sports, concerts, theaters... you name it, they're there.

 

Don't be ridiculous. This is just another example about Pegula lying to us all from day one and trying to make out before he gets out. :rolleyes:

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

Don't be ridiculous. This is just another example about Pegula lying to us all from day one and trying to make out before he gets out. :rolleyes:

I swear....reading some of these posts, it's like the broad who always complains about the co-worker at work....."She's out to get me!!!!"......(footnote credit to Chris Rock) and that's aimed at the posters complaining about people who use a half of a brain to discern we ain't in Kansas anymore......

[TrueBlueGED]

 

I swear....reading some of these posts, it's like the broad who always complains about the co-worker at work....."She's out to get me!!!!"......(footnote credit to Chris Rock) and that's aimed at the posters complaining about people who use a half of a brain to discern we ain't in Kansas anymore......

 

Uh oh, Skynet has become self-aware.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

Uh oh, Skynet has become self-aware.

You don't know the half of it..........

[Weave]

Leave poor Dwight alone. He can't help it. :P

 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/08/28/haters_are_gonna_hate_dispositional_attitude_study_confirms_it.html?wpisrc=most_viral

[Andrew Amerk]

I spoke to someone with the Sabres.

 

They blamed the addition of 600 Blue & Gold members as season ticket holders as the reason Mini Pack holders getting squeezed out of seat options.

[tom webster]

I still don't get it. All I read about tickets on this site is that nobody wants them, you can't even give them away, scalpers are losing their...blah blah blah. Now I'm supposed to believe that the seats were bought by stubhub? Something doesn't add up

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

I still don't get it. All I read about tickets on this site is that nobody wants them, you can't even give them away, scalpers are losing their...blah blah blah. Now I'm supposed to believe that the seats were bought by stubhub? Something doesn't add up

 

I still don't understand how the same 16,000 people and waiting list is so ga-ga to spend thousands of dollars for 40 games, and the team has such a difficult time selling 2,500 seats to a marketplace that is over a million people, and close to 10 million when you go out the 90 to Rochester and up the QEW to Toronto.

 

I've said it before...it's like the Ginzu knife commercials....."All this..with a retail value of over $200.....and it is yours for $39.99 But only for the next 100 callers....so call now!"

 

My guess is that with a little bit of legwork, a person can scalp or Stubhub seats for cheaper than a season ticket holder on a game to game basis, in all sections except the cheapest levels of the 300's and 100's. Now if the team ever gets good again, that probably won't be the case, but the accrued cost of hanging onto those seats for years and years of mediocre hockey if you don't thoroughly get excited to go to every game....it really adds up. I know plenty of people split seats...so if you get 1/4 of a season and the team actually has a playoff run into the Stanley Cup, unless the Sabres have home ice advantage and the series goes 7 games, someone is still not going to see a game live. Imagine paying for 1/4 season for a pair in the 200's since 2007...and waiting until 2016 in a best case scenario to get to the Cup....and then not seeing a game. That's $20,000 for seats alone. An expensive lottery ticket at that.

[tom webster]

 

 

I still don't understand how the same 16,000 people and waiting list is so ga-ga to spend thousands of dollars for 40 games, and the team has such a difficult time selling 2,500 seats to a marketplace that is over a million people, and close to 10 million when you go out the 90 to Rochester and up the QEW to Toronto.

 

I've said it before...it's like the Ginzu knife commercials....."All this..with a retail value of over $200.....and it is yours for $39.99 But only for the next 100 callers....so call now!"

 

My guess is that with a little bit of legwork, a person can scalp or Stubhub seats for cheaper than a season ticket holder on a game to game basis, in all sections except the cheapest levels of the 300's and 100's. Now if the team ever gets good again, that probably won't be the case, but the accrued cost of hanging onto those seats for years and years of mediocre hockey if you don't thoroughly get excited to go to every game....it really adds up. I know plenty of people split seats...so if you get 1/4 of a season and the team actually has a playoff run into the Stanley Cup, unless the Sabres have home ice advantage and the series goes 7 games, someone is still not going to see a game live. Imagine paying for 1/4 season for a pair in the 200's since 2007...and waiting until 2016 in a best case scenario to get to the Cup....and then not seeing a game. That's $20,000 for seats alone. An expensive lottery ticket at that.

 

We have had this conversation before. You are assuming my purchase is only validated if the team wins the Cup.

To me, the purchase is part of my decision on how I spend my leisure time. I enjoy the night out. One game it's about taking my 13 year old daughter who is thrilled just to be there and to be out with Dad while her little sister spends time with Mom. One game I'm with my 24 year old son, reminiscing about being there for the no- goal game. Another night it's dinner and a night out with my wife and some friends. Another night my wife gets to take her boss to see her beloved Canadians and move a few rungs up on the corporate ladder.

Now I know this will upset some posters on this board but I am as passionate and loud about the team as I was when I sat in the Oranges when I was younger. I just don't dwell on it for days. The people with me, not so much but I'm not going to apologize for buying tickets or not living up to some other person's notion of what season ticket holder is supposed to be like.

[Andrew Amerk]

I still don't get it. All I read about tickets on this site is that nobody wants them, you can't even give them away, scalpers are losing their...blah blah blah. Now I'm supposed to believe that the seats were bought by stubhub? Something doesn't add up

 

No, something doesn't add up. If there are 19070 seats, and season ticket holders are capped at 16000 - there clearly was not 3070 seats available when the Mini Pack window opened. Looked like maybe 1400, all in upper 300's.

 

The same day that opened, there was suddenly around 800-1000 tix on StubHub, same exact seats for every single game.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

 

 

We have had this conversation before. You are assuming my purchase is only validated if the team wins the Cup.

To me, the purchase is part of my decision on how I spend my leisure time. I enjoy the night out. One game it's about taking my 13 year old daughter who is thrilled just to be there and to be out with Dad while her little sister spends time with Mom. One game I'm with my 24 year old son, reminiscing about being there for the no- goal game. Another night it's dinner and a night out with my wife and some friends. Another night my wife gets to take her boss to see her beloved Canadians and move a few rungs up on the corporate ladder.

Now I know this will upset some posters on this board but I am as passionate and loud about the team as I was when I sat in the Oranges when I was younger. I just don't dwell on it for days. The people with me, not so much but I'm not going to apologize for buying tickets or not living up to some other person's notion of what season ticket holder is supposed to be like.

 

I know...and I'm not saying that's your case....like I said to do so and not be "thoroughly excited to go to each game."

 

That's the demographic that I talk to that seems to have reason...those with kids. A lot of people almost talk about having to go to the arena like they have an appointment for the DMV.

 

There has to be a reason to explain the concentration of interest in 16,000 seats by 16,000 people yet the utter apathy for 2,500 seats by 1,000,000+ people. At least, if there aren't shenanigans going on behind the scenes.

 

 

[...]

At least, if there aren't shenanigans going on behind the scenes.

 

I am having a difficult time determining what those shenanigans would be, although I agree that something doesn't seem right about all of this. Any theories?

[TrueBlueGED]

I am having a difficult time determining what those shenanigans would be, although I agree that something doesn't seem right about all of this. Any theories?

 

Well that's a silly question--if there's one thing Drane has, it's theories :P

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

 

 

Well that's a silly question--if there's one thing Drane has, it's theories :P

 

Considering Adelphia would hand out tickets or buy them through a secondary LLC, it's not a stretch. But I just don't get what's happening here.

 

It would be like a hot Vegas timeshare. Say there are 1,900 rooms. You can rent them at $1500 a week on average. If you buy the whole year you can get it at $1100 a week....but it's a big outlay, so 4 or 5 people go in on it. You may get 10 weeks and then try and sublet 5 of those weeks on your own. But you really don't seem to make much or any money on the sublet. 1,600 rooms are sold out for the whole year, but the place has to run tons of promotions and still can't seem to sell those last 300 rooms to the rest of the entire public for 1 week at a time, even though the $1500 isn't that much of a stretch from $1100 considering you only need to take a 2% commitment.

 

That's what I don't get. Either there is a small 3% core of diehards in Buffalo...business is much better that thought and they buy up many of the season tickets....or some sort of shenanigans are involved. I'm baffled. The numbers either way are not jiving.