Peters Says to Expect Major Changes to the Organization Before End of Season

[Flashsabre]

20 minutes ago, Two or less said:

Just curious, how do you know that his daughters are/were Sabres fans?

I think he was talking about the Pegulas.

[Doohickie]

9 hours ago, Zamboni said:

The Sabres “fans” on Twitter account for 20% or less of the overall fan base. Twitter is definitely not a good representation of any majority opinion good or bad regarding the Sabres. Or any sports team for that matter. 

And I *am* on twitter.  I must follow different people than you do.

[Zamboni]

52 minutes ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

And I *am* on twitter.  I must follow different people than you do.

Maybe I wasn’t clear and I apologize for that.

 

The amount of Sabres fans on Twitter. Vs. the amount of Sabres fans.

 

The ratio is like 1:5 or less.  I was just making a point that even if 100% of Twitter users who are Sabres fans hate the owner or franchise as a whole … that’s still a vast minority of fans overall actively showing their distain. On one social media site.

That’s all. I don’t know if that’s any better of what I’m trying to say 😂

[PromoTheRobot]

10 hours ago, sabremike said:

Historically 10% of STH are from Canada each season. If season seats are capped at 15k that would be 1,500. The reason the team is struggling is that they are right now the single worst organization in the modern history of the sport. If the Sabres were a playoff team right now the place would be full regardless of the border issues or the now clearly pointless vax mandates.

 

You just had the Super Bowl favorite Bills struggle to fill a stadium for a home playoff game, and only managed to do it when resale tickets fell to $25. So I'm not ready to accept your premise.

1.2MM people is not enough of a base to support an NHL team. Especially a base that is relatively poor. You need those half a million Canadian fans who can cross the border on a weeknight to attend a game. I'm telling you, this border crap is going to sink the Sabres, whether they are good or not, if it doesn't get resolved in the next two years.

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, sabremike said:

Um, Golisano is the single biggest hero in Sabres history regardless of his penny pinching because he quite literally saved the team. If not for him the team would be a distant memory ala the Buffalo Braves.

He also let our two best players walk out the door because he didn't want to chance losing a nickel.

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, Eleven said:

Right?  People seem to forget the previous owner who wouldn't spend any money, and the owner before that who was a criminal and led the franchise into bankruptcy.  If we're ranking Sabres owners, the Pegulas (everyone please note the lack of an apostrophe there) are no lower than second.

The Pegulas are bad owners like Ralph Wilson was a bad owner, and we put up with him for 50+ years...and we still have the team.

Edited February 13, 2022 by PromoTheRobot

[JohnC]

1 minute ago, PromoTheRobot said:

He also let our two best players walk out the door because he didn't want to chance losing a nickel.

I have no criticism for Golisano. The financial books for this organization was in a state of disarray. There was a lot of intermingling of franchise funds with personal expenses. What Golisano did was set a hard budget and forced financial discipline on an undisciplined and chaotic business. He made the hockey operation staff work within the budget. Were there player casualties as a result? Yes, but overall, he stabilized an operation that was financially insolvent. 

To Golisano's credit he paid vendors he had no legal obligation to pay because of the organization's bankruptcy status. When asked why he did that he said because although he wasn't legally obligated to do so it was the right thing to do. 

Golisano made money when he sold the franchise to the Pegulas. Good for him! He could have sold the franchise to someone else who would have paid more and then moved the franchise. He didn't. (I'm aware that the Commissioner would not have approved of a move.) 

[PromoTheRobot]

5 minutes ago, JohnC said:

I have no criticism for Golisano. The financial books for this organization was in a state of disarray. There was a lot of intermingling of franchise funds with personal expenses. What Golisano did was set a hard budget and forced financial discipline on an undisciplined and chaotic business. He made the hockey operation staff work within the budget. Were there player casualties as a result? Yes, but overall, he stabilized an operation that was financially insolvent. 

To Golisano's credit he paid vendors he had no legal obligation to pay because of the organization's bankruptcy status. When asked why he did that he said because although he wasn't legally obligated to do so it was the right thing to do. 

Golisano made money when he sold the franchise to the Pegulas. Good for him! He could have sold the franchise to someone else who would have paid more and then moved the franchise. He didn't. (I'm aware that the Commissioner would not have approved of a move.) 

You make good points but losing Briere and Drury was the start of the morass we are in now.

[Two or less]

2 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

I think he was talking about the Pegulas.

Thanks, i read that too fast and thought we were talking about Tsai.

It's a juicy rumor for sure. Even for the people who would think that Kevyn Adams is most likely gone in a ownership change, that might not even be the case either. Tsai has kept Sean Marks as the GM after the bought the Nets.

As long as he keeps the team in Buffalo, of course.

[PASabreFan]

The Pegulas: Not the Worst.

Edited February 13, 2022 by PASabreFan

[Taro T]

9 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

The Pegulas: Not the Worst.

See PA, we always knew you'd come around.  😉

Baby steps.  😛

 

[Huckleberry]

42 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

You just had the Super Bowl favorite Bills struggle to fill a stadium for a home playoff game, and only managed to do it when resale tickets fell to $25. So I'm not ready to accept your premise.

1.2MM people is not enough of a base to support an NHL team. Especially a base that is relatively poor. You need those half a million Canadian fans who can cross the border on a weeknight to attend a game. I'm telling you, this border crap is going to sink the Sabres, whether they are good or not, if it doesn't get resolved in the next two years.

Doubt it, the sabres were in a worse position years ago, and the league still didn't move them.    There are teams that will move before the sabres do.

[Huckleberry]

47 minutes ago, Two or less said:

Thanks, i read that too fast and thought we were talking about Tsai.

It's a juicy rumor for sure. Even for the people who would think that Kevyn Adams is most likely gone in a ownership change, that might not even be the case either. Tsai has kept Sean Marks as the GM after the bought the Nets.

As long as he keeps the team in Buffalo, of course.

Unless he bribes betman and the board he won't have much say in that.

[SabresVet]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

The Pegulas: Not the Worst.

That seems to be the standard of acceptance for Buffalo owners.  Ralph Wilson wasn't the worst either...it's just that he wasn't good enough.

Achieving excellence (i.e. championship caliber teams) calls for better than that standard.  And that's hard to impress on people driven by the fear of losing a franchise.  

[Marvin]

4 hours ago, Two or less said:

Just curious, how do you know that his daughters are/were Sabres fans?

When the Pegula first bought the team, he and his family made themselves very visible at the arena on game nights.  The children would move from section to section to chat with fans.  I happened to be lucky enough to have been at two games where one of them came into my section.  Both daughters are fans and hope to have a family dynasty of Cups from the franchise.

[PASabreFan]

14 minutes ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

When the Pegula first bought the team, he and his family made themselves very visible at the arena on game nights.  The children would move from section to section to chat with fans.  I happened to be lucky enough to have been at two games where one of them came into my section.  Both daughters are fans and hope to have a family dynasty of Cups from the franchise.

There are three daughters. FWIW the only daughter he introduced as a fan at his intro presser was his eldest, Laura.

[Marvin]

56 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

There are three daughters. FWIW the only daughter he introduced as a fan at his intro presser was his eldest, Laura.

So I met 2.  They certainly wanted the team in the family.

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, SabresVet said:

That seems to be the standard of acceptance for Buffalo owners.  Ralph Wilson wasn't the worst either...it's just that he wasn't good enough.

Achieving excellence (i.e. championship caliber teams) calls for better than that standard.  And that's hard to impress on people driven by the fear of losing a franchise.  

You are aware of the Bills right? The name Josh Allen ring a bell?

Edited February 13, 2022 by PromoTheRobot

[Eleven]

17 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

You are aware of the Bills right? The name Josh Allen ring a bell?

The Pegula haters don’t count the Bills.

[Taro T]

18 minutes ago, Eleven said:

The Pegula haters don’t count the Bills.

Nor the Bandits apparently.

[K-9]

5 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

The Pegulas: Not the Worst.

The Matt Ellis of NHL team owners?

[JohnC]

9 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

You make good points but losing Briere and Drury was the start of the morass we are in now.

The departure of Briere and Drury happened more than a decade ago. What has kept them franchise stuck in the morass of mediocrity is a collection of bad decisions. There isn't a team in the league that hasn't lost instrumental players due to cap/contract, free agency, trades etc. reasons. There was more than enough time to compensate for the loss of the key players that you listed. Our extended futility was due to ingrained incompetence. Excuses are for losers. 

I'm not a reflexive critic. I believe that the owner has learned some lessons from his own mistakes. I believe that the Sabres and the hockey operation are on the right track. Some patience and better goaltending will accelerate the pace of this rebuilding process. 

[SDS]

On 2/12/2022 at 8:38 PM, Taro T said:

The league would very much try to keep the Sabres in Buffalo.  Their broadcast partners like having astronomical TV ratings.  They don't want to lose that.

But, if an owner was dead set on moving the team, not much the league can do to stop it when all is said & done.

Then why wouldn’t they buy Arizona before they buy Buffalo?

[Taro T]

8 minutes ago, SDS said:

Then why wouldn’t they buy Arizona before they buy Buffalo?

Maybe the guy losing all the money in the desert doesn't want to sell?

The whole thing is a hypothetical though, as really don't see the Pegulas selling outright nor selling a controlling majority ownership share.  BUT IF they do, AND the new owner wants to move, after the dispute works through the courts, they're very likely gone.  This hopefully is yours truly's last post on this because it isn't likely the Pegulas are selling & the thought of the team possibly moving is very disheartening (among other things).  As much as we & Mr. Bettman don't want the Sabres to leave, court precedence says if an owner wants to move his team he can do so even if the league opposes it.  And that covenant put in the last purchase agreement very likely wouldn't survive a bankruptcy which would be very easy to successfully file for at present & likely in the future as well.

[PromoTheRobot]

30 minutes ago, JohnC said:

The departure of Briere and Drury happened more than a decade ago. What has kept them franchise stuck in the morass of mediocrity is a collection of bad decisions. There isn't a team in the league that hasn't lost instrumental players due to cap/contract, free agency, trades etc. reasons. There was more than enough time to compensate for the loss of the key players that you listed. Our extended futility was due to ingrained incompetence. Excuses are for losers. 

I'm not a reflexive critic. I believe that the owner has learned some lessons from his own mistakes. I believe that the Sabres and the hockey operation are on the right track. Some patience and better goaltending will accelerate the pace of this rebuilding process. 

All I meant was the slide started with losing those two.