May Day 10

It has been a slow cook, but hockey has taken strong root in "warm" markets The 1st overall pick 3 years ago is from srizona. This year, orlando. Another 1st rounder from anaheim, and the sabres' 2nd first rounder is from irvine, ca. San Jose has the country's largest mens hockey league. The usdp has reached an unprecedented level. There has been some good fanbases created out of thin air. Some failures too. The nhl's revenue has increased at a steady rate, and the league is very healthy since the salaries have been tied to revenue. With that said, the nhl will never be more than the 4th or 3rd north american pro sport (i feel like baseball (and i like baseball) in 50 years will go the way of horse racing and boxing.). People arent going to stanley cup watch parties, joining pools that are almost socially mandatory, and playing in 4 fantasy hockey leagues at once. The sport is just not accessible to the masses. Players are boring (basically every interview is a pre scripted cliche). The nhl also suffers from a very unimaginative board of governors and commissioner. Instead of trying to be like the other sports with stupid and couter productive coaches challenges and such (we need more scoring, but hang on for this 10 minute review to make sure his hangnail wasnt partially past the blue line when they entered the zone a minute earlier), they need to step out and make the nhl unique. No commercial breaks in-period. The nfl and mlb would kill to have the overseas appeal and opportunity the nhl has.... but the nhl does nothing significant.

It is not feasible. Seats are a mile away and fans would not have good value at all. You would have logistics for half the hockey season of building and removing an ice surface.

That is it. It isn't "Buffalo". They have zero credibility right now. Players have been writing their tickets out of here, some experienced a re-birth elsewhere. It is a poison well, stuck in neutral in the bottom 1-8 teams in the NHL. It will never hold the same advantages as the Rangers, Vegas, or the Florida teams for recruitment... but it can certainly be a destination if/when winning happens and it is a place where coaches and players can thrive, make the most of their careers and earning potential.

True.... and not many that can't just be housed in the Arena. I say it every time, but someone needs to build an amphitheater downtown, maybe on the outer-harbor. That would bring in more people downtown than a more-expensive football venue would

Yes. Im all about good beers. But what you are describing is what I call "Marathon Beers". Completely necessary for a Bills game day type of setting, or camping with the guys, etc.

It was amazing. 34 degrees and rain... but in the 3rd quarter, the temperature dropped like 20 degrees in 30 seconds. Hearing the waves of people screaming as their clothing froze solid is something Ill never forget. It was like a scene in A Day After Tomorrow

Although i understand the roof standpoint and wouldnt be devastated, i would much rather see open. Open with some roof to protect from the elements is fine. I assume that if it is indoor, it will be much closer to resemble detroit/ford field than minnesota or atlanta. Costs will be kept under control. When you see a game or highlights from the lions, it all seems so miscellaneous. Everything is the exact same. You can't tell anything about time of day, time of year, weather, etc. I don't like that and feel like all those things add so much to the flavor. When home games are brought up, i always remember the conditions.

Minneapolis/St Paul is 10x 'better' than Buffalo as far as being a 21st century, affluent city. I love Buffalo and often defend the region. But thoughts of a Superbowl here is laughable. Will Cardi B hang out at the Labatt House?

At least we wont have to hear speculation all season if/when the Pats are struggling

no. Not seriously considered. There are many more requirements than just an indoor stadium. Foremost, some kind of attraction to the area. I like the place, but Big Ditch Brewery isn't enough to impress the NFL's high-end clientele. There is also nowhere for the NFL to host all their pomp and circumstance throughout Superbowl week to 10 days You also need about 25K hotel rooms. We are more than 20K short of that

Barring a complete 25 year turnaround/resurgence, there will be no way Buffalo is ever considered for a Superbowl. Although it would be funny to see all the high end celebs have to come to Buffalo in February

There is a split among fan preference. Personally, I love the quant little thing we have there and I think it should be preserved if possible. As years pass, it will increasingly be a destination for football and sports fans, much like Wrigley Field or Fenway. Some people want to get out of the cold and want it indoors. I get it. Some people romanticize a downtown stadium.

The smallest glimmer of success (home playoff game) and season tickets will be capped with a waiting list which will allow for steady increases in pricing.

Complete clown shoes management on the hockey side throughout Pegula's ownership. From a standpoint of the hires, as well as the timing of changes like firing ruff a month into a season after a full offseason and half year lockout. Firing regier in november with only lafontaine and no gm. The drama that march with lafontaine's "resignation". All during critical times of a deep teardown and rebuild. Hopefully they have it right at this point. It should be a make or break year for botterill. Anything less than respectable cant be enough. At that point, it would be (again) time to restore credibility with an experienced, respected president of hockey ops/gm who may act autonomously from ownership.

Rage Against the Machine Other than the obvious gilmour/waters

I am kind of agreeing with you in the fact that we are defending ESPN. By yelling, I mean these roundtable and debate formatted shows that have a lot more flair and talking over one another than the Sunday morning "Sports Reporters" could dream of. There has been a show called "Pardon the Interruption". That show Kellerman ran where reporters are awarded points, and nearly every feature is a point/counterpoint thing. Olberman was also pretty straight-cut on the network and didnt really get outwardly political until he left sportscenter (from what I recall). And now you have Steven A Smith or whatever his name is saying controversial things and getting in the news, which they obviously like. Furthermore, you have more gimmicky features with newer technology and things that carry a little more interesting and are appealing. Yesterday, for like 10 minutes, I watched two guys puzzle out the percentage chances they give the AFC Teams to win the Division by writing the figures on some touch screen thing. My point is, if ESPN remained a straight-cut sports station, rolling a straight highlight-driven sportcenter for 4 hours in the morning, along with fairly dry and "classy" analysis, nobody would really watch it because that stuff is available at our fingertips 24/7. It would be a little more entertaining than C-SPAN. They needed to up the volume a bit and have evolved. People get nostalgic about how it used to be, but back then we were basically a captive audience and had to choose between sportcenter and cartoons on TBS while getting ready for school. The league networks also take a lot away from ESPN. They used to have nightly shows that would basically serve as the "NFL" or "NHL" Network. Now fans of those leagues are much more inclined to tune into those stations instead.

We are all nostalgic for the day with little to no internet, and 1 sports station providing one stop shop highlights. Now we all have supercomputers in our pocket and can watch highlights from anything in 2 seconds, or even recall the 2003 nfc championship game with a simple voice command. In addition, there isnt 1 sports dedicated network. There are dozens to choose from. Espn's programming is to try to set itself ahead from the competitors. Lots of yelling, gimmicky segments, hosts who say edgy things and get publicity. Us curmudgeons complain that they should show straight-line highlights, but they would die. What they still do great is live sports. Whether its college football or hoops, nfl, baseball, little league world series... i dont think anyone comes close. Im hoping they win the NHL rights in a few years. You also cant rival their 30 for 30 and other human interest features.

Im not a Trump fan, but at this point, isn't it kind of silly and presumptive to get in a pissing match with the President on whether or not you will visit the White House?

Just a little more stuff A poll of 500 AAC fans shows most want to expand to 12 full-sport teams. Shocked that Buffalo finished 2nd in preferred addition. 4th for football-only, and 3rd for hoops only https://www.ohvarsity.com/blogs/2019/6/25/heres-how-500-aac-fans-want-to-expand-or-not BYU is the only win across the board, and they’re 1,700 miles from Cincinnati and don’t play any sports on Sundays. Both of these are likely deal breakers on the AAC’s side, which assumes BYU agrees to share its football program and negotiations even get that far. I see the upside of Buffalo. Their athletics budget is robust for a non-AAC G5 school, they’ve had balanced success in football and basketball recently, and they match the AAC’s footprint while also serving as a cultural fit. However, to use a pro sports concept, I don’t think the American is in a position to draft a player mainly based on upside. We did that with Tulane, Tulsa, and ECU, and see how that’s worked out so far. We’re in win-now mode. I don’t think we can afford to give a school a boost and wait around for them to compete regularly at a higher level.

Is there any negative for UB to jump up? Would it blow their athletic budget? From the general criteria I see from the various columns, outside of cherry-picking a good basketball and another good football school, it seems like UB would be the best single-school fit for the AAC (other than maybe the wishful thinking ones like Boise St and BYU). The only real question would be whether or not their basketball program can maintain the recent standard, and whether or not the football program can jump up a level. I do believe attendance for football would improve with real opponents and real implications. No more Tuesday nights in late October/November.

I find it an interesting topic... and it bothers me when people try to measure fanbases by the way of raw merchandise sales or twitter mentions. I am a "big" fan of the Sabres and Bills. Im not sure I ever posted about them on social media. Maybe a quick snap from the Bills home opener every year. Ive noticed the people who post about their sports teams a lot on social media (general SM like FB, Twitter, etc) are people who aren't a big fan or knowledgeable, but just want to compensate and establish themself on the bandwagon. I dont really desire to be known as the best fan base... and try to defend it at any perceived slight. Bills fans get plenty of accolades. I actually think Sabres fans are overrated (Im a Sabres fan). I dont think it could be really quantified. Especially with 'sales'. Im 40. How many kids' parents would buy them all sorts of Chicago Bulls crap to wear or posters for their lockers? Big fans? Or front runners who are nowhere to be seen post-Jordan?

These are the same flawed "stats" people often use to quantify fan-dom. They heavily favor large markets and teams who are good/bandwagoners To me, the best gauge of a fan base is to view how the fans are during the lean years.

This would be the most realistic jump for UB Athletics from the MAC. I heard a rumbling a year or two ago from someone in the know in Cincinnati that the AAC was interested in the Buffalo market. This would be a key opportunity for both sides if there is real interest. Not sure i the travel situation is do-able. You get Cincinnati, East Carolina, and Temple in the same 'region'... then a lot of Florida, Houston, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa area. Football is one thing, but travelling for all sports on a regular basis? That is a far leap from Ohio schools, Michigan, some Illinois.

Pat Smear too

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