News Article: AP: Pegula focused on efficiency; staying on as Sabres President

[Member 308457]

Stay on, Black Widow. Your record of success is beyond reproach.

 

[VaporTrail]

I've lived in Tampa for the last six years and have never rooted for them as a die hard Sabres fan. I think that may change. I'm done, KP messaging is so off.

I'm thinking of moving to Florida.. i was then thinking I'd root for the Panthers or Lightning or both.. been a fan here since '81 but I want to watch a winner

 

[Der Jaeger]

If you're going to be one thing, be efficient.

I'd rather be effective.

 

[tsujimoto74]

From this day forward, the Sabres sole reason for existence will be to win a Stanley Cup to be financially stable

 

[tsujimoto74]

On one hand, I don't blame the Pegula's for trying to find efficiencies across the many sports franchises.

Each team doesn't need its own graphics department or online ticketing staff, or even social media team. If you can consolidate under PSE and have them serve multiple properties, that's a good thing. Heck, you can probably even have medical staff and trainers that float between teams to save money. These are all good things that will save both teams money.

The issue is, I think there's a disconnect between trying to cut costs and trying to run a successful team. The Sabres are almost always going to lose money and the bills will almost always make money. Barring the Sabres being a cup contender again with multiple playoff rounds every year, they are going to lose $$. That being said, the bills will almost always make that up and more.

The Pegula's would do so much better with a person to handle the media for them. I get it, they want to be up front and available to the community. But, as far as the Sabres fandom is concerned. The knives are out and its going to be 5+ months before we see hockey again.

The thing that seems to be eluding them is that, if you build a winning team, the money takes care of itself. Put a winner on the ice, and Sabres fans will be happy to give their hard-earned money hand over fist. But don't sit there and act surprised when you keep putting out crappy products and no one wants to buy it.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

I would love for them to sell the team. They did save the Bills, if Trump or Bon Jovi's group had bought the Bills they'd be gone within 5 years, the NFL doesn't care about Buffalo. The NHL does care about Buffalo and would not allow a new owner to move the team.

Keep dreaming. Buffalo is the 50th market in the NHL, although it punches above its weight because of passionate fans. Jeremy Jacobs owning concession rights is probably biggest safety net.

But Bettman? Not sure. He hates franchises moving, no question about that. He doesn't like the look of it and he wants owners to known league runs the show. In that sense, it's tough to move team.

All along, I've thought the biggest threat to Buffalo was someone from Toronto taking this team and moving 50 miles down the road to Hamilton where they have a rink that seats 17,300. I'm not sure how territorial exemptions work across border but Sabres may already own that area and Leafs too. It's an out-dated rink now but so is Sabres rink and the boxes were not even half full most nights this year.

The Buffalo franchise is a train wreck financially, now. Buffalo gets huge draws on TV for percentage of market but the overall number is still relatively small. I can't imagine TV contract is huge bucks. That leaves tickets mostly.

Will the Sabres ever move. I doubt it. But guess what? The Pegulas and their incompetence makes it a tiny bit possible. I think they meant well but they are letting down the community now.

 

[member 311261]

Keep dreaming. Buffalo is the 50th market in the NHL, although it punches above its weight because of passionate fans. Jeremy Jacobs owning concession rights is probably biggest safety net.

But Bettman? Not sure. He hates franchises moving, no question about that. He doesn't like the look of it and he wants owners to known league runs the show. In that sense, it's tough to move team.

All along, I've thought the biggest threat to Buffalo was someone from Toronto taking this team and moving 50 miles down the road to Hamilton where they have a rink that seats 17,300. I'm not sure how territorial exemptions work across border but Sabres may already own that area and Leafs too. It's an out-dated rink now but so is Sabres rink and the boxes were not even half full most nights this year.

The Buffalo franchise is a train wreck financially, now. Buffalo gets huge draws on TV for percentage of market but the overall number is still relatively small. I can't imagine TV contract is huge bucks. That leaves tickets mostly.

Will the Sabres ever move. I doubt it. But guess what? The Pegulas and their incompetence makes it a tiny bit possible. I think they meant well but they are letting down the community now.

When you include Rochester and Niagara/Hamilton, the Buffalo hockey market is not that small, especially considering the passion for the game in those regions. You'd be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of markets that had more legit HOCKEY fans living in the area.

The lack of corporate offices does hurt somewhat though.

 

[sabremike]

Keep dreaming. Buffalo is the 50th market in the NHL, although it punches above its weight because of passionate fans. Jeremy Jacobs owning concession rights is probably biggest safety net.

But Bettman? Not sure. He hates franchises moving, no question about that. He doesn't like the look of it and he wants owners to known league runs the show. In that sense, it's tough to move team.

All along, I've thought the biggest threat to Buffalo was someone from Toronto taking this team and moving 50 miles down the road to Hamilton where they have a rink that seats 17,300. I'm not sure how territorial exemptions work across border but Sabres may already own that area and Leafs too. It's an out-dated rink now but so is Sabres rink and the boxes were not even half full most nights this year.

The Buffalo franchise is a train wreck financially, now. Buffalo gets huge draws on TV for percentage of market but the overall number is still relatively small. I can't imagine TV contract is huge bucks. That leaves tickets mostly.

Will the Sabres ever move. I doubt it. But guess what? The Pegulas and their incompetence makes it a tiny bit possible. I think they meant well but they are letting down the community now.

Copps Coliseum is essentially a larger version of the Nassau Coliseum minus the asbestos. The city is planning to renovate it (which oddly enough makes it likely that the Bulldogs will go bye-bye and the building will have no tenant) but making it NHL quality would cost way more to do. Also there's the not so insignificant issue of the Canadian Dollar being worth roughly 70% of the US one.

 

[May Day 10]

The city of Buffalo doesn't have enough fans or wealth to support an incompetent management. We've seen that with the rink losing fans year after year. I'm sure I will get hammered in here for saying this but I think Pegulas are now threatening the long-term viability of NHL hockey in Buffalo. It's easy to run out crap in Toronto or NYC or Philadelphia with a massive population but Buffalo (albeit with a passionate fan base) will not send 19,070 fans to the rink for last place or. crappy team. People will not get season's and lose money on them because the tickets get run through a corporate account. The rink is full of real fans (it's one of the things that has made it fun) and you have to actually have some value out there. Otherwise it comes out of their personal pockets. I'm not sure Pegulas get this. If they did, they wouldn't have raised ticket prices about 5% after this year. That was pure fantasy.

We did sustain bad for a long time. I helped fund this hobby of theirs until my season tickets jumped about 10% this year.

The Pegulas came on to the scene and it wasnt "efficiency". It was "grab something to hang on to, we are going to the top".

Now its awful. It reminds me more and more of the Ralph Wilson Bills from about 2004-2013. Just trying to survive and create excuses to maintain the status quo. Bad management on all fronts.


And I also wonder what is up with Terry. He has been nowhere to be seen, and Kim more and more prominent. The more this scale gets tipped, the more I don't like what I see.

 

[Buffaloed]

So it's taken almost a decade to figure out that Golisano and Quinn were running the team the right way and it all it needed was a bigger budget and for the Pegulas to stay out of the way? Reminds me of a story I heard on Car Talk. A guy with no mechanical experience got the idea he could buy old classic cars, restore them, and sell them at huge profit. He picked up a 1960 something Chevy Impala for $2000 and had it hauled to his garage on a flatbed. He then proceeded to take it completely apart to check and restore/replace each part as necessary. He had no idea how to put it back together. Their garage was unusable for years. His wife finally had enough. Her and the kids wanted a pool and they needed the garage. She also wanted to buy a new car and didn't want to have to park it outside. She was the main breadwinner. They had already added a shed for bikes and garden tools. She told him, either the car goes, or I go with the kids, and you can keep the car. He ended up hiring a mechanic, took a huge loss on the car after expenses, and has a pile of tools he doesn't know how to use. The fans are telling the Sabres the same thing. Either Kim goes or I go. The Sabres need to hire a mechanic.

 

[PegulasSportsEmpire]

 

[Myllz]

That only applies when you have a competent GM.

 

[AustonsNostrils]

All we need to know is she is the president of the team and she made the decision to retain the egregiously incompetent General Manager. So any journalist or anybody else who says she focuses only on the business side is a liar or fool. We'll probably never know her role in the ROR trade but I suspect a lot. From a bio type piece I read on her she enjoys the nickname 'The Dragon Lady' or something similar that plays into a stereotype about Asian women, she's fired a whole lot of people and she enjoys it. When I have been in positions to fire people it is the worst feeling even when the employee was not a great employee I felt bad about letting them go. Only a thief or a real troublemaker could I fire and not feel guilty about it. And in one job I had there were a lot of thieves and even then I'd feel guilty because the job they did was underpaid for the responsibility and they'd steal a bit to make up for it.

 

[Buffaloed]

She doesn't have the education or experience to manage the business side. She's doing a disservice to the fans trying to learn the business as she goes along. They should hire Ahron Cohen to handle the business end and she could learn from him.

 

[Taro Tsujimoto]

The Pegulas when it comes to the Sabres:

 

[kirby11]

I know you're joking but I've been trying to find another team to really root for like I do Buffalo, but those west coast playing times are brutal for us out east.

The teams I've always hated most are Boston and Leafs, but Tamps has taken that spot for me these past few years with how dirty they've been. I live in NY but can't get myself to root for the Rangers with Anthony Deangelo on the team. I've tried rooting for the Islanders, but I'm not sure how well run of an organization they are. Seems like another Sabres-like team who may make the playoffs once in a while but will never be a serious threat.

So I guess I have to try to be a Hurricanes fan? I do like the team but the owner seems insane and won't pay anyone -- that must be extremely frustrating as a fan. And will be even more so every time he dismantles a successful team every few years to get cheaper talent.

I'm partial to CBJ and it seems like they're becoming at least a semi-regular threat

 

[Member 308457]

We did sustain bad for a long time. I helped fund this hobby of theirs until my season tickets jumped about 10% this year.

The Pegulas came on to the scene and it wasnt "efficiency". It was "grab something to hang on to, we are going to the top".

Now its awful. It reminds me more and more of the Ralph Wilson Bills from about 2004-2013. Just trying to survive and create excuses to maintain the status quo. Bad management on all fronts.


And I also wonder what is up with Terry. He has been nowhere to be seen, and Kim more and more prominent. The more this scale gets tipped, the more I don't like what I see.

Hubris is a b--ch.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

When you include Rochester and Niagara/Hamilton, the Buffalo hockey market is not that small, especially considering the passion for the game in those regions. You'd be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of markets that had more legit HOCKEY fans living in the area.

The lack of corporate offices does hurt somewhat though.

If it's about money and market size, Hamilton region is a stronger market. I think the NHL would be unlikely to let Sabres move -- it just doesn't allow team movement without a fight.

 

[May Day 10]

The nhl gains nothing from moving the sabres to hamilton. It actually would hurt in the long run. They wouldnt trade a stable us television market (albeit a small one) for an already'covered/saturated similar sized city in canada.

 

[sabremike]

If it's about money and market size, Hamilton region is a stronger market. I think the NHL would be unlikely to let Sabres move -- it just doesn't allow team movement without a fight.

Did you read my post above?

 

[kirby11]

I'm not judging anyone who feels differently, but even with all this, idk how anyone can just switch teams.


One of the big issues is that they aren't good at determining where to spend their money. I also dont think trying to operate efficiently is inherently bad, but they have had a history of throwing money into certain things that have not helped the team while neglecting things that would. Some are obvious, like we've seen with the roster (which is more a GM issue), but there have also been cases behind the scenes where they've been willing to spend money in certain areas they think will improve the team which didn't worked out because they just weren't good ideas.

IIRC, Tim Graham's recent Athletic article mentioned they've also burned through a **** ton of money between 716, Labatt House, propping up their kids' "enterprises," and Kim's brother's record label.

 

[oldgoalie]

What a clusterf***.
She needs to find another “hobby”. Running a pro hockey team shouldn’t be one.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

How does she always manage to say and do the wrong things? The goal is to be here for awhile? Kim- right now fans really don’t want that. The Sabres should stay, they have the fan base for a team, that shouldn’t even be in question- so the “staying” bit just seems like a personal concern, and one we’d rather not hear as you run the team into the f***ing ground. You claimed to know more than the fans in your last sound bite, now you seem to contradict that by claiming some surprise, and now the goal is just to stick around. No. Please, for God’s sake, find someone with some actual foresight and skill regarding these matters.

Like, not to be that guy, but when hockey comes back.. tell ya what, the Pilut thing kinda put me over the edge. So now I’ll do a Pilut program, if you will. I’ll sit on the sidelines watching. It’d be nice to get involved and buy jerseys and attend games, but I feel the team doesn’t want me at this point. If they start turning it around next year I’m sure I’ll watch despite myself, but in my Pilut program I got one foot out the door now. After f***ing up Grigorenko, Mitts, and the magic giraffe, we just let this dude rot until he leaves for another league. Jesus. f*** it, let’s go Seattle.

 

[Stephen]

Did Kim Pegula graduate from the Eugene Melnyk School of Pro Sports Ownership or something? Seems to have a real talent for being cheap and tone deaf in ways few can manage.

I remember back in April, she made comments about the Buffalo Bills budget and how decisions can't be made the impact their lifestyle or something. And now she's making public pronouncements about cutting Sabres budget publicly. Does she know this is completely counter productive? I don't own pro sports teams, but I can tell you if you had a GM who knew better than to make catastrophic investments like $72 million on Jeff Skinner you could probably afford to have a PR team.

 

[PegulasSportsEmpire]

There's a couple of guys that could buy the Sabres should the Pegulas choose to sell.

Jeff Gundlach. Bob Rich.

Hell maybe someone unknown pops up. No one knew who the Pegulas were until they purchased the Sabres.

That said, I might be in the minority, but I don't want the Pegulas to sell. As frustrated as I am with the on ice product, the Harbor Center has been great for our local economy.

Hopefully sooner or later they'll find Hockeys equivalent of Beane & McDermott.

Or Botterill makes us eat crow.