Sabres atop NHL sales charts

[zman]

Pretty cool as a Sabres fan to see Buffalo leading the league in Jersey sales...not just in February but all season. Crosby #1 and then six Sabres #2 thru #7. Is there any doubt that Buffalo and Pittsburgh are great U.S. NHL cities? I realize it helps when you're winning, but still Buffalo is one of the smallest cities (definitely in the U.S.) and the economy is horrible yet people plunk down bucks for Sabres jerseys like it's an obligation.

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The Buffalo Sabres continue to set the pace across the National Hockey League, leading all teams in points and driving up merchandise sales.

The NHL reported Tuesday that overall sales were up 75 percent in February compared to a year ago with Sabres' apparel sales having increased more than 1,000 percent year-over-year.


The jerseys of six Buffalo players were quite popular with those bearing the names of Daniel Briere, Maxim Afinogenov, Chris Drury, Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville and Ryan Miller ranked second through seventh, respectively, in overall sales. The jersey of Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins topped was the best seller.

http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2007/03/05/daily17.html?f=et55&hbx=e_du

Click to read more...

 

[Injektilo]

The fact that it's a brand new jersey and the team is doing well probably has somethign to do with it, but the Ducks have a new sweater and a great team too, and they're not even close to Buffalo in terms of sales.

 

[Pure West]

Winning, exciting team and a brand new jersey. The new jersey factor has to be considered as I believe the Flames led in jersey sales in 04 when they came out with new ones. While Buffalo is small, there is still plenty of transplants all over the place (can you blame them?) along with lots of people just across the border.

 

[tricksta189*]

I'm not suprised, it seems like everyone I see in Buffalo has sabres gear on... I wanted to get one but I would have had to wait 3 months

 

[TheRedressor]

thats how Buffalo is with their sports, front runners come out of nowhere to support the Bills/Sabres and they forget about the Bills/Sabres.

 

[zman]

Not true at all. Unless you live there you have no basis for making that comment. Buffalo fans in general are as hardcore as you get. Even with the Bills sucking for 7 straight seasons now... and the Sabres going through 5 non-playoff seasons (prior to last year)..you still had the city dressing in their teams sports gear. It's just a hearty town that loves their sports teams. Of course you get a few bandwagoners here and there when it's an up cycle of winning but that's the same with every single city in America...especially NHL.

 

[kdb209]

Pretty cool as a Sabres fan to see Buffalo leading the league in Jersey sales...not just in February but all season. Crosby #1 and then six Sabres #2 thru #7. Is there any doubt that Buffalo and Pittsburgh are great U.S. NHL cities? I realize it helps when you're winning, but still Buffalo is one of the smallest cities (definitely in the U.S.) and the economy is horrible yet people plunk down bucks for Sabres jerseys like it's an obligation.

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The Buffalo Sabres continue to set the pace across the National Hockey League, leading all teams in points and driving up merchandise sales.

The NHL reported Tuesday that overall sales were up 75 percent in February compared to a year ago with Sabres' apparel sales having increased more than 1,000 percent year-over-year.


The jerseys of six Buffalo players were quite popular with those bearing the names of Daniel Briere, Maxim Afinogenov, Chris Drury, Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville and Ryan Miller ranked second through seventh, respectively, in overall sales. The jersey of Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins topped was the best seller.

http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2007/03/05/daily17.html?f=et55&hbx=e_du

Props to the Sabres - new jerseys and a hot buzzworthy team (especially at the start of the season) will do that for you.

One caveat though - that short bizjournals piece is light on details. If these numbers are analogous to those reported earlier in the season - they were from a single vendor (nhl.com's website) and may not be indicative of the NHL's licensing market as a whole.

 

[Sniper7]

The fact that it's a brand new jersey and the team is doing well probably has somethign to do with it, but the Ducks have a new sweater and a great team too, and they're not even close to Buffalo in terms of sales.

Because they're the Ducks, they sell less tickets then the Kings do and the Kings are re-building. Even with new owners, sweaters, and dropping the "Mighty" they're still seen at a "Micky Mouse" team. As good as the Ducks are you just can't really respect them and I not saying that as a Kings fan. I have respect for the Sharks for how they were brought into the NHL not how the Ducks were as a spin off of a kids movie.

 

[Skroob*]

Is there any doubt that Buffalo and Pittsburgh are great U.S. NHL cities? I

thats how Buffalo is with their sports, front runners come out of nowhere to support the Bills/Sabres and they forget about the Bills/Sabres.

well, my work here is done.

 

[KeydGV21]

thats how Buffalo is with their sports, front runners come out of nowhere to support the Bills/Sabres and they forget about the Bills/Sabres.

Yeah. We're the 2nd smallest NFL market, haven't been to the playoffs since the 99 season, haven't won a playoff game since the 95 season and we still managed to draw more fans then 13 teams, including those such as Indianapolis, Chicago, Dallas and San Diego; all playoff teams.

It's quite clear we're front runners who come from nowhere

 

[Quiksilver*]

Yeah. We're the 2nd smallest NFL market, haven't been to the playoffs since the 99 season, haven't won a playoff game since the 95 season and we still managed to draw more fans then 13 teams, including those such as Indianapolis, Chicago, Dallas and San Diego; all playoff teams.

It's quite clear we're front runners who come from nowhere

Maybe that's because Buffalo has a seating capacity for 75,339, while Dallas is only 65,675, Chicago 63,000 and Indy 60,272. In total there are 25 NFL teams with less seating capacity than Buffalo, but I suppose that makes no difference.

 

[Quiksilver*]

Also, if you look at this chart from ESPN, it shows Buffalo as the worst team when it comes to filling their stadium to capacity.


http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/attendance

 

[TVanek26*]

thats how Buffalo is with their sports, front runners come out of nowhere to support the Bills/Sabres and they forget about the Bills/Sabres.

You have no clue what your talking about, good story.That's why the Bills who haven't made the playoffs this millenium pretty much sell out most of their games playing in one of the biggest stadiums in the NFL...you don't know ****.

(And don't worry, we'll just be like Jacksonville and other NFL teams and put tarp over our extra seats and voila we have 100% capacity....gotta love stats where people can manipulate it to their advantage in an argument.# of people is what matters, not capacity smart one, hey guys I think Team A who has 11,000 people a game is a better market because Team B get's 15,000 people a game because Team A has 100% Capacity!!!!)

 

[Stone87]

The Bills have the longest streak of not making the playoffs in the NFL and are still rebuilding. Of course attendence is down.

 

[jerseydevil]

Good for the Sabres...after the bankruptcy, the brutal no call in the Cup finals, the down years, etc..You derserve good things to happen. Nice to see the attendance snap back.. and the Sabres fans have been travelling well too. Congrats..hope you make to the ECF again...

 

[Quiksilver*]

You have no clue what your talking about, good story.That's why the Bills who haven't made the playoffs this millenium pretty much sell out most of their games playing in one of the biggest stadiums in the NFL...you don't know ****.

(And don't worry, we'll just be like Jacksonville and other NFL teams and put tarp over our extra seats and voila we have 100% capacity....gotta love stats where people can manipulate it to their advantage in an argument.# of people is what matters, not capacity smart one, hey guys I think Team A who has 11,000 people a game is a better market because Team B get's 15,000 people a game because Team A has 100% Capacity!!!!)

A) No they don't almost sell out.

B) Keep the excuses coming, they are good for a laugh.

 

[KeydGV21]

Maybe that's because Buffalo has a seating capacity for 75,339, while Dallas is only 65,675, Chicago 63,000 and Indy 60,272. In total there are 25 NFL teams with less seating capacity than Buffalo, but I suppose that makes no difference.

Also, if you look at this chart from ESPN, it shows Buffalo as the worst team when it comes to filling their stadium to capacity.


http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/attendance

Good idea suggest that Buffalo outdraws these teams because they have a larger stadium and then to prove this show a link that shows these teams can't even fill in their smaller stadiums. So yeah, as your own link shows it makes no difference.

 

[Lexicon Devil]

How do you keep track of jersey sales? I mean, anyone can get any name put on their jersey at a ton of independent retailers.

 

[kdb209]

How do you keep track of jersey sales? I mean, anyone can get any name put on their jersey at a ton of independent retailers.

That's why I assume that these numbers (like those released earlier this year) are from NHL.com website sales, and not necessarily indicative of league wide licensing sales.

 

[Fugu]

How do you keep track of jersey sales? I mean, anyone can get any name put on their jersey at a ton of independent retailers.

Bar codes. Merchandising does imply an officially licensed product. That's why all the team logos, names and the 'NHL' letters and symbol are.... trademarked.

 

[Lexicon Devil]

Bar codes. Merchandising does imply an officially licensed product. That's why all the team logos, names and the 'NHL' letters and symbol are.... trademarked.

Well obviously you can track how many jerseys of each team, sure.

But the article goes beyond that and says how many jerseys are sold for each player. This is strange, as you the only way they could track this would be through official retailers (online and team stores).

This then calls into question how they are tracking jerseys sales by team.

 

[Fugu]

Well obviously you can track how many jerseys of each team, sure.

But the article goes beyond that and says how many jerseys are sold for each player. This is strange, as you the only way they could track this would be through official retailers (online and team stores).

This then calls into question how they are tracking jerseys sales by team.

Okay, I had to do some work on this. Hate it when I have to do that while I'm supposed to be having fun.

Kukla's Korner has a better reference indicating that INDEED these figures only refer to NHL.com sales. Nice detail to have, eh?

 

[Steve L*]

Arent they all going to feel cheated when the jerseys change for next season?

 

[KeydGV21]

Arent they all going to feel cheated when the jerseys change for next season?

Not as cheated as I'm going to be when my Drury and/or Briere jersey are dated.

 

[Lexicon Devil]

Okay, I had to do some work on this. Hate it when I have to do that while I'm supposed to be having fun.

Kukla's Korner has a better reference indicating that INDEED these figures only refer to NHL.com sales. Nice detail to have, eh?

Haha, yeah thanks for that.