BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Sabres players started to notice the change in January.
Most players who join the franchise hear about what the home crowd is like when the team is good. The trouble is that not many teams in recent memory have been good enough to get a real taste of what KeyBank Center looks and sounds like when the Sabres are relevant in the NHL. Buffalo has always been a hockey town, but it was hard for it to feel like a Sabres town when the team missed the playoffs for 14 straight seasons.
That started to change this season. At the beginning of the season, crowds were light, and the home fans were punchy. Some fans wore paper bags over their heads early in the season. They were quick to boo and chanted for general manager Kevyn Adams to be fired on multiple occasions as the team got off to an 11-14-4 start and ended up in last place in the Eastern Conference.
Adams got fired three games into a 10-game winning streak in December, and almost overnight, fan enthusiasm returned. The first hint for the players was the signs. On the back wall of the sections in the 300s, fans started bringing creative signs and banners, a throwback to a different era of Sabres hockey. There was one with goalie Alex Lyon wielding the team’s sword that used to be awarded to the postgame MVP. There is one depicting Mattias Samuelsson as Jesus and referring to him as Saint Sammy. And Sabres newcomer Josh Doan inspired a “Doan Stop Believing” sign.
“We read something about the banners coming back and it being a thing of the past, and it’s cool to see it,” Doan said before a January home game. “We saw them showing the ‘Welcome to Pominville’ during ’05-06 night, which was really cool. It’s stuff like that that makes the fan base so exciting and so fun. It gives them something where they can be creative, and I’m sure they’re enjoying being on the side of a winning team and chirp other fan bases, which is exciting. That means we’re doing our jobs if they have the confidence to run their mouths a bit. That’s what you need. That trickles down into a little bit of swagger in our room. The whole 300s section right now is pretty hilarious.”
What a difference a year makes.
Last season, attendance at KeyBank Center was near the bottom of the league. The team was losing season ticket holders and struggling to turn a profit.
Three weeks into their sales campaign for new season tickets, the Sabres told The Athletic they had already sold double the number that they did all of last season. The Sabres came into this season with around 9,000 season ticket holders. According to the team, they currently have a 97 percent renewal rate and have sold more than 3,000 new season ticket packages.
The Sabres are averaging 17,823 fans per game for an average capacity of 93.5 percent, per Hockey-Reference. The average fans per game ranks 18th in the NHL, and the average capacity is 25th. But the real turnaround started in January. Dating back to Jan. 15, the Sabres have a sellout streak of 17 games heading into the home finale against the Stars, which is expected to sell out. That would give the Sabres 24 sellouts this season compared to four a season ago.
The enthusiasm for the Sabres has also been reflected in other areas of the business. According to numbers provided by the organization, the Sabres have the best local broadcast ratings among American markets in the NHL. As of early March, 13 of the team’s 15 top broadcasts in the last two seasons have come this year. This doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has seen the Buffalo market routinely rank among the top U.S. markets for TV ratings during the Stanley Cup playoffs. Buffalo also had the highest ratings among television markets in the United States for the Olympic gold medal game between the United States and Canada, per the Nielsen numbers publicized by NBC Sports PR.
Meanwhile, merchandise sales are up 25 percent this year, and the team had a long line of fans ready to purchase playoff gear when it went on sale the Monday morning after the team clinched a spot in the postseason. A limited number of playoff tickets went on sale to the general public on Monday and sold out in under an hour.
It turns out winning has fixed the Sabres’ attendance issues almost overnight. When Sabres COO Pete Guelli spoke about ownership’s decision to fire Adams, he said Sabres owner Terry Pegula would do whatever it takes to make Buffalo the center of the hockey universe. It’s going to feel that way when all eyes in the league will be on Buffalo for the Sabres’ first home playoff game in 15 years.
“I don’t think anyone can even imagine what it is going to be like,” Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin told reporters in Chicago after the team clinched the division. “I know how happy the city is, how long they’ve waited for this. I’m so happy for all of the Buffalonians. It’s a special feeling to give them what they want. It’s been a long time.”
The Sabres knew how important it was to win the division because they’ve experienced a home-ice advantage this season. Since the Sabres turned their season around in mid-December, the team is 15-4-2 when playing in front of a sellout home crowd.
Anyone who has been in the building for the Sabres’ two recent home games against the Tampa Bay Lightning got a taste of what it could be like during the playoffs. The Sabres’ home crowd isn’t just loud, it’s knowledgeable. The fans appreciate the little plays. And the signs in the 300s are evidence of the personality in the fan base. That’s started to show up more and more. Before a recent game against the Lightning, fans had a dummy with Brandon Hagel’s face printed on it and a sign that read, “Punch Brandon Hagel.” In the previous matchup between the Lightning and Sabres, Hagel had delivered a vicious, cheap shot on Dahlin. In the April 6 rematch, fans were chanting, “Where is Hagel?” and “We want Hagel!” since the Lightning forward sat out the game with an injury.
There was even a highway sign toward downtown Buffalo that got changed from “Welcome to Buffalo” to “Welcome to Lindy Ruffalo.” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff jokingly said he thought the image was AI-generated when someone first showed it to him.
Ruff, who has been a Western New York resident since 1979, has a better feel than anyone what this building can be like. In his time as a player and during his first stint as coach, he was part of some of the franchise’s most memorable games. And he came back for another stint as the team’s coach to bring those atmospheres back to Buffalo.
“Our fans have been waiting real long, so it’s good to see,” Ruff said.
At one point on Monday, there were over 30,000 people in the online queue trying to buy tickets to the first two home games. In addition to hosting pregame parties for home games in the plaza outside of the arena, the Sabres are going to host an outdoor watch party of the home games at Canalside, about a quarter of a mile from KeyBank Center. They’ll also have watch parties for away games at a nearby casino.
But everyone knows the real party will be inside the walls of the arena with the fans who have waited 15 years for postseason hockey.
“I think this is going to be one of the hardest buildings in the league to play in,” Sabres forward Alex Tuch said.
