Sabres top all pro teams in what they give to fans
ESPN ranks 122 sports franchises
By Gene Warner
Updated: 03/27/07 3:54 PM
Sabres owner B. Thomas Golisano likes that fans think they're getting a bargain.
It will be another 2½ months before any team skates around a National Hockey League rink, hoisting the Stanley Cup in triumph. But the Buffalo Sabres already can claim they’re No. 1 — in an ESPN The Magazine ranking of all 122 major professional sports franchises.
Called the Ultimate Standings, the listing ranks pro franchises on how well they pay back their fans for all the time, money and emotion fans invest in their teams.
“The Sabres score big in our fifth survey of how pro teams pay back their fans — and teach the rest of sports a lesson on stoking the faithful’s fire,” states the sub-headline of the story, being published Wednesday.
That lofty ranking comes just four years after the team was mired in bankruptcy, with both its ownership and its future in Buffalo clouded in uncertainty.
The magazine ranking — based on surveys of more than 80,000 fans on espn.com and a financial analysis by an outside group — uses eight different criteria.
The Sabres finished in the top 10 in four of those eight categories: first in “Bang for the Buck” (converting fan dollars into wins), second in “Affordability” and fourth in both “Fan Relations” and “Coaching.”
The team’s other rankings were 11th in “Players,” 13th in “Ownership,” 25th in “Stadium Experience” and 53rd in “Title Track” (championship prospects).
“I would say thank you to the fans,” owner B. Thomas Golisano said Monday, after learning about the rankings and the methodology. “Obviously, if they did the survey and rated us No. 1, we say thank you. “And we’ll keep trying.”
The story on the Sabres, one of only two teams to get more than two or three sentences in the article, chronicles how far the team has come from January 2003, when it went into bankruptcy. A couple of months later, as Sabres fans well know, Rochester businessman Golisano bought the team.
“Ever since, being a Sabres fan has been found gold for Nickel City residents,” the article states.
The Sabres, under Golisano and managing partner Larry Quinn, rewarded their staunchest fans by slashing season-ticket prices by 15 to 25 percent and pioneering the concept of variable pricing, according to the article. The magazine cites the average cost of attending a Sabres game at $46.40, 25 percent below the NHL average.
ESPN The Magazine also cites the team’s ability to keep the seats filled, by building an on-ice product featuring “a fanfriendly high-speed shoot-andskate attack.” The article also quotes Golisano as telling the team, during a December 2003 losing streak, that he would rather lose games 6-5 than 3-1.
The article credits General Manager Darcy Regier with trading and drafting the players for that style and coach Lindy Ruff with keeping “all the parts moving at break-neck speed.”
“It’s all good in the Land of Wings,” the article states. “Season ticket sales have rocketed from 5,800 to 14,815 since the 2002-03 season, while local TV ratings have tripled. In February, the seven best-selling jerseys at NHL.com belonged to Sidney Crosby [of the Penguins] and six Sabres, part of a jump of more than 1,000 percent in sales of Sabres swag over the past year.”
And the team, bought by Golisano for a reported $92 million, now is worth $149 million, the article states, quoting Forbes magazine on team finances. After losing $46 million over the first half of the decade, the team turned almost a $4.6 million profit last season, the magazine says.
Golisano, in a brief telephone interview Monday, credited Quinn, chief operating officer Daniel J. DiPofiand the hockey staff with creating a strong hockey team and providing a great — and affordable — experience for the fans.
“Our fans think they’re getting a bargain,” Golisano said. “That’s what we want.”
After the Sabres, the next nine places in the rankings were, in order, the San Antonio Spurs (NBA), followed by the Dallas Mavericks (NBA), Indianapolis Colts (NFL), Detroit Pistons (NBA), Anaheim Ducks (NHL), Los Angeles Angels (MLB), Nashville Predators (NHL), Pittsburgh Steelers (NFL) and the Carolina Hurricanes (NHL).
The Buffalo Bills finished in the middle of the pack, at No. 56.
“Attendance is falling, understandably,” states the short accompanying blurb about the Bills. “Long bathroom lines and cold metal seats [Stadium Experience Rank: 93] are easier to endure when the team is winning.”
The bottom team, according to the rankings? The Detroit Lions, who are roasted for their on-field problems and the efforts of team president Matt Millen. “Just how many times can a team hit rock bottom?” the magazine asks.
For the record, the Oakland Raiders are next to last, at 121, followed by the New York Knicks, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and Cleveland Browns. The Toronto Blue Jays rank 41st, the New York Yankees 48th and the Toronto Maple Leafs 99th.
Those rankings and the categories seem to suggest that the rankings are skewed toward smaller-market teams, with a heavy emphasis on affordability and reaching out to the fans.
The article notes that while many carp about the NHL’s “lousy national TV deal,” the league landed four teams among the rankings’ top 10.
All four teams — Buffalo, Anaheim, Nashville and Carolin a — rank low in fan costs and high in the magazine’s Fan Relations category.
“Throw in players and owners who act professionally, make themselves accessible and show their appreciation to fans, and the mix is unbeatable,” the magazine story states. “These franchises also stand as a counterpoint to teams such as the Red Sox and Redskins — and the Leafs — who shove ticket and concessions prices as high as their wealthiest customers will allow.”
“We don’t have that luxury in Buffalo,” Quinn told the magazine.
Related story: Sabres medallions sell like playoff tickets.
gwarner@buffnews.com
