Kirby Jackson

I would hope that they wouldn’t do that. Teams need to be careful to not get arrogant when things are going well. It looks like the Sabres are in the early phases of a long successful run. If they chased off people like you now, they would be able to replace you. If they did that in the midst of the last few years, they wouldn’t. When the pendulum swings back the other way they will still need those people that will buy tickets. It is risky/arrogant to push away the fans that were there when you were at the bottom.

It’s okay. FA is where I think OL gets addressed. This is a really weak pass catching FA class so that has to be addressed in the draft or via trade. I’d expect 2 starting caliber OL in FA. They may add another guy in the draft.

That’s the most Canadian thing ever!!

I’d say that it is definitely working. We (when I was in the NBA) were one of the first teams to embrace it. It was in large part by necessity. There were still team’s with an old-school mentality. We embraced those guys and had a dedicated manager that worked only with them. We tried to be transparent with them and in turn there was a lot of data sharing. We would look out for them and in turn they would do some favors for us. The goal was to bring the secondary market off the corner and into our control. We would do things like sell them harder to move inventory at a discount. This allowed us to get the revenue from that as well keep some internal revenue by not cannabilizing walk up. As an example we might sell them the worst of the club seats at $75 a piece. They may have been $125 or $150 face. We would do this instead of selling them lower corners at $40. There is a certain type of buyer that will spend $40 or maybe even $90 for a club seat but wouldn’t spend $150. So we are either getting $75 of the $90 or $75 + $40. Our best cases scenario with that same consumer would have been a $40 lower corner. The broker may, in turn get as much as $105-$110 for the club. Everyone is happy. The data sharing is great, but it’s really nothing earth shattering. That’s why some teams (especially in baseball) went to dynamic pricing. We talked about it when our demand was high but it was a little risky. I think that this is the likeliest move for the Sabres. They have enough demand at the moment that I think it would work. It’s risky still though as they likely have a few big broker partners. They really don’t like the dynamic model (at all). They like a limited inventory and high demand for big games. Dynamic pricing spreads it out and will leave a bigger supply (even for prime games).

I always liked Roosevelt and felt like he belonged in the NFL. With that being said, he’s like 31 or 32. He isn’t exactly a part of the future. I’d rather take a shot on another young guy and hope to get lucky.

I am with you Lenz. While it isn’t ideal for the home fans the brokers are a necessary evil. This holds especially true in a “gate-driven” league like the NHL. They are not getting the revenue from the networks that other leagues are. The ticket revenue in the NHL is infienitely more important than NFL, NBA and even MLB (although they are closer). You can get brokers to commit to tickets for Calgary on a Tuesday Night when both teams stink. They are willing to do that because they can make a profit when the Leafs play on a Friday and both teams are good (or whatever). The value of broker partners is that they own many of the seats that may or may not be filled on a crappy game. They play a major role in teams hitting revenue and ticket goals. I’d venture to say that the Sabres have 2,000 or so seats (no idea on the actual number) that are owned by broker partners. There are a handful of really large ones around the country that own chunks. We had about 3,500 one year and there were owned by about 7 guys. With that being said the accessibility between ticket holders and the general public is easier than ever. That makes it even harder for brokers. Teams have to continue to be creative to incentivize brokers to continue purchasing the lower demand games. You may do something like, “for every season ticket that you have you can buy double that amount for Toronto.” So if a guy buys 100 season tickets and is allowed to buy another 200 per game for Toronto you get a lot of Leaf fans in the building. You do this to protect the less desired games and drive demand away from games that will sellout anyways. Lenz, is that along the lines of what you are looking for?

He EXCELS in shorts and a t-shirt!!

This year is different in that there is. O doubt that Brady is hitting a wall. Stats aside, he can’t make all of the throws anymore. He’s aware of this, the coaching staff is aware of it so they’ve tried to scheme around it to mixed results. He’s had a decent season by QB standards but a terrible season by his standards. You don’t “bounce back” at 41 either. This is the beginning of the end for him. They are still a good team and he a good QB. The Pats are NOT the dominant force that they once were. They are a “good” team but not “great.” Their window is closing. It may not be this year, it may not even be next but it isn’t open longer than that.

Are you in St. Kitts?!? I love that place. It might be my favorite place in the Caribbean.

Kareem Hunt

It’s kind of insulting that 20+ teams are focused on making the Super Bowl their “Super Bowl.” I’m sorry that I don’t really care about a game in Week 16 of the regular season. The ONLY goal remaining for the Bills is the continued development and opportunity for younger players. If Josh keeps improving this team is heading in the right direction. Hopefully they can identify a few more players that can be a part of this thing moving forward. Those are the only relevant moral victories.

Don’t consider Harbaugh!! He needs to stay at Michigan!!

This is where I’m at. This team needs an infusion of talent (especially on offense). Get as many good players as you can.

I just follow the money. 3 months ago Urban Meyer was less than even money to be gone after this season. That was before anyone started talking about it. It sounded crazy at the time. Vegas is always right. I will never trust Dunkirk Don again after I bought up all of that real estate near Batavia!!

Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense to me but it isn’t that much of a long shot. He’s tied for the 3rd choice. Someone knows something...

I think that this is fair. They were the two (3 when you count Fitz) most polarizing guys of the last 20 years without question. They all had good moments and moments of not good enough. You could always do better or worse. That’s a great recipe for disagreement.

This surprises me. It never crossed my mind that he could be considered a HC candidate coming off of this season. The best thing that ever happened to him is that he worked for Belichick and Saban. I wonder if he will be a candidate elsewhere? Could it be the Mark Murphy WNY connection?

Just saw this tweet and it looks like Vegas thinks he’s a candidate? Thoughts???

I am with you on that. Josh Allen will be an interesting test case because he’s kind of both. He was a small school guy that ended up as a top 10 pick.

I don’t think that the Napoleon Complex comes from the size of our QBs. It is just that general insecurity that comes with being a WNYer. We don’t like to hear that it’s always snowing or there’s nothing to do there or the food isn’t good, etc... People from WNY defend all things WNY. We take great pride in things that are ours. That’s why we always like the underdogs like Fred Jackson more than the blue-chips like Marshawn Lynch. We relate to the underdog way more than the superstar.

So Vegas thinks it’s 49.5 and they are crazy but 110-0 is reasonable?

Oh, I agree with you. It gives me pause though that my brother’s much more refined eye feels differently. I called him as soon as the game ended thinking that we would be sharing the same optimism. He sees things that I don’t. I see the plays that he makes and he see the ones that he misses. I’m certainly encouraged, just thought it was interesting.