Sabres tired of playing in front of Leaf fans in Buffalo, attempting to prevent Leafs fans from attending games
As we know, the Leafs tend to have a fairly significant cohort of fans present no matter which arena they play in - especially when they play the likes of Buffalo, Ottawa and either of the two Florida-based teams. However, the Leafs may notice a bit of a decline in Leaf fans present at games in Buffalo this season.
Per Frank Batres-Landaeta, VP of Sales and Service for the Buffalo Sabres, the Sabres are attempting to limit sales of Buffalo Sabres tickets to residents of Buffalo in an attempt to reduce the number of Maple Leaf fans present at home games.
Obviously last year, there were a handful of games where we saw the wrong color blue or the wrong color red coming into the building, depending on the jersey we were wearing.
We want to make sure that we're providing that home-ice advantage to our players."
Per reports, there are upwards of 80% Leaf fans in Buffalo when the Sabres play the Leafs and the idea to limit ticket sales to rival fans in Buffalo stems from complaints made by Sabres players being embarrassed by the number of Leaf fans present for home games. Ryan O'Reilly's hat trick game in Buffalo on February 21st last season brought forth the complaints after players saw the number of hats raining down from the stands in celebration of the visiting team.
According to reports and confirming what we already know, this won't prevent Leaf fans from attending games in Buffalo. The targeted motion is only expected to apply to early rounds of sales, such as pre-sale events. Tickets will still be available via your usual secondary suppliers, such as StubHub.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 2 | 121 ANSWERS Sabres tired of playing in front of Leaf fans in Buffalo, attempting to prevent Leafs fans from attending games Will Leaf fans outnumber Sabres fans in their own rink again this season regardless of this new rule? | ||
| Yes | 111 | 91.7 % |
| No | 10 | 8.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
