Buffalo Sabres COO Pete Guelli Talks KeyBank Center Renovations, Sabres Season Ticket Sales, & More

Buffalo Sabres COO Pete Guelli Talks KeyBank Center Renovations, Sabres Season Ticket Sales, & More

Pete, you talked about uh getting events to this arena, getting a lot of people to this arena from an organizational standpoint. What is the concern right now with the empty team and getting people back here? Yeah, it’s something we need to work on. I mean, look, we still had relatively full buildings all year, you know, despite some people are disappointed on where we’re currently at, but I’m confident that if we turn things around like we expect to on the ice that everyone will be back in in the arena and this will be the home ice advantage that we need. Ke, what are season ticket sales? What have they been like? They’ve been pretty consistent. I think the season ticket numbers kind of hovered around 9,000 or somewhere in that neighborhood. We’re expecting to be about that number as we start, but there’s a lot of ways to get people into the building. We’re launching a number of new plans if people want some optionality and they want to come in for fewer games to kind of see where things go, great. If they want to come in on an individual individual game basis, you know, we’ll welcome them there as well. What’s been the cell with this team and getting people maybe to renew those season tickets? I mean, we know the history here. Yeah. First and foremost, I think it’s the experience. You know, when you walk in here, it’s a hockey barn. It’s a great place to see a game. We’ve got a young and talented team. We love the way they played at the end of the season. You know, Lindy’s back now for his second year, and he’s had a chance to put a stamp on the team. So, I think there’s a lot of reasons to be excited about this season. What’s the status with Mike? What might have you reached out to the state for help? Yeah. So, when I came in, Terry and I talked about the future of the arena and what we wanted to do. You know, he’s invested every year. I think you guys know last year we put the new scoreboard in, put the new roof on. We’ve got some things that not quite ready to announce today that we’ve done over the summer as well that are coming up. And now we’re also looking at the long-term future of the arena. So you’re not right? There’s nothing specific right now, but we, you know, said we said every year we’re going to make improvements in the building and make improvements to the fan experience and we’re going to be doing it again this summer. You talk to the state at all for now? Yeah, we’ve talked to the state, we’ve talked to the county. We’re kind of in preliminary discussions there. We’re trying to map out the long-term plan and they’ll be a part of whatever we do. We uh learned that you were working with populist at one point in terms of extending that. Was that continue and what are you looking to do beyond beyond the Yeah, Jeeoff, I’ve been there a little over a year. These processes take time. So, we’ve been doing some discovery and due diligence, looking at the things that work, looking at things that don’t work, going other facilities, looking at what the future of this building might might look like. We brought populace in probably about eight months ago and they’ve been doing a study on the building as well and we’ve been meeting every month trying to put a plan together. I’d still characterize it as preliminary in nature, but they’re taking a hard look at what the next steps in this facility need to be. We’re coming up on 30 years of this facility. Does it need Yeah, I think it’s the oldest building in the National Hockey League that have yet to undergo a major renovation. So, absolutely needs some work. Specific and I don’t know if you can answer the seats. Is that something that can be come up in the next phase? Yeah, it’s defin it’s definitely on the radar. There’s a number of things that we know our fans are interested in. One of them is the seats. Just candidly, Paul, one of the things we’re waiting on is trying to determine what what are we doing long term before we go in and put in a whole new swath of brand new seats. It doesn’t make as much sense until we understand what we’re doing with the building long term, but it’s something that’s definitely on the radar. Can you shed any light on where things do stand with the county? Initially, county executives told us earlier they want to get out of the arena of business by October. He indicated today that that may not happen that quickly. Where do you think? I think we’re in a great place relative to the lease. You know, there’s a lot of optionality there. I mean, right now we could just move forward and it’s going to roll over for another five years. You know, our goal is to make sure this team is here long term and well situated. We think this building is a catalyst for growth in downtown Buffalo. That’s why we’re trying to program it as many nights a year as we possibly can. out of the arena business though as this is in town. Who would you lease it from? Well, look, they’re moving out of the the stadium business, right? So, yeah, we found a path there. So, we’re pretty confident we’ll find a path relative to the arena as well. The 200 events. When is the current? It doesn’t really expire. There’s some options uh that occur on September 30th that we’re looking at. Ex said it can automatically extend for 5 years, which is likely the path we’ll take. You could also opt out and then there’s another year on the lease after that. But the way conversations are trending, it’s likely just to continue the way it is. County chip in renovations. Are there plans that these two have conversations with the county for future renovations with this arena? Is that something that is in the works or thought about? I wouldn’t say they’re in the plans yet, but I I wouldn’t rule it out. Uh, I think the partnership we have at the stadium has worked out incredibly well. The county and the state have been incredible to work with over there and, you know, we like the way that that project’s coming along. So, when the time is right, I’m sure we’ll have that discussion. Couple of hockey, the 200 events, what I mean, concerts, what do you envision uh bringing to Buffalo? Well, I look, I would say we’re open for business. You know, it’s it’s fun to have events like McCartney that only selected 18 places to play to pick Buffalo as a destination. So since I arrived and it’s been Terry’s mandate. He wants this building active as many nights a year as possible. We’ve grown even in the first year. We’ve got more emphasis on doing it again. We’ve got the NCAA’s coming in 2026 for instance. So we’re we’re out there actively trying to bring events to this building and we won’t be satisfied until we get 200 a year. Maybe the circuses. I don’t know. I mean there’s a lot of dates possibly. Look, it’s it could be anything. I mean this that’s what’s great about this arena. It really we got the Sabres, we have the Bandits. We have concerts. We have family shows. Every demographic that is in the city of Buffalo is going to walk through this building at some point. So, we want to program it to reflect that. Well, upgrades help in that NCAA, those types of events. If this gets renovated in some capacity, does that help attract? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there’s things that people don’t think about, you know, parking, ingress, egress, what’s the back of the house look like so that bigger events can come here. How quickly can you flip a building from day to day so you can have events on backtoback nights, for instance? So yeah, I would say there’s a lot of things kind of systemically in the building that you want to look at to make sure you’re prepare prepared for as many events as possible. Yeah, look at it’s from a ticketing standpoint, it’s always going to be a focus and definitely urgency. I think again there’s a lot of ways to fill a building. Season tickets, you’d love to have it consistently north of 10,000, maybe in that 12,000 range. have operated buildings like this before and that’s I would kind of position that as more of a sweet spot. But there’s again there’s um all kinds of group sales opportunities there’s individual game sales opportunities. There’s options on types of tickets that people can buy. So it’s not just about season tickets. It’s about putting plans together to get as many people in here on a nightly basis as you can. Pete hockey question. Couple of questions. First off stewardship of your role and of the Sabres for the last year. uh most recently with the NHL draft decentralized. What were some of your impressions of that being in Orchard Park having Yo Kalan and Eric Stall in the room? What was that like to be a part of that? What were your takeaways from that? Yeah, look my background is in the NFL and the NBA and we have decentralized drafts there and they’ve gone very well. I think from from an organizational perspective from ownership to Kevin to Lindy to myself, we I think we liked that model. It was nice to have everybody in the same place. It was nice to be sequestered. Uh, we’ve shared our thoughts with the league and um, you know, I wouldn’t be surprised if it continued. Did the Sabres vote for another decentralized draft? I wouldn’t say there was a vote. You know, they did poll us and ask us what we thought and we thought it went went well for us and it’s something that we would sign up for again. Okay. And then it’s also has there been any contact with the NHL about a possible outdoor game at Highark in the future, the new Highark? Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think you guys know, we’ve been public that we’re pursuing the NFL draft and I think the most likely dates for that would be 29 and 30 if that worked out. We’ve talked to the league about the Winter Classic. Um, we talked to them about the stadium series. We told them we want it. We’d love to have it here. And right now, we’re in the process of kind of looking at the dates that might make the most sense for that. Say, what’s the feedback from the NHL been about New Highark hosting? Yeah, they would love to have it here. You know, the first outdoor game in NHL history was hosted here in Buffalo was a big success. It was approximately 20 years ago. So, it’ll be fun to maybe memorialize that type of event with another one here in this market and to do it at the new stadium. I think it’s the perfect venue for it. about Terry’s thoughts off the direction of changes obviously personnel wise front office coaching staff but I’m guess yeah I’d say like we’re incredibly focused I think we all sat down with Kevin at the end of the season and talked about what the future might be and I think you’ve seen a series of moves bringing in Yarmmo was was big for us he’s got a high level of experience I think he’s going to be a great addition to the team making some moves on the strength and conditioning side bringing in Eric Stall and And we made a number of u on the ice moves as well. We needed we need to get better defensively and we think we did. So, you know, look, until we drop the puck, you know, it’s always hard to say how things are going to work out, but we can’t wait till October and we’re playing hockey. Kevin has said many times that he knows that you have to earn your fans and he understands that from your job. How do you look at that? Trying to earn your fans back. How do you do that? Yeah, we agree. First of all, it’s great to have a GM that’s understands that and admits that. And our focus is just turning this around, making the playoffs, getting Buffalo Sabres hockey back to where people expect it to be. Pete, can we get you on the can we get you on the the stadium in in Orchard Park? We had mentioned last time we spoke summer of 2026. I hope it’s a year. Where do things stand in terms of construction? Will it be ready? And and how’s that going? Yeah, absolutely. On time, on pace. There’s about 1,400 workers there on a daily basis right now. The inside of the stadium is starting to develop to the point where it’s starting to really look like the building that I think we all envisioned. Uh, we’re going to get the keys in July and we look forward to opening it up.

Buffalo Sabres COO spoke with the media after the announcement of KeyBank Center’s naming rights renewal through 2036. He talked about renovation discussions for the arena, bringing more events to KeyBank Center, Buffalo Sabres season ticket sales and opportunities, and more.

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