John Vogl was correct when he led off his latest article with this sentence, "Buffalo sports fans can be a skeptical bunch." So, the changes that he is reporting in today's Buffalo News article are just another sign of things to come with new ownership in town. Here is a synopses of changes that are coming that will affect fans.
- The Sabres will have a half hour pregame and a postgame show starting with the March 19th game against the Thrashers. My speculation here is that the pregame show will be only for fans watching only on MSG Buffalo and not on Center Ice but there are some teams that have the privilege of having their pregame show on Center Ice. The pregame show is something that most fans have been asking for a long time now and a dedicated postgame show both at home and on the road just makes it that much better.
- The Sabres are getting rid of the Hurricane 2000 intro they have been using since the lockout and going back to the Sabre Dance. Personally, I'm a huge fan of the Sabre Dance and never really liked the Hurricane 2000 opening so this makes me very happy. Besides, the Sabre Dance is synonymous with this team so going back to that song just puts makes sense.
- Countdown clocks will be put on the arena monitors and a chime will sound a few minutes before the intermission ends to alert people they should get back to their seats. This is an interesting concept that I haven't seen a need for, but then again when I go to the arena I don't usually leave my seat during intermission.
- The slug on the scoreboard will die, but not until the offseason. This makes sense just because of the logistics of trying to replace something like that but it will be nice to see them off the scoreboard after the season ends. On a side note, when the goathead logos came off the scoreboard in 2006, the Sabres auctioned them off for a hefty amount for anyone to buy. If the Sabres did it again, would you be interested in buying for your house?
The Sabres are looking for more suggestions, but if you could change one thing about the fan experience that hasn't been addressed at this point, what would it be?