Last night the Buffalo Sabres announced that not only will they have a Fan Appreciation Night in the final home game of the season, they’ll extend that out to a Fan Appreciation Month -a whole month! – to show us fans how muh we are appreciated.
It wasn’t great timing as the team lost 6-1 later that night, but hey, you can’t win them all. Or, I suppose that should read: if you’re the Sabres, you can’t win them at all (zing).
Let’s see what they’ve got in store:
Tuesday, April 1: Sabres vs. Devils, 7 p.m.
- Fan handout upon entry to arena
- 26 season-ticket holders will be randomly selected to win autographed Sabres jerseys throughout the game
- Discounted concession items including: 24oz. sodas ($2) and small popcorn cup ($2)
- 40% off discount at Sabres Store
Tuesday, April 8: Sabres vs. Red Wings, 7 p.m.
- 26 season-ticket holders will be randomly selected to win autographed Sabres jerseys throughout the game
- Discounted concession items including: peanuts ($3), candy ($3) and nachos ($3)
- 40% off discount at Sabres Store
Fan Appreciation Night, presented by ADPRO Sports
Sunday, April 13, Sabres vs. Islanders, 5 p.m.
- Party in the Plaza featuring Sabres alumni and free (?) food kiosks from TOPS
- Free pom-poms
- Jersey Off My Back giveaway
- Grand Prize of round-trip plane tickets
- A balloon drop (!) in which the balloons are filled with unnamed prize tickets
So, upon closer inspection, the month is more like three games, and the fan appreciation mostly amounts to discounts on things in the arena, enticing you to spend money, albeit a bit less, on the 30th place team in the league. Free jerseys are always nice, and I’m sure those 72 fans will enjoy their autographed Zenon Konopka and Jamie McBain sweaters, but the tangible rewards for the majority of fans have still been unnamed. And for some reason, the dropping of balloons, typically a gesture of accomplishment or celebration, at the end of the season just tickles me. What exactly are we celebrating? The fact that this season is finally, mercifully over? The fact that we can look forward to the Sabres being relevant again come draft time?
GIF via gifrific
Maybe this announcement of unnamed rewards and discounts at the team store stings a bit more because last night, the St. Louis Blues held a Star Wars Night during their game against the Wild (a 5-1 win, by the way). It’s a creative way to get fans in the building, and while this kind of thing isn’t for everyone, when I look through the photos, I see more smiles on fans’ faces than I’ve seen in the First Niagara Center in a long time. And that’s the team in first place!
The Sabres will say that their ticket sales, and season ticket sales, are just fine thank you, but a gesture like the Blues put on goes further than putting butts in seats. It puts smiles on faces, gets people excited, and at the very least gives you another entertaining distraction in your life, things the Sabres can’t say they do at all.
What do you all think of the Sabres Fan Appreciation Month? Anything there that gets you excited about the final three home games? Let us know in the comments.