- The opportunity is there for the F’N Center to be loud this season.
Amid the whirlwind offseason at One Seymour H Knox III Plaza, a great deal of changes were made to the cosmetics within the First Niagara Center. There are plenty of new features that greet the fans when they enter the building for the home opener. (Note, this was lost in the original post, my apologies).
Personally, I’m interested to see what changes, if any, have been made to the game presentation for the regular season. With a new attitude surrounding the team, I am wondering if the game presentaion will reflect a more aggressive attitude as well. Some have stronger opinions on this than others, but I feel that the overall atmosphere in the First Niagara Center has been somewhat dull in recent years.
The fans are due just as much guilt – or perhaps more – as the arena staff. Ted Black said it right when he described the job as one where nearly 51% of the people watching will be unhappy with what you’re doing. There is no right answer for the Sabres game presentation staff, which is an unfortunate situation to be in. Even if they come and absolutely kill it this season, a major portion of the fans won’t be happy. It isn’t a fair position and I wish them all the luck in the world getting things right.
However, the one thing I hope has changed is the overall attitude of the show the fans witness. The game is paramount to anything else going on around it. Therefore the on-ice product is the main factor in stimulating the fans. Based on the changes to the roster, the Sabres should have little trouble playing entertaining hockey games.
For much of last season the Sabres were pretty lousy, that didn’t help one bit. What made matters worse was the relatively stale atmosphere within the arena. I feel the biggest contributor to that was every stoppage in play was filled with deflating ads and videos. Rather than having the opportunity to create a hostile atmosphere, nearly every second of time outside of the game is being sold.
If there are less Aspen Dental commercials – and more compilations of goals, saves or Pat Kaleta steamrolling people set to hard, edgy music – the fans will be riled up and they will create a little more noise. For the record, more noise = better gameday experience. Continue reading
Two in the Box 