I have to wonder if the Sabres are pushing the envelope to see exactly what the market will bear in terms of pricing for their seats.

The team released their pricing and designations for their gold, silver, bronze and value games for this season, and as you can see from this chart on the team’s website, the disparity between the season ticket price and the window price has grown even larger than that of last season.

Furthermore, more games have been assigned that gold and silver category; while last year there were just 5 gold games and 17 silver games, this year 9 games have been assigned gold status, with 22 more earning silver designation. In what is the cruelest irony of all, the December game vs Philadelphia and the February game against the Rangers have also been placed in the gold category, and I am assuming this is based on front office’s premise that fans will want to come out to see the return of Daniel Briere and Chris Drury.

So what does this all mean? Basically this - those fans who have been casual ticket buyers all these years, or who have not been part of a season ticket partnership group, are going to pay through the nose to attend hockey games. Look at that chart again… the $200 single ticket threshold has been breached, and judging from some of the other prices up there, one would think that this was a Leafs game at the Air Canada Centre.

Now in today’s Buffalo News comes this article outlining the formation of a club for those on the season ticket waiting list. For a $100 deposit, which I assume gets applied to an eventual season ticket, the member gets first dibs on a presale of single game tickets, before the general public. Throw in coupons for merchandise discounts, Bandits tickets, newsletters, blah blah… actually not a bad concept and a way to keep that waiting list fresh and engaged with the team.

What will be interesting to see is this… will the ticket buying public jump right in and snap up all the remaining seats at those eye popping prices? What exactly will this market bear, especially with all the bad news coming out of HSBC Arena this past off season?

I am guessing that fans will swallow hard and take the plunge, but be much more judicious with their ticket buying decisions. I am also guessing that the lowest priced tickets will be the first to go, leaving those 100 level preferred seats and the club seats as the toughest sell. Lastly, the September 13 presale gives another layer of purchasing opportunities for true Sabres fans, meaning that those beady-eyed, flapping-head folks from 416 country will have a much tougher time snaring ducats to see their beloved Leafs. And that’s a good thing!

We’ve had four season tickets in section 113 since the arena opened, and upper blues in sec 11 in the Aud before that, and have split them up among shareholders all these years. We have always enjoyed the attention and the discounts and the perks that have come with season ticket ownership. If you are a late arrival to this party, well all I can say is that sux for you!

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