BUFFALO – The Sabres will likely allow their KeyBank Center lease agreement with Erie County to automatically be extended for five years on Sept. 30, Pete Guelli, the chief operating officer of the Sabres and Buffalo Bills, said Wednesday.
“We can 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,” Guelli said after the Sabres and KeyBank announced a 10-year extension of their naming rights agreement.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said the lease was extended for one year last year because of the construction of the Bills’ new stadium in Orchard Park.
“Because of the work that’s being done there, nobody felt it was appropriate at the time to try and extend the lease,” he said in the KeyBank Center atrium. “But the lease technically would have expired in 2025, but that extension was done to push it back to 2026. And it could be continued like that.”
Poloncarz said while lease negotiations haven’t started, the sides have had conversations.
“Pete and I are talking a lot about various issues,” he said. “While we’re not really heavy into any of these negotiations at this point, I feel very confident about the relationship as well as the team staying here for decades to come.”
Long term, Poloncarz said, he doesn’t want Erie County to own KeyBank Center.
“There’s reasons behind that, which go from everything associated with potential costs of investments … and sometimes even more important, litigation,” he said. “The county has been sued multiple times as a result of litigation associated with injuries and falls and things like that at the football stadium, just like we sometimes have at the hockey arena.”
New York State will own the new football stadium, which is scheduled to open in 2026.
Under the KeyBank Center lease agreement, Poloncarz said the city owns the ground, the county owns the building and the Sabres are responsible for upgrades inside the building.
The arena, which opened in 1996, needs significant upgrades.
“I think it’s the oldest building in the National Hockey League that has yet to undergo a major renovation,” Guelli said. “So (it) absolutely needs some work.”
The Sabres started some of that work last year by installing a new scoreboard and putting a new roof on the building. Replacing the original seats is also on the radar.
“There’s a number of things that we know our fans are interested in,” Guelli said. “One of them is the seats. … One thing we’re waiting on is trying to determine what are we doing long-term before we go in and put in a whole new swath of brand-new seats.”
Guelli noted about eight months ago, the team hired Populous, an architectural design firm, to do a study on the building.
“We’ve been meeting every month trying to put a plan together,” he said. “I 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.”
Renovations, of course, could attract more events to KeyBank Center.
During Wednesday’s announcement, Sabres owner Terry Pegula said 140 events will take place at the arena in 2025, up from about 120 in past years. Paul McCartney will play a concert Nov. 14, one of the biggest shows in the arena’s history.
Pegula wants KeyBank Center to eventually host 200 events a year.
“I would say we’re open for business,” Guelli said. “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, that’s been Terry’s mandate: he wants this building active as many nights a year as possible.”
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Guelli said the Sabres, who hosted the first NHL Winter Classic at Highmark Stadium (then known as Ralph Wilson Stadium) in 2008, would like to have another outdoor game at the new stadium.
“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,” he said. “We’ve talked to the league about the Winter Classic. We’ve 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 dates that might make the most sense for that.”
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Count the Sabres among the teams that like the decentralized draft the NHL implemented this year.
Instead of traveling to a venue last month and operating from a crowded table on a busy floor, teams ran the draft from their headquarters. The Sabres, however, used the Bills’ facilities at Highmark Stadium.
“From an organizational perspective, from ownership to Kevyn (Adams) to Lindy (Ruff) to myself, I think we liked that model,” Guelli said. “It was nice to have everybody in the same place. It was nice to be sequestered. We’ve shared our thoughts with the league, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it continued.”
Guelli said the Sabres told the league “it’s something we would sign up for again.”
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Guelli said the Sabres, who own an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought, have sold about 9,000 season tickets for the upcoming season.
Remember, the Sabres once capped season-ticket sales and had a waiting list.
Guelli said the Sabres must work on getting people into the building. Last season, they averaged 15,998 fans per game, the NHL’s sixth-lowest total.
“Some people are real 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 the arena, and this will be the home-ice advantage that we need,” he said.
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In addition to the arena naming rights – the extension begins in 2026-27 – KeyBank will be the Sabres’ sponsor on their helmets for road games in the upcoming season.