Season ticket holders kept the faith during lockout
Despite being given the option to cancel during the lockout, the majority of Sabres season ticket holders kept the faith these past four months choosing to hang onto more than 15,000 tickets. YNN's Meg Rossman spoke to several season ticket holders about why they stuck around.
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — "To put it in general terms, I'm just glad to have hockey back," Sabres season ticket holder Brian Wiseniewski said Tuesday.
And despite a four-month lockout, so are the majority of Sabres season ticket holders.
"Any time you have a lockout there's potential to lose the most important part of your business and that's your paying customer," Sabres President Ted Black said.
Though that didn't seem to be the case this time around for season ticket holders. The team lost 30 ticket holders prior to the lockout and an additional 50 during. But canceling tickets with a waiting list 3,000 fans deep wasn't an option for most fans, even when the potential for a canceled season was.
"With the success of the team and new ownership it would take forever to get them back, Wiseniewski said. “That thought never crossed my mind."
Season ticket holder Brian Herberger said he’s looking forward to the shortened season.
"If it's only going to be 40 or 20 some home games it should at least be some exciting hockey."
Forty-eight games in 100 days, though it remains to be seen whether this will be the year the team finally wins a Stanley Cup.
"I hope so. Terry Pegula he said three years, this is year two for him. We'll see what he can deliver," Wiseniewski said.
The Sabres first home game is set for January 20.