Will they sell? Won’t they sell? The Buffalo Sabres have been on the market since B. Thomas Golisano first realized that the team was worth more than he paid for it.
There are a few things that people need to understand about the sale of the Buffalo Sabres and everything that has gone down since members of the Rigas family were shipped off to Attica, or wherever they put the white-collar criminals. The Sabres were not leaving Buffalo, and Mr. B. Thomas Golisano was never going to be the owner to bring us a Stanley Cup.
When Golisano bought the Sabres, I was as grateful as anyone else. I didn’t want the Sabres to move to Hamilton, and it looked like Golisano snatched the Sabres from the clutches of Canadian hockey fans and kept the team right here in good ol’ Buffalo. Or did he?
Yes, we should all be thankful to Golisano for buying the Sabres and giving financial stability to the team. But that is what he does. Golisano is a businessman and a politician. Any smart business person could see that the Sabres were an excellent value when Golisano bought them. It was always amazing to me that there were not potential buyers lined up waiting to buy the Sabres and keep them in Buffalo.
The Sabres were a financial mess not because of a lack of fan support; they were a mess because the Rigas family bankrupted the team. Fan attendance fell off around 2002 because no one knew what was going on. But there was a huge profit to be made in buying the Buffalo Sabres, and B. Thomas wanted it. The only sticking point was the inept leadership that was running the NHL into the ground. It was a gamble for Golisano, or anyone, to buy or own an NHL franchise in 2002 and 2003.
But Golisano saw something in the incompetence of Gary Bettman that convinced him to buy the team. Eight years later, Golisano is ready to double his investment by selling the team. He is a smart businessman, but the novelty of ice hockey wore off for him quickly. After the Drury-Briere playoff runs were over, Golisano immediately went into profit-making mode.
The Sabres signed Thomas Vanek to an incredibly inflated contract because Golisano knew that letting Vanek get away after the Briere and Drury fiascos would kill ticket sales. Edmonton Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe put in an obscenely high offer for Vanek, and because there were no negotiations on the Sabres’ part before the Lowe offer, the Sabres had to match the offer or lose Vanek. That began the dark years for Sabres’ general manager Darcy Regier.
When the team was in bankruptcy, Regier had the foresight to build a Stanley Cup contender. As soon as Golisano took over, it looked like Regier lost his touch. When you go from making smart hockey moves to making profit-motivated moves, you will not be contending for a Stanley Cup any time soon. That is why people need to relax on Darcy just a little. Remember those great years of challenging for the Stanley Cup and feeling great about the Sabres? Darcy did that. Maybe Darcy has lost some of his touch with judging talent, but I would be curious to see Darcy in action when his concern is once again the talent on the team and not just the profit in the cash registers.
Mr. Golisano got what he wanted from the Sabres. He made a profit and he raised his profile so that he could advance some of his political ideas. When New York state politics proved to be too corrupt for Golisano, he moved to Florida. That is when the talks to sell the Sabres really started. Tom Golisano had enough of New York state, and I don’t blame him.
Terry Pegula appears to be the next owner of the Buffalo Sabres and the announcement is supposed to come any day now. If Pegula buys the team, it will go back to focusing on winning. Pegula gave $88 million to the Penn State hockey program just so he could see them win a national championship. Imagine what he would give the Sabres just to win a Stanley Cup. If the Pegula thing happens, Buffalo Sabres fans can be optimistic. Pegula is also a Sabres fan. Imagine that, a billionaire Sabres fan who may have just purchased the Sabres. The possibilities are endless.
But Sabres fans want to, and should, thank Tom Golisano. You took our franchise from bankruptcy and made it profitable again. Even though I think you get too much credit for what amounted to a great purchase, I am grateful to you for what you have done. Now it is time to hand the team over to someone who wants to win the Cup. Now it is time for B. Thomas Golisano to ride off into the Florida sunset and for Buffalo Sabres fans to wish him a fond farewell.
Oh, and Mr. Golisano — take Larry Quinn with you.
George N. Root III is a Lockport resident. His column appears every Wednesday. He can be reached at georgeroot@verizon.net.
George Root
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George N. Root III is a Lockport resident. His column appears every Wednesday. Contact him at georgeroot@verizon.net.
ROOT: Thank you, Tom Golisano?
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ROOT: Thank you, Tom Golisano?
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