Score a primary assist to Mother Nature and a wickedly entertaining NHL scedule for excellent TV ratings in the Northeast. The NHL TV ratings are in, and Buffalo are ranked #2 in the entire NHL! Props to Matt Gould, Joe Pinter, Kevin Sylvester, Rick Jeanerette, Harry Neal, Rob Ray and the crew at MSG Buffalo. Credit to Larry Quinn, Tom Golisano, and the Sabres PR and Marketing team for their unbridled commitment to selling the game of hockey and for injecting equity into the Buffalo sabres brand over the past seven seasons. The Terry Pegula era begins in less than two weeks, and the future of his team could not be brighter at this time. Season ticket sales are north of 16,000 and TV ratings are in the upper echelon of the NHL.
Buffalo and the entire Eastern Seaboard have been crippled by 100+ inches of snow. The Sabres, despite their sluggish start to the season, are performing well over the air, to say nothing of at the box office.
According to Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal Daily, the Buffalo Sabres game broadcasts on MSG score a 6.5 average rating. The Pittsburgh Penguins lead the way with a sizzling 9.51 rating for its game broadcasts on FSN. The numbers are U.S. only as reported by Neilsen. Were there a ratings service that combined viewership of U.S. and Canadian TV viewing habits, Buffalo's numbers would no doubt zoom, as would all border towns like Detroit-Windsor.
No small coincidence that Buffalo and Pittsburgh have performed on NBC's Winter Classic game on New Year's Day.
What makes this such a newsworthy story is the fact that the Sabres stumbled miserably out of the gate in October and November, and they were losing more games than they were winning. Conversely, the Pens stormed out of the gate to the crow's nest of the Eastern standings. Buffalo has a few "household name" players in Miller, Vanek, and Myers, while the Pens are loaded with matinee idols Crosby, Fleury, Malkin, Staal, Talbot, et al.
No surprise that the TV ratings in non-traditional NHL markets in the States performed woefully.
In terms of raw #s, your major markets lead the way:
Pittsburgh 105,000 Households.
Chicago 89,00 Households
Detroit 76,000 Households
Boston 68,000 Households
Philly 63,000 Households
Ryan Miller will make start number 29 in a row tonight in Tampa. Would you trust Patty Lalime at this point of the season? Didn't think so. Who can forget the gaffe of all gaffes that Lalime perpetrated vs. the Bolts' Adam Hall in Buffalo back on November 20?
Miller is 10-4-1 in his past 15 games and he will not be rocking a toque anytime soon. Lalime will not see the crease again as long as the Sabres are attempting to catch Carolina and Atlanta.
Dwayne Roloson will man the blue for Tampa.
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Ryan Malone will draw back into Guy Boucher's lineup tonight. He's missed the past five games with an abdominal problem.
Nate Thompson suffered a concussion on Sunday against the Blues and will not play vs. Buffalo. You'll remember it was Thompson who nuked Tim Connolly's face the last time Buffalo played in Tampa.
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