Buffalo Sabres News: The Rochester-less Americans?

The Buffalo Sabres and the Rochester Americans go hand-in-hand . . . but will the Amerks be looking for a new home outside of the 585 for 2017-18?

The Rochester-less Americans? It could happen, and sooner than you think!

A few weeks ago, 95.7 ESPN Rochester’s afternoon show the Sports Bar brought up the fact that the Rochester Americans’ contract with the Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester is expiring this April. The show’s hosts tried to contact the City of Rochester and city officials for comments.

Days later, Pegula Sports and Entertainment addressed the issue with a statement:

"Pegula Sports and Entertainment has been engaged in discussions with the hopes of reaching a long-term agreement for the Rochester Americans to compete in an improved facility that meets necessary arena standards. PSE is exploring all options for the Amerks organization with its primary preference to have the franchise remain a driver in the Rochester community as an anchor in the emerging downtown corridor."

There was some speculation on where the Amerks could possibly be moved to. Two places came up: Buffalo, New York and State College, Pennsylvania.

I highly doubt the Rochester Americans would move into KeyBank Center and play alongside the Buffalo Sabres. Yes, it seems to be working out for the San Jose Sharks and San Jose Barracuda at the Shark Tank (SAP Center). But last month, while the Buffalos Sabres were on their bye week, the Rochester Amerks played a home game on Wednesday February 22^nd at KeyBank Center. Watching the game on TV, it did not appear that many Buffalonians ventured out for the game.

Last summer, the Buffalo Sabres announced that they were pulling their preseason game out of Rochester and moving it to the new Pegula Ice Arena because the Blue Cross Arena wasn’t up to NHL standards (http://www.rochesterfirst.com/sports/local-sports/sabres-pull-preseason-game-from-rochester/494358347). The Buffalo Sabres hosted the Minnesota Wild at Pegula Ice Arena on September 26, 2016; Minnesota won 2-1 (https://www.nhl.com/sabres/schedule/2016-09-01/ET).

Pegula Ice Arena is located on Penn State’s Campus. Kim and Terry Pegula donated a lot of money for the construction of the 5,782 seat hockey facility                                                                   ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegula_Ice_Arena).

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If the Amerks were relocated to Pennsylvania, I don’t think it would go over well. I’ve been to State College, PA years ago and it’s your typical college town. Just like people in Syracuse bleed Orange, the people of State College bleed Blue & White. I don’t see the college kids being too accepting of the Blue & Gold dumping their hockey farm team in their back yard when they have college games to go to; like watching their Nittany Lions football team.

The vibe I get from around town is that the City of Rochester doesn’t think the team is going anywhere, mainly because the Amerks have been a corner stone of the community for the past 61 years. Last I checked, the city didn’t own the team. Team President Russ Brandon said, “ we don’t feel the facility is up to the standards to play an NHL game,” about the Blue Cross Arena (http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/hockey/2016/06/28/sabres-outdated-arena-not-worthy-nhl-preseason-game/86466126/). Last summer, New York State set aside $10 million for updates to the Blue Cross Arena ( http://wxxinews.org/post/10-million-state-aid-blue-cross-arena-improvements). Hopefully the money is well spent.

The Amerks belong in Rochester, and Rochester only. Hopefully the Buffalo Sabres and the elected city officials (don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for any of them!) can secure a longtime deal to keep the Amerks in the Photo City.

Whenever Grandpa Ziggy gets upset with someone, the town, or a company, he writes a letter. When the Town of Cheektowaga’s snow plows destroyed his bushes, he wrote them a letter asking them to fix his landscape, and they did the following spring. Every time the airline company screws up his flights from Buffalo to Carolina (and vice versa), he writes them. The airlines almost always gets back to him, and credits him with a flight voucher.

Next: Buffalo Sabres Look To KHL To Help Blueline

As an Amerks season ticket holder, I don’t want to see the team leave Rochester. I’m going to take a page from Grandpa Ziggy’s book and write to the City of Rochester and the Buffalo Sabres. Hopefully the Amerks stay put.