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Sabres cite new CBA as reason for raising ticket prices

Terry Pegula

Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula speaks during a news conference announcing the new ownership of the NHL hockey team in Buffalo, N.Y., Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/David Duprey)

AP

Sabres fans have plenty of reasons to be grumpy with their team after this season, but now they’ve got a reason to be straight-up angry.

John Vogl of The Buffalo News notes the team is raising ticket prices by 4-percent next year and that increase is thanks to... the new Collective Bargaining Agreement? A letter from the team to season ticket holders lays out their reasons for the increase.

“As part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement with our players, all teams must produce revenue primarily through ticket sales in order to keep the stability of the league and its franchises strong,” John Sinclair, vice president of tickets and services, wrote in the letter.

A four-percent raise isn’t much, but the team did raise prices 12.2% before last season. Meanwhile, owner Terry Pegula pulled back on his optimistic hopes for a Stanley Cup within three years of his purchase of the team and now this. You wonder why Buffalo fans are dour.

Producing revenue through ticket prices is how the business works and the Sabres have traditionally been a team with low prices and that’s something that tends to irk the other owners. Pulling this after a lockout-shortened season where the home team wasn’t in the hunt most of the year is awkward at best. Sending the note out on Fan Appreciation Day makes it all look a lot worse.