Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Buffalo Sabres announced on Monday some upcoming renovations to KeyBank Center this offseason, including a new videoboard above center ice, as well as a new roof.
The team has partnered with Mitsubishi Electric to provide a new 43-foot long and 27-foot tall videoboard that will not only roughly double the size of the current videoboard at KeyBank Center, but will also make it one of the largest such videoboards in the entire NHL.
"When this year is done, we'll get to work in time and have that up in place for the start of next year," said Rob Minter, interim COO of the Sabres in an appearance on "Sabres Live" with Brian Duff and Martin Biron. "It's one of those things where, from my experience too, it's super exciting to be a part of. You pick out this new huge focal point for our fans, and what a difference it's going to make to the fan experience."
Minter says this new videoboard will not only provide an upgrade in resolution and functionality, but it will also be a huge focal point toward upgrading the fan experience at the arena downtown.
"It's going to be state-of-the-art, modernized, and we've worked with Mitsubishi and really vetted the options out the past couple of months. In my travels and talking to folks around the league, and obviously other indoor sports leagues and any place that has a center-hung [videoboard] like that, it's the different sizes, angles and options," Minter explained.
"I think we were all just really excited and impressed with what we landed on, and look forward to putting it in place for next year, and taking that step towards improving the fan experience which was certainly due."
Other videoboard features include four fully digital corner panels, as well as two screens on the board’s underbelly to provide additional angles for fans in the lower rows.
"It's all a segmented board, so we're able to program it in a ton of different ways from a fan experience standpoint, from a sponsor standpoint, from a community aspect. There's a lot of different things we can do with it, which I think was very attractive to us as well, the different functionality options that it has," Minter said. "Now it comes with some learning and some figuring out, but we have a great team in place here and a lot of great people that are part of the process. So it should be awesome. We're all very excited about it."
Minter and the team says it met with multiple suppliers and studied videoboards throughout the NHL to identify a model suitable for KeyBank Center.
"From an ownership perspective, I have put a great deal of thought and research into the fan experience over the last year and feel it is time to begin making gradual upgrades to our arena that will play a key role in enhancing game day for our fans," said Sabres owner Terry Pegula in a team statement. "We are thrilled about the many projects we have in the pipeline, none bigger than a new videoboard that will be ready for the 2024-25 season.
"Along with business leadership, I will continue to evaluate areas to invest in the arena with the fan experience in mind."
"We have such a great fan base here, they're so passionate, and the other thing is they know the game," Minter added. "I think [Sunday] night was a good example of different vantage points and seeing replays, and the reactions that come from it. I won't get too into what happened during the game, but that's the stuff that when our building gets loud and our fans are in it, which they always are, this type of an aspect will only perpetuate that. It will only just have that grow on the the attention we get, the passion we get from our fans, and it should be tremendous."
In addition, the Sabres have hired Pike Construction Services, a company founded and operated in Western New York, to oversee the installation of the new roof at KeyBank Center.
"Maybe not right in your face when you're sitting in your seat, but if you're driving on the 190 headed into town, like I do every day, you will see it. It's not an overnight project, but it is obviously an important one, an impactful one, and overdue as well," Minter said of the upcoming roof upgrades.
Minter goes on further to say the new roof will be a significant advancement to KeyBank Center, adding it's a big proponent on what the future may look like at the arena.
"It's a sign from our ownership, from Terry, from everyone involved - Kevyn and myself - of we are going to take the significant steps here to continue to improve our fan experience, to give our community, our fans, our sponsors everything that we can that they deserve, and we'll continue to push that path forward. I think that message alone, to me, is more significant than almost anything that we could do today," Minter noted.
Minter adds a few other dynamics to the upgrades with the roof will go towards further improving not just experiences with Sabres games, but also Bandits games, concerts and other events at KeyBank Center.
"We want to do what we can to take steps towards the right direction as much as we possibly can," he said.
