Rob Minter Discusses KeyBank Center Renovations on Sabres Live | Buffalo Sabres

Rob Minter Discusses KeyBank Center Renovations on Sabres Live | Buffalo Sabres

We welcome in interim coo Rob Minter who’s got some big news about the home Barn Key Bank Center for next season Rob welcome to the show it’s great to see you and obviously we uh you know shared that little nugget from um the Sabres organization 15 minutes ago how about uh

Taking us a little deeper into the big renovation plans yeah thanks Duffer and Marty thanks for having me um it’s obviously an exciting day I uh I had to come to the conference room over here just because people are kind of buzzing in my office uh asking questions looking

For pictures and uh I’m a I’m a pretty good card player so I feel like I’ve held this Pair of Aces close to the chest the last last little bit of time um but yeah the the biggest two really big rocks that are out there is um you

Know we’re putting a new video board in the arena for next year so the center hun video board you could refer to it in 17 different ways but the the big board uh at Center ice we’re we’re placing for the start of next season um so obviously

When this year’s done um we’ll get to work in time and have that up in place for the start of next year and um you know it’s one of those things where from my experience too it’s like super exciting to be a part of right you picking out this new huge focal point

For our fans and uh and what a difference it’s going to make to The Fan Experience it’s going to be you know state-of-the-art modernized and we worked with Mitsubishi and really vetted the options out the past couple of months and um in my travels and and talking to folks around the league and

And obviously other indoor uh you know sports leagues and and you know any place that has a Center Hunt like that of the different sizes and angles and options and you know I don’t know if you saw any of chello’s ceremony in Chicago their board is like stretched out

Horizontally and there’s there’s so many different Avenues to go down um I think we’re all just really excited and and um impressed with what we landed on and then look forward to putting in place for next year and and taking that step towards improving The Fan Experience

Which was which was certainly due um the other aspect that is out there now two is we’re going to replace the roof uh here at Key Bank Center so maybe not right in your face uh 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 um and it’s it’s not a you know an overnight pro project um but it is obviously an important one impactful one and um and and overdue as well and I think we’re all really excited to to do that and I

Think it shows a bit from from Terry side and the family of you know us taking these sort of jumping off points to improving the facility to improving The Fan Experience with um a lot of other things in the hopper as well a lot of things in the docket to look at in

The near future for us and and this was it like I said I could talk about it for a while I was I was excited about I’m excited it’s out there today and looking forward to having it up and running for the start of next year now when we look

At the rendering and you know we showed it on MSG um so this video board all four sides are equal am I is it is it right to say that like because you talked about about Chicago that has the smaller and piece but the longer middle

Piece like this will be one where all four sides are equal yeah it’s it’s it’s 27 by 43 in theory good number by the way 43 just make sure it says Marty Bron when it says 43 yes well we’ll we’ll talk about it on the side of course but

We’ll we’ll keep that in conversation but yeah we uh it’s yeah four paneled on each side um there’s two screens on the underneath portion of it too so folks in the lower rows can have a different vantage point as well from from the benches um which is cool and and a cool

Little aspect of it and um something I saw in my travels with similar models that have that sort of build out so it’s all it’s all a segmented board as well so we’re able to program it in a in a ton of different ways um from a Fan

Experience standpoint from a 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 is just the different functionality options that it has um now it comes with some learning

And some figuring out but we have a great team in place here a lot of great people that are part of the process so uh it should be awesome like I said we’re all very excited about full disclosure I like the four sides equal because I feel like when you go to an

Arena if you’re sitting Endzone and you only have like a smaller screen to look at you’re missing out on on the looks of replays and all and that’s a huge part of your you know fan base that are sitting in the the ends like buying the

Nets so um I like that everybody going to be able to get the same looks and the same experience in the arena that’s great yeah we and we and look Barney to your point you know was obviously a great game last night against a good team uh we were talking about ear the

Building was rocking and um we have such a great fan base here they’re so passionate and the other thing is they’re they know the game right and I think last night was a good example of your point of different Vantage points and seeing replays and the reactions

That come from it uh did I won’t get to into familiar you know what happened during the game but like that’s the stuff that when our building gets loud and our fans are in it which they which they always are this type of an aspect will only perpetuate that and it will

Only just have that grow on the uh the attention we get the passion we get from our fans and it it should be tremendous well I’m glad Marty is happy with the dimensions of the scoreboard because if you can you imagine if he wasn’t like then he’d be asking for some

Sort of mural on the roof and that might change your design plans all together right9 by 4 did you say 29 by 43 what it is 27 by 43 47 okay so it’s it’s Levi biron it’s okay it’s Levi biron so that’s good it’s a goalie scoreboard I

Love it of course well heck and with followed by some great goal tending last night of course right it was absolutely so yeah and it’s one new scoreboard so it’s UPL with the number one it all comes back to the goalie oh my gosh that’s right yeah

In all seriousness though I am because of you mentioned the 190 and and how visible the roof is like can you share anything is there some sort of amazing you know detail that’s going to go into it that is going to be totally Buffalo uh I mean I I would say the

Biggest factor is that it will be replaced as efficiently as possible to a point where I I would there I will we won’t have any more drops on someone’s seats I can assure you of that um and and promise you and apologize to any Fan Experience that may have come across

That way but it it’s a significant uh obviously advancement to the facility um you know hard to have four walls without a roof right and I think that’s where for us um I I just think it’s also such a big proponent on what the future may

Look like as well you know it’s a sign from our ownership from Terry from from everyone involved Kevin myself of look we are going to take the significant steps here to continue to improve our Fan Experience to um to give our community our fans our sponsors everything that they that we can that

They deserve and and will’ll continue to push that path forward and I think that to me um that message alone to me is his Mo as more significant than almost anything that we could do today now when you guys you know evaluate the roof um and and we’ve talked about this Duffer

And I because of music right Duffer is a big music guy he goes to many concert and a lot of time you know they they say MSG has the best sound when it comes to concerts because of the way the roof is or whatever is that an element of of you

Know not just the hockey element obviously the Sabers are probably the the tenant that’s there the most but you know another element of it is concerts sound experience Fan Experience to that side of things as well I think it it it will play into it in time I think there

There’s a few other dynamics that are involved with sound insulation and things like that that um that may come in time as well you know and things that we’re talking about and we’re working on and um you know it’s it’s it’s Turtles all the way down right Duffer like it’s

Uh we’re always working on stuff to improve The Fan Experience and and concert and event business here is big for us and um I I think in time this will be a a step one if you will a huge step one in continuing down that pathway of of everything that happens here at

The building because you’re right it’s more than just the Sabers it’s concerts events it’s Bandits it’s community events there’s so many different things that that both of these um aspects will play into and and will help us continue to improve yeah I I mean I can only

Imagine you know how it all evolves from the roof on down and how the new video board then presents you with options and how you maximize the sound and everything around that incredible viewing experience so yeah it it’s only natural to think that this is you know

Such a enormous first step in changing the experience I’ll tell you what I do love about the four uh equal diens mentions all the way around is I love the corner panels between the four main sides if you will I feel like um I’ve seen and you were just citing Chicago um

They they’ve but they’ve all anyone that has the board like this I feel like there are so many other ways you can accent the game incorporate sponsorship into the still ongoing live experience I just I feel like it’s um it’s kind of meant for that extra layer and i’ I’ve

Been impressed Rob with how with how other buildings have utilized it how how how many you know how much kind of studying you you’ve cited just you know what you’ve seen in other places like how how much did you have to invest and how much did the organization have to

Invest TimeWise to to really look around the league to see what would ultimately be the best fit for Buffalo yeah you know as you said I think you know it kind of leaves the door wide open in a lot of ways to have segmented panels or or parts of the video screen

And aspect ratios it leaves the door open for so many different possibilities versus a lot more of maybe more old school board uh methodology where you have more fixed structures or you have things that are like well let’s put you know a huge sword on it but then it’s it

Becomes static and then it’s like well what do we do with that now right and that’s where I think we wanted to leave ourselves with flexibility of program because as you said there are so many different things from from sponsor elements to goal takeovers to theme night inclusions to all these different

Things that we can do with a board like this with the technology that it provides so our Fan Experience will be something that sticks out it’s not just part of the the equation it’s a it’s a it’s an important piece of it that people will walk away and I always look

At it too of um you know for Anyan that comes whether it’s a season ticket member or someone coming for their first time or they can only come once a year whatever it may be I to me too with my two young boys like there’s G to be nothing better than especially that

First season next year where we get someone up on the board and a funny video or a skit or whatever it may be and there you know I think game one of next year when it’s up there uh will be a huge picture taking moment of like who

Got up there first and then all the cool little things we can do with it with with Sabertooth and and um you know different things we’re doing in our building I mean just I couldn’t be more excited about it and I hope everyone else is as well and um again I

Appreciate everyone’s support from our fans our community our sponsors uh you know we want to do what we can to take steps towards the right direction as much as we possibly can well Rob because you’re here I got to ask you this or that or the other thing so who other

Than you is most excited about the new video board is it game presentation is it account services because they are going to get calls from their season ticket holder like oh yeah this is great or is it business development who is going to be able to sell all the

Advertisement and say hey it’s going to be up there on the on the big board so does that or the other thing who is more excited about it uh other than you obviously gosh uh I hope everyone uh as much as possible I actually would throw

A wrinkle in there I think Stan macowski who heads our building operations team might be the most because him and I have worked on this hand inand for a while and I think he he’s probably most excited because it’s done it’s completed it’s fantastic and uh and we can all be

Very proud and prideful of it so I would say that’s probably my answer plus his office is right next to mine so I gotta give him that was the other other Marty yeah the other other yes the brother yeah Rob thank you that’s a a great update today

And we appreciate it and uh can’t wait to see it all come to fruition in the fall my pleasure thanks for having me guys always a pleasure some

Sabres interim COO Rob Minter joined Brian Duff and Martin Biron on Sabres Live to discuss the renovations to KeyBank Center for the 2024-25 season, including a state-of-the-art videoboard and a new arena roof.

Subscribe to the Buffalo Sabres YT Channel: https://bit.ly/2G1G8eT
For More Sabres Action: https://bufsabres.co/2XAYg5m

#BuffaloSabres #Sabres #NHL

For more Sabres action: Sabres.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/BuffaloSabres
Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/buffalosabres
Follow us on Instagram: Instagram.com/buffalosabres
Follow us on TikTok: https://bufsabres.co/TikTok