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Ice bowl's impact has implications for WNY

Business First of Buffalo - by James Fink Business First

Brian Campbell scored the Sabres only goal in the AMP Energy Winter Classic played before an NHL-record crowd of 71,217.

The AMP Energy Winter Classic certainly lived up to the hype.

The New Year's Day outdoor hockey game between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins did exactly what many had hoped: It filled hotel rooms during what typically is a quiet period for the hospitality industry.

Additionally, extensive media coverage in the United States and Canada amounted to a four-hour plug for the Buffalo area.

"It showed well on national TV from an image perspective," said Richard Geiger, Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau president and CEO. "What that means in the future, we'll have to see."

Early indications - Geiger stressed that these are estimates - suggest that the game could have an economic impact of $5 million to $6 million, and possibly more.

"It shows why sports are so important and so huge to this region," said Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who attended the game with his wife, Silda. "What happens here goes far beyond the reaches of the stadium."

Hotel rooms, especially those closest to Ralph Wilson Stadium, were booked solid.

Scott Moretti, manager of the Buffalo Hamburg Holiday Inn on Camp Road, said all 130 rooms in his hotel were filled on the days leading up to the Winter Classic. On a typical New Year's weekend, the hotel has an occupancy rate of about 55 percent.

"It's like an (America's) fair weekend for us, except it's the end of December and there's snow outside," Moretti said recently.

The Holiday Inn picked up bookings from Canadian and Pennsylvania hockey fans alike.

"They're coming from all over," he said.

Pat Heim, general manager of the Red Roof Inn on Camp Road in Hamburg, had a similarly positive experience. The 108-room hotel normally is half-full on weekends close to Christmas and New Year's Day.

Not this year.

"It's like getting an extra Christmas present," Heim said.

Geiger said the financial impact of the Winter Classic might have been greater if more tickets were scooped up by out-of-towners. About 20 percent of the 71,217 tickets sold for the game went to non-Western New Yorkers.

As it was, the event created a carnival-like atmosphere around the stadium, with tailgaters making the most of the day.

Among those getting into the pre-game spirit was Nick Fromlack from the Pittsburgh suburb of North Hills. He trekked to Buffalo with 11 friends who spent two nights and three days here, using the Adam's Mark Hotel as their base of operations. The trip was his first to Buffalo.

"This was an easy choice, once they announced the game," he said.

Perhaps no one traveled farther for the game than Michelle Pattimore, who hails from Bailiwick of Guernsey in the English Channel. A decade ago, Pattimore spent a year in Buffalo and became an ardent Sabres fan.

"You can't put into words how excited I am to be here," she said, while walking through the parking lot a few hours before face-off. "It's mind-blowing and, like, I'm on another planet."

She came dressed for the occasion in a Ryan Miller jersey and had a Buffalo Sabres logo painted on her left cheek.

"I'd wear a Sabres bra, if they sold them," she said.

The event also attracted a heavy contingent of visiting media, National Hockey League officials and other dignitaries. The NHL issued approximately 120 media passes, half of which were for representatives of non-local news outlets. A typical regular-season Sabres game would see 30 or so media representatives, including 10 from out-of-town agencies.

While the press box at Ralph Wilson Stadium was comfortably full, it wasn't much more crowded than you'd see for a Buffalo Bills regular-season home game, said Scott Berchtold, the Bills' vice president of communications.

Tom Kucharski, Buffalo Niagara Enterprise president, said his agency will use the media coverage as part of a marketing campaign that targets Canadian firms it hopes to convince to invest in the region. The CBC broadcasting team, which included hosts Ron MacLean and Don Cherry, repeatedly praised the region during the telecast.

Kucharski said he hopes to obtain permission to use portions of the broadcast in the BNE's marketing materials.

"It always behooves us to take events that we do well and target a market that may be attracted because of the event," he said.