Sabres to Market Games in Ontario

One of the bigger challenges for hockey owners is expanding the team's fan base and stretching their advertising dollars. The Buffalo Sabres have been around since 1970 and know that they have some Canadian fans who come across from Ontario. So, they have struck a deal with BellTV to broadcast 50 games in the Niagara region.

Bell will not charge additional fees for broadcasting the games. The first broadcast will be Buffalo's home game against Columbus on Thursday.

That seems like a great thing - for now. But with the "success" of a lot of tiered cable packages here in the States, I'm sure Bell will figure out how to make some more additional money out of it in the following seasons.

This raises a little bit of concern for the NHL though who is on record during the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy court case media circus. The head offices, to my perception, want to protect each market region where teams already exist. It was their biggest defense against moving the Coyotes to southern Ontario. The Maple Leafs and Sabres are already regional rivals - I just hope that they could play nice here while it seems to extend the bigger and better virtues of growing hockey continent wide.

[Via: Yahoo! Sports]