The Sabres on Thursday announced their arena will now be called First Niagara Center following the Buffalo-based bank buying the naming rights to HSBC Arena in connection with First Niagara's acquisition of upstate New York and Connecticut branches from HSBC Bank USA. First Niagara also will become the official bank of the Sabres. The 15-year naming-rights agreement includes exclusive exterior facility naming rights, category exclusivity in the facility's bowl, interior and exterior signage and branding, exclusive on-site ATM presence, TV and other promotional benefits. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed (Sabres). In Buffalo, John Vogl notes First Niagara "initiated naming rights discussions late in the negotiations to acquire HSBC's branches." HSBC's deal with the Sabres was "amended to allow the company to assign the lease to First Niagara, and the sides then terminated the contract." The deal "will run until 2026, which is also when the Sabres' lease for the arena expires with Erie County." Vogl notes the deal "bring the Sabres significantly more cash than their previous contract," which had HSBC "set to pay $24 million during the course of a 20-year deal that began in 1995." Sabres President Ted Black said, "It's revenue that we hadn't anticipated. It's not plugged into our budget, so we're just taking advantage of a great opportunity." He added, "We're going to have a group of people on both sides that are used to doing things pretty quickly, pretty aggressively, without a lot of red tape, so we're going to probably be able to do a lot of marketing things together that are maybe outside of the box." The Sabres "goal is to have all the signage changed by the team's home opener on Oct. 14" (BUFFALO NEWS, 8/26).
