What does it take to keep one of hockey’s most passionate fan bases coming back, game after game? For the Buffalo Sabres, the answer is simple: listen to your fans, then prove you heard them.
In our new case study, we go inside the Sabres organization to see how Jeremy Cohen, Manager of Fan Development & Insights, built a feedback program with Alchemer that touches nearly every department, and how it’s driving double-digit gains in fan satisfaction, higher survey participation, and real revenue growth.
Read the full case study, or keep scrolling for the highlights.
The challenge: You can’t improve an experience you can’t see
For the Sabres, the product is the full game-day experience. It starts before fans ever reach KeyBank Center: the pregame rituals, the atmosphere, the food, the feeling of belonging to the “Sabrehood.”
Before Alchemer, the team collected feedback, but not at the depth, speed, or scale they needed. As Jeremy puts it: “Fans are our customers. Everything we do is about them, their experience in the arena, how they feel about the brand, and what it means to be a fan even when they’re not in the building.”
The playbook: One survey that benchmarks every game
The centerpiece of the Sabres’ program is the Gameday Pulse, a survey sent after every home game that tracks four KPIs: Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), purchase intent, and word of mouth. It pairs those with diagnostics for everything from arena entry to concessions.
For the first time, leadership can spot trends in real time and prioritize improvements based on actual fan impact, not anecdotes. Because Alchemer integrates seamlessly with the Sabres’ data warehouse (KORE) and Tableau, those insights flow instantly to teams across the organization.
The results: Listening pays off
Through the 2025-26 regular season, the Sabres achieved:
- 41k+ open-ended responses analyzed this year
- 2x increase in fan survey participation year over year
- Double-digit gains in CSAT, NPS, and arena atmosphere ratings
- Revenue growth tied directly to experience improvements
The case study digs into two standout examples. When the Sabres installed a new videoboard, fan feedback confirmed the sizable investment paid dividends. “The response wasn’t just positive, it was gratitude,” Jeremy recalls. And when feedback pointed to concessions, the team revamped the food program with local vendors, Buffalo-area breweries, cashless market-style stands, and expanded dietary options. Food and beverage satisfaction rose almost immediately.
The best part? It all happens without extra lift. “We’re collecting more fan feedback than ever without adding extra lift for the team, which frees me up to focus on deeper analysis and higher-impact work,” Jeremy says.
What’s next: AI-powered insight at scale
The Sabres recently added Alchemer Pulse to analyze more than 40,000 open-text responses. The purpose-built AI quantifies sentiment with Alchemer’s proprietary Net Sentiment metric, which the team correlates directly with their existing survey KPIs. It also surfaces patterns that would be nearly impossible to spot manually, like game presentation issues tied to specific seating areas.
Jeremy’s review? “I am floored by the capabilities of Pulse. It’s a researcher’s dream to put hard numbers to unstructured qualitative data.”
Read the full story
Whether you’re in sports, entertainment, or any business where experience is the product, the Sabres’ approach is a playbook worth borrowing: benchmark the moments that matter, act on what you hear, and let fans see their feedback in action.
Read the full Buffalo Sabres case study here. And if you’re ready to turn customer feedback into measurable growth, reach out to our team.