Did you know (or do you remember) that before it was the KeyBank Center, before it was the First Niagara Center, before it was the HSBC Arena, and before it was the Marine Midland Arena, the designated name for the Buffalo Sabres’ home was known as the Crossroads Arena?
Having recently received a large donation from the Buffalo News archives (more about this to follow in a future blog post), it was fun to discover these building plans amidst the plethora of material. The plans themselves are from 1994, thus for at least two years the building was settled on the Crossroads moniker – then, in 1996, the year the arena opened, Marine Midland Bank paid $15 million (according to this ballparks and arenas history website) to acquire the naming rights.
As a fan of the Sabres (despite the trials and tribulations that entails), this was a fun piece of sports history to discover. The plans can be viewed anytime at the Grosvenor Room special collections in Buffalo’s downtown Central Library.
The Grosvenor Room: Genealogy, Local History, Maps, Music & Rare Books 