University at Buffalo Sports Law students capped off their great semester with UB Sports Law day. We began the day visiting Jim Sandoro at the Pierce-Arrow Museum. Mr. Sandoro gave us a tour of the transportation museum while discussing the history of the museum and the surrounding neighborhood. In discussing the surrounding neighborhood Mr. Sandoro explained potential downtown locations for a future Buffalo Bills Stadium.
From there we went on a walking tour of the neighborhood led by Sports Law professor Nellie Drew. We looked at multiple downtown locations and discussed the positives and negatives of each location. We also discussed how other professional sports franchises have approached building new downtown stadiums and how that may affect the Buffalo Bills organization in its decision.
We then made our way over to newly-named Sahlen Park, home of the Buffalo Bisons. We started our time with a tour of the entire Bisons stadium led by the long-time group sales manager of the Bisons, Burt Mirti. After our tour, we had a discussion with Bisons’ President Mike Buczkowsi where we discussed various legal issues in minor league baseball such as player compensation, scheduling, stadium naming rights, and many others. Then, just before the first pitch, we had a discussion with Jonathan Dandes, Rich Products Corporate Vice President of Governmental Relations & Special Projects. Mr. Dandes provided further insight into the business and legal aspects of Bisons baseball as well as insight into stadium renovations that will be coming in the future.
Students touring the Buffalo Bisons facility.
After these discussions we watched the Buffalo Bisons play a doubleheader with the Pawtucket Red Sox. We enjoyed the game from the Hodgson Russ Suite and were able to watch the Bisons win the first game of the doubleheader, but unfortunately, lose the second game. We were also joined by Dean Aviva Abramovsky to celebrate Sports Law Day and cheer on our Buffalo Bisons! Sports Law Day was a wonderful experience and we must thank all of those involved that made the day possible. A heartfelt thank you goes out to Professor Nellie Drew, Dean Aviva Abramovsky, Charles Zukoski, Jim Sandoro, Burt Mirti, Mike Buczkowsi, Jonathan Dandes, and Hodgson Russ for making this day possible.
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