Playing the market can be pretty risky these days so the Buffalo Sabres are hoping you'll take

a gamble on them instead. And if you're looking for some economic stimulus in your pocket, the

Sabres are getting set to unveil a season-ticket plan that might fit that bill, too.

The team is in the process of sending invoices to its customers to inform them of a 5

percent increase in the price of season tickets for the 2009-10 NHL season.

But there's intriguing news in that announcement as well.

Fans who commit to renewing by March 20 can get sizable discounts on potential Stanley Cup

playoff games this spring — and the team will be crediting customers' '09-10 accounts

with rebates matching the discounts. Factoring in rebates, fans may actually pay less

for their tickets for next season if the team goes deep into the playoffs.

"We're not sitting around thinking, "Oh my god, we're going to have this big decline in

season-ticket renewals,' because the bottom line is we really don't believe that," Sabres

minority owner Larry Quinn said. "But we do want to do something to relieve the pressure on

people from the economic situation.

"This is a way we can do it. I don't think we need to do this to get people to renew. What

we're trying to figure out is simply how do we give fans a break?"

The Sabres have roughly 15,000 season tickets. Seats range from $20-$80 per game, and will

go for $21-$84 next year.

The invoices will also include bills for the first two rounds of the playoffs, totaling

eight potential home games.

Fans who don't want to commit to renewing for next season now will pay an extra 5 percent

for each playoff round. But fans who pay for the first two rounds and commit to next season by

making a 10 percent deposit will see sizable savings.

A 300 Level II customer, for instance, pays $26 per game for her season ticket this year

and will pay next year's price of $27 for the first round if she doesn't commit to a renewal.

But if she meets the March 20 deadline, the cost will be $22 and the $5 per ticket difference

will be credited to next year's season-ticket account.

The Sabres have charted the discounts for all four potential playoff rounds. In round two,

for instance, non-early renewal season prices will be $23-$92 but those taking the rebate deal

will pay $18-$74. By round three, factoring in all the rebates, the price for next year's

season ticket would be $15-$60 less than it would be this year and it would be $39-$160 less

if the Sabres made the Stanley Cup finals.

"Our experience is that 95 percent of our season-ticket holders buy playoff tickets," Quinn

said. "One might say in the current climate you can't count on that but the reality is that if

you buy a season ticket you're buying them to get the playoffs. So now, for somebody that

says, "Yeah, I'm renewing early,' if we go to the third round their total cost is less next

year than it will be for this year."

Naturally, this is where the reality check element comes in. It's certainly a long shot to

think the Sabres will make the third round of the playoffs, let alone the Cup finals, as they

battle to stay in the top eight of the Eastern Conference.

Increases, however, would still be nominal even if the Sabres miss the playoffs. The total

cost of a season ticket would only increase $41-$164 if the Sabres miss out and fans don't

renew early.

Box office prices for the playoffs have also been established, with the first round

following the team's "gold" pricing of the regular season minus 15 percent, leaving tickets at

$49-$147. Round two would be regular gold prices of $58-$173.

"We know the story can be, "Well they're raising their season-ticket prices,' but actually

we think we're doing something a lot better," Quinn said. "We're helping people out. We're

trying to show recognition of the way people have been loyal to us."

The Sabres said they were 26th out of the 30 NHL teams in average season-ticket price but

have to increase their prices for next year in order to maintain their eligibility for the

league's revenue sharing program.

At a time when the economy is squeezing both corporate and individual ticket holders and

sponsors for all professional sports leagues, the Sabres will be working payment plans for

their season-ticket holders to get their accounts up to date.

"We haven't figured out the payment schedule from that point in March but once we have

commitments from people we're obviously going to try to be as flexible as possible with each

case," added minority owner Dan DiPofi. "The key is that we'll know we have the commitment

from somebody, so we're not going to be trying to get all the money by July."

The team will not make decisions on individual-game ticket prices for next season until

after the '09-10 schedule is released in mid-July. Quinn reaffirmed the club will lower its

"platinum" level prices in response to non-sellouts last week against Toronto and Montreal.

"There'll also be an adjustment in the mix," DiPofi said. "You might see a few more value

games, one less gold, one more silver, whatever. That's the beauty of that variable plan. You

can change prices, change the number of games in each category if you find demand isn't

there."