It states it is a study of “markets that face the most imposing barriers to long-term financial success.” Nowhere does it say anything about “likeliest city to lose its NHL team.”

The categories are population, personal income, attendance, percent of capacity, franchise value, change in value, operating income, location, NBA competition, and NHL competition. If you look at it with some thought, you’ll see there are no surprises and while it is looked at in a number crunching aspect from a very statistical, data drive point of view, the teams are ranked on the number of “danger signs” among the categories.

Buffalo had 6 out of 10 — all 6 are valid. The 4 we don’t score in are attendance, percent of capacity, location and NBA competition. TV ratings were never measured (for what ever reason).

Also, it’s not clear if Buffalo Business First did this study or if it was done by Business First national. Buffalo Business First is part of the national Business First company. Maybe you should make a phone call to G. Scott Thomas and ask him??? Might make for a good story if you can squeeze it between T.O. house hunting stories.