BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Amid the specter of an NHL labor dispute, the Buffalo Sabres announced Wednesday a series of ticket price reductions that the team hopes will increase attendance for the upcoming season.

The Buffalo Sabres will reduce the cost of some season tickets 12-28 percent, with seats in the lower bowl of the HSBC Arena costing less than when the arena first opened in 1996.

The average Sabres season ticket will cost about $35, making it the lowest priced in the league.

In addition, the Sabres introduced a variable pricing plan in which certain “marquee” games, such as a Friday night contest against division-rival Toronto, will cost more than a game against a lesser opponent on a weeknight.

“We feel we are making the game of hockey more accessible to those who love it,” team owner B. Thomas Golisano said.

Sabres officials said they considered the possibility of a work stoppage that could force the cancellation of some, or even all, of the upcoming NHL season after the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the owners and players association expires Sept. 15. The club is asking for a fully refundable and league-low $50 deposit for each season ticket purchased. No other team in the league is offering such an enticement at this point.

“We wanted to take the labor issues off the table and give season ticket holders a win-win situation,” Golisano said.

Golisano said the goal for the organization is to have a season ticket base of 12,000. Last year the team sold approximately 7,000 season tickets.

“It’s going to be hard, but quite frankly, if everybody bought just one more ticket we’d have 14,000,” said Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn. “Of course, we know not everybody is going to do that, but this game needs to be seen live, and right now it’s too expensive.”

In other news, defenseman Dmitri Kalinin has joined teammate Maxim Afinogenov in agreeing to play on a Russian pro team if there is a work stoppage. Kalinin will be released from the Russian contract once the NHL season resumes.

AP-ES-07-07-04 1458EDT