May Day 10

I also think there needs to be a message sent to the NFLPA and agents out there that the Bills are back in business and are going to be a place players want to be/go/stay. Like has been said, these guys still have time to "proove themselves".

We will see. As it stands, we have a team who has finished in last place for 6 seasons in a row... in a division that includes both the Lolphins and the Jets. They managed last place again in 2013. If they truly turn the corner this season or next (which a sale likely wouldnt come before Summer of '15), then yeah, some continuity could be deserved.

x1000

I disagree. Finishing 4th in a 4 team Division for the past 6 seasons that includes the Dolphins and Jets is completely on fire and not trending anywhere IMO. Especially in a capped and revenue sharing league. The Sabres had a lot of talent and they won their Division less than 10 months before Pegula closed the purchase. The decision to keep Regier and especially Ruff doomed them to where they ended up. They would have changed Ruff and brought in a fresh voice, they could have gotten some mileage out of that team. Look at all the 1st &2nd rounders they landed for those guys. Pegula was also impatient by throwing so much money at Leino his 1st year. I would hope that a new owner will blast out the FO when it comes to the horrifically failed football product.

really? Coming off a Division title and making the playoffs the season he bought them, compared to missing the playoffs for 14 years and finishing in last in a 4 team division 6-straight seasons?

$3 Billion http://www.forbes.com/profile/robert-rich-jr-1/ Golisano $2.1 Billion http://www.forbes.com/profile/tom-golisano/

he has more than Golisano

Golisano was very open about not running the Sabres as a charity and his first goal was to make them be able to stand on their own financially. He succeeded. As long as the Bills arent losing money, I would think Golisano wouldnt hold a tight budget.

I get nervous with that Garloch guy and Trump. Guys that are just wired to see everything as an investment and seem to have a deeply and primal need to max out.

yes

LaCanfora had a column the other day that Pegula is a name being circulated among the owners at the meetings. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/jason-la-canfora/24504283/observations-likely-sale-of-bills-could-speed-up-nfls-race-to-la

I have not watched ESPN (outside of college football and MNF) in close to 10 years. I also am in WNY. Its like an NBA free bliss.

yeah, no way I would root for a relocated Bills team. If anything I would strongly root against them, but most likely I would just become as passionate about the NFL as I am about the NBA (just found out this week that there is a team in Oklahoma City)

i mentioned in the "whats next" thread, but on WGR Polancarz said that he was aware of a number of inquiries on the purchase of the team in recent years from both local and non-local parties.

Brandon still has to operate within the framework of the Trust, which is likely very close to the framework under RW if not more restrictive. This team has been garbage for as long as Brandon has ascended the ranks. Maybe his fault, maybe not, maybe varies on many levels... who knows. who cares really at this point. It doesnt matter. We have no choice. The team (management) is locked in now and ironclad. We just have to get behind Brandon and hope that him and Whaley hit on some players. Brandon is probably desperate that this team succeeds as his clock is ticking. He could be looking for a job when new ownership comes in. He doesnt want to go back to figuring out which style of pom pom will be best for the gameday giveaways. I am curious what kind of role Brandon would get if he were to hit the "open market". I have a feeling he would be nowhere near his current position and far away from any football-related decisions. I have no choice though but to root for Brandon. Ultimately, I am really hoping that there is good progress on the stadium or renovations and that makes the team attractive enough for one or more of the "local interests" to buy the team.

Polancarz was on wgr last week and very interesting... He was well aware of a number of informal inquiries on purchasing the bills (in the past) .. Both local and non

I'm normally anti brandon. But I agree that he has operated very well through this. Great statement, timing if the committee (was a pleasant surprise to see schumer), and very cool he showed up at the tailgate.

I was going to say, but you touched on it at the end.... the NFL would never desire for a large and public legal proceeding. If/when they relocate a team they are going to want it as clean as possible. It would only be if no owners can pony up enough, new stadium stalls out, and Toronto will be framed as "practically Buffalo"... and the team would leave compliantly in 2020 or 2023. The NFL is very protective of its image, especially as it gets eroded by so many directions.

I hope not. this team has had a sad existence for a long time. the sooner they are sold the better, for both on field and staying here. the closer this stretches to 2020, the more the team will sell for because it will be appealing to outside bidders. i wouldnt be overly surprised if the 7 year thing was in attempt to give toronto/mlse/rogers a chance to get their ducks in a row.

love it. Good for Thurman and his wife for being there. Thats a legit smile from JK

the best is the NHL numbers that include the Winter Classic http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance chicago is at 118%

2012 16 Kansas City 8 548,070 68,508 89.3 2013 30 Pittsburgh 8 458,489 57,311 88.2 Green Bay and Tennessee are one thing. I am certain that once things get "primed" here and the Bills have a solid and capable team without inept management, we will see tickets fly... and tickets will sustain through some bad stretches too as we see with the Sabres. There would likely be a waiting list as any home playoff games would be huge. Some people will HAVE to be there, others will see an opportunity to profit. Travelling fans would be paying more to get in too once RWS is packed. Think of the Bills base in the mid 80s. What was there like 20K a game? Then that translated into some pretty good attendance. Now we would be rising from 60-70K. Tickets are sold and resold on the internet as commodities. We also havent seen the Bills win a playoff game in 17 years or since they have regionalized so well in Rochester and Ontario, which they claim so much more support from. I would have never believed the Sabres could be where they are at now, but it is largely because they were underpriced and the tickets came into huge demand. The same thing would happen with the Bills. As a STH who is normally a guy to go to when friends look for tickets for things, EVERYONE seems to come out of the woodwork when the Bills had the 2 recent hot starts. EVERYONE I go with magically is using their tickets for once... so I look at stubhub and the cheapest tickets are like 3x-5x face value. it is a completely different world in sports, WNY, and ticketing as it was 20-25 years ago. I would never have imagined the Sabres selling tickets like they do at the pricing. Brand new arena they sold out for like a week. Playoff games with some electric 90s teams wouldnt sell out until the walk-up and big regular season games would see 13K people.

I wonder what the new stadium progress will/would do to the value.

A heck of a run.

Jim Kelly