May Day 10

yes. the organization has become a bit of a joke, and it is correlated with Brandon's ascension.

this is terrible news. We are essentially where we were 4 years ago when they tried to give Brandon absolute power. Results were awful and we demanded a qualified football exec to make the football decisions so they trotted in Nix. Now they are just reaffirming Brandon's power over everything including football stuff.

Yeah. Good for Ralph. It is a good sign for his health if he can make the trip. Especially in the weather and such. Seems like something is afoot

I feel bad for Gailey. I like his general attitude and he seems like a really good and classy man. I was almost completely behind him until late in training camp this season when they made some strange roster decisions. Then they were completely blind-sided in the Jets game somehow, and we knew the season was over before it began. It led to a string of indefensible errors throughout the season. Blew the 2nd half of the Pats game, by all rights coached into a loss against the Cardinals. Tried to lose on Thursday night football. Titans game was there to win. Indianapolis game, St Louis game. Simple clock management decisions that anyone who has picked up a controller for a Madden game knows. Often, big plays on offense they need to burn a timeout. Complete disaster between the opponents' 30 and 35 yard line on 4th down. The "Wild Cat". But the death knell has been doled out by the players. They have quit since the St Louis game. It stinks they have done that, but I sense they know they can do better with a different head coach. It is also so much easier to change the head coach than it is the roster, and quite honestly, I would choose the players we have here. The Bills have the best athletes, especially on the lines, since the 1990s.

now he is going to get Tebow too.

Polancarz on WGR today seemed to say that they cant go >1 game a year, but it was still the Bills' choice if they wanted to play the Toronto games.

It takes a big dent out of the "highest bidder" and Ralph wants to max out when cashing his chips theory (which I was a part of). This deal seems 100x better than anything I thought the public could get out of the Bills. I didnt even think they were in this ballpark. I was wrong. Very happy to be wrong.

me too. It flies directly in the face of the "open auction" for the team speculation (that I bought into)

the more it sinks in, the happier I am

I wonder if it is after the 2019 season, or before... and when the out has to be declared

my whole outlook on the Bills/NFL/Wilson, etc changes if that is true

what what what?

Relocation fees too. Also likely some private money going into a facility. Along with proving that WNY taxpayers havent been willing to work with the NFL (which is one of their written conditions of relocation) Its still possible someone can come done with little regard for $ and just plunk it down to grab a team. I am happy and relieved its not an "empty netter" and our team wont be the lowest hanging fruit

in 7 years, LA could have team(s) already, the NFL may be open to expanding, etc. Its a long time in terms of the NFL.

The NFL Relocation rules also say that there needs to be a situation where the public wont help finance facilities. Not sure how they would prove that, when the public is giving them what they asked for

This makes me feel better about the Bills' future than I have for about 5 years

a lot better than I expected, for sure

Thinking about it, that 7th year is a pot shot and really scary

this would pretty much extinguish the LA flame. Cant move there really until 2020?

i disagree that people hate the Toronto game due to the border... they hate it because it is a bigger, nicer city who is hoping to use the series to covet an NFL franchise of their own, who would likely be the Bills. That is a good point about internet tix, but I have seen it work the positive way for the Sabres. I also agree about the fans becoming complacent after prolonged success. That is a problem many places, including "Hockeytown". The Bills last won a playoff game when I was a Junior in High School. Im 34 now. Im not too worried about prolonged success yet. I also dont want to sell ourselves short on the ability to host an NFL team. I remember New Orleans had the same issues. They win, and magically they have perpetual sellouts and are off the radar. All the Bills have to do is win. All the problems will fix themselves and gimmicks wont be needed.

That is the thing that they love to throw in our faces... But that was 20 years ago. Times have changed, and the entertainment ticket industry is completely different now. First of all, the Bills draw from a wider area and the NFL is more popular now than 20 years ago. They love to tout the # of Canadian ticket holders, and I dont believe they were there in the early 90s. They also were here before and not because of the Toronto series. The Camp in Rochester did help a bit there. The Stadium is smaller. Internet ticket sales have changed everything. People impulse buy tickets in seconds. There is also the resale market. If people are confident the team has a chance, more people would buy season tickets without the certainty they would be "eating" as many as 3 pointless games (as I currently do). Many people buy tickets for resale and it wouldnt be any different. When the Bills show promise, I have people contacting me left and right to see if I know of any extras (which I dont). The Jets game last season was cold, and I know a lot of people shut out as the cheapest ticket on the hub was $100. A Division with Cleveland/Pittsburgh would have helped

He has been with the team for 17 years, the exact period since the last playoff win. Obviously all of it is nowhere near his fault. There is a correlation IMO between his rise in power/promotion in the organization, and the devolution the franchise into a complete hopeless joke. I still believe as President/CEO he continues to have a strong say in personnel matters. The hiring of Nix was to get fans off their backs. It was peculiar how many times Wilson stressed "General Manager of FOOTBALL" in the press conference, echoing the exact complaints of the fans. This is why we get people like Levy, Nix, and Gailey as the "best" the Bills can do. They are the only ones who would be willing to allow upper management to have their way. There are a lot of opinions/observations in there, I know, but it is a message board. The reality is, Brandon has been trusted with the organization by Wilson. He is Wilson by extension, and he is teflon. No way he gets fired. If there was a petition with 1,000,000 names, it would end up in Russ Brandon's waste basket.

^^^ Good thoughts. I think it is very obvious this series was nothing more than a nice pay-out for Wilson, and a dress rehearsal/display that Toronto was ready for the NFL for the Rogers side. There are plenty of "customers" these days who would buy up the "inventory" if they could remain competitive past Thanksgiving.

1st point - Rogers was paying for the NFL. No primary interest in selling the Bills/buying the rights to one Bills game. 2. I have lived in Philly, NE, and NYC Areas. Those teams have crazy marketing. Color posters, schedules, cheerleader stuff, etc in the newspapers every week, HD TV shows on local networks in primetime, better commercials that get you excited about the team, etc. 3. NFL is at an all time high. Buffalo fans are very good. Selling the NFL is simple. Especially in Buffalo. Take the Sabres. Early 00s, tickets were lowest in the league, nobody was going, nobody wanted to buy the team, many of us figured that was it, we were too small-time to hang on to ML sports. Golisano bought the team, created price structure, reconnected the team with its past and believed in Buffalo. With a little success, people came back in droves. Canadians are helpful, but so is the territory. They are helpful in all facets here, including the Bills without the Toronto series. For perspective, now, I pay more per ticket for cheapies for 41 Sabres games (and preseason), than I do per ticket for 8-9 Bills games. And there is a waiting list... and the tickets are no longer close to the cheapest in the NHL. If the Bills were competitive, the tickets would sell themselves w/o Toronto games. Even December. Due to: Popularity of the NFL in general, increased fans in Rochester, Ontario, a hungry fan base, smaller capacity, ease of internet sales, and stub hub resale potential. To me, he is making excuses for the organization being a failure from the Owner through upper management, while defending the obvious money grab/attempted phase out to Toronto. And people buy this and defend it. A "marketing genious" doesnt market their product by making their customers feel crappy.

As far as a petition goes. It essentially is on Brandon to fire himself. He is locked in as locked can be until there is a new owner.