May Day 10

The contents of this thread is the exact reason I loathe Brandon. He has so many Bills fans convinced that Buffalo isnt good enough for NFL football and the fans fall short. He often points to December games from 20 years ago that are not relevant in 2012 whatsoever. To me it is a slap in the face whenever he brings that up. There is no marketing effort at all in WNY and the team stinks.... and they still are extremely profitable. There is Canadian support and it has naturally occurred. Mainly due to the gameday atmosphere. Toronto series does nothing. Nobody likes it and puts Bills 'home' games in a bad light.

If they didnt have the Toronto deal, is Wilson selling the team? Is this game that everyone in Buffalo and Canada seem to hate really regionalizing the team? Anywhere near to a point where some random investor will think its a great and profitable idea to buy the team and keep 7 games in Buffalo and 1 in Toronto due to profit?

$7.73 a ticket. $78 Million / 8 games = $9.75 Million/game They say its "double" what they make at RWS = $4.875 Million So a 5 year deal at the same rate for 1 regular season game would be $541,666 spread out over the 2 preseason games and 7 regular season games. $541,666 / 70K fans = $7.73/person. Which would gladly be paid if they werent such an amateur organization. Look at stubhub, etc during their start in '07 or last year. It is also worth mentioning they do next to zero marketing in Buffalo/WNY Also worth mentioning the new deal will likely be less than the same price/rate. Likely there are some holes here, just crunched this out. Edit: it is shared, what 60/40. So it would be closer to $10 a ticket.

without the series, does Ralph move the team?

He gets this pass as a marketing genious, but I dont see it. Moved camp to Rochester and kind of changed camp for the whole league (would have happened eventually anyways). But what else do they do for marketing? We get one crappy Stevie Johnson commercial that airs for 9 months. No Bills TV shows, no posters/schedules, etc in the paper, no nothing. I have lived in a few other NFL cities and the Bills do NOTHING in the way of marketing. I also dont buy that he stays on the 'marketing/business' side. He is the President. He was out to dinner and in meetings trying to covet M. Williams. I believe he has a large say in personnel and that is why we get people like Nix/Gailey who can/will live with that. There are a million different ways to market to Toronto and I will never be convinced the series is anything more than a money grab for Wilson, and a dress rehearsal/foot in the door for Rogers. WTS, Brandon is iron clad until/if a new Buffalo owner takes over

there are 100 ways to market to Toronto that are better than holding a stale, sterile game there that doesnt represent the Bills of NFL whatsoever

I get the point of continuity, if you have a good head coach. "Continuity" is not required though. Look at all the teams in the league who manage to improve within a year or 2 of hiring a new head coach (See: Pretty much everyone)

I think this might be the only possibility of Chan getting fired. It would also let Nix off the hook. He has supported him and said his job is safe.... but if he isnt the GM, he cant make that decision.

Im usually a pessimist, but the quality of athlete we have isnt even close to 3 years ago.

here is my "aggressive" take 1. Nix gracefully steps down or out, letting Whaley take over, which allows 2-3 to happen without losing 'face' 2. Gailey is fired 3. The Bills either pick a QB to start, or pick up an existing QB They have on the radar (Mallett? Flynn? Smith?), or both. 4. Hire Chip Kelly, or someone who will create a winning, go-get-it culture. 5. Find a LB "Captain" for the defense (Teo? Maualaga?) 6. Find a good WR.

this quote struck a nerve and the reason I hate this: "Problem part two — it all began to seem pointless once it became clear the NFL never intended to push the sale of a team into Canada. Rogers thought they were paying for a test drive. Instead, they bought a five-year long tease" People of Toronto would hop on if it was their own team. I dont see them becoming Bills fans. I dont see people in Buffalo jumping from the Yankees, etc to the Blue Jays due to the Bisons' affiliation. The Bills have Southern Ontario fans. It is increasing not because the Series. It is due to the strengthened Canadian dollar, the allure of the WNY shopping, increased awareness and popularity of the NFL (aside from the series), and the gameday experience at RWS. There are numerous ways the Bills can market to Ontario without playing a game that diminishes what the Bills stand for. They can start with winning. Im not so sure this thing is getting extended anyways

While I respect the importance of Canadian ticket buyers/fans to the Bills, and also their importance to WNY as a whole.... I havent seen any evidence that this "series" has created any Bills fans from Toronto. There are plenty of other ways to market to Southern Ontario that would yield the same results. Canadian fans prefer to go to games in Orchard Park, and the Canadian draw is fine without this series. In fact, it is a horrific representation of NFL Football and the Buffalo Bills I also believe that if/when there is a new local owner, this series will not be continued.

I was just going to start a thread on this. I think if we dont hear anything by Thursday, it is remarkable and this series may be on thin ice. I thought for sure they had an extension hashed out by now and would roll out the "good news" this week.

that is the one thing that sticks out at me the most. There were worse things in the game, but the end of the first half.... Any human who ever played Madden football would have a better strategy there.

another horrific display of clock management. They cost themselves 1 or 2 offensive chances. Not only that, they called the TO with 9 seconds left allowing Saint Louis a KO return attempt. What is going on?

I think I like the basic premise of the idea. It may need a little tweaking. Punts > Kickoffs. adds a lot more strategy. If you go for it, you are giving field position comfortably in FG range (if Chan isnt the opposing HC)

you also have to take into account that Pitt/Cincy play each other, so they cant both lose out

Who knows. Is it really "tough"? I guess the AFC Central is = to the AFC South. Tennessee is beatable as is Oakland. None of the AFC teams are scary anymore other than Houston and the now occasional weeks New England is on. Barring any major shift in power, I dont think any AFC Schedule is tough. Atlanta at home gives them a puncher's chance. Carolina at home looks good. New Orleans and Tampa on the road, we can hope for a split. We'll see how NO rebounds from this season. Basically it is going to come down to what it always comes down to: Winning the games within the Division. 4-2 in the Division would make it very likely to make the playoffs.

it might have been New England. I liked their uniforms, that was a cool, crummy stadium, and for some reason when I was younger, I liked god awful teams. Possibly Cleveland due to proximity and already being a Tribe fan. Also a crappy team factor. If it was now, it would be Cleveland.

lol. I would give the Bills a better chance. They won 7-6 against the Cardinals. Let's not plan the parade route. Pittsburgh is 2 games ahead of them for the last spot with the head-to-head tiebreaker, so it is in essence, 3 games. Pittsburgh and Cincy play 1 more time too and one of those teams will have to win.

I thought WNSA had a good mix. Nothing was outstanding, but you had Howard SImon, Brinson (who annoyed me, but brought other sports (basketball) to the table), and Schopp before the WGR producers told him to get a shtick. Best show of all time though was Art Wander. He kept me out of so much trouble as a youth because we would spend so much time pranking his show. Wehn we werent pranking his show, we were coming up with new prank calls for his show. I think by osmosis, I acquired a lot of my jaded/cynical views of sports from him.

I remember he had to talk about hockey too. That was awful and embarrassing. I remember one playoff (I think it was the 99 run?) he was trying to wage some big crusade against Hasek.

yes. Look at almost any other team who is out of it. From middle of November on, there are a ton of empty seats. Especially 'stale' bad teams such as KC.

This is the biggest issue for me. This guy calls tickets inventory. Says he is disappointed that these games are not sold out. Then immediately gives stats from 90s December games as to pre-emptively blame the fans and Buffalo and not the perpetual suckiness of the team or complete lack of marketing in WNY. It is his failure. The Bills should be kissing our asses, not kicking sand in our face. Its a completely different landscape now than in 1993 anyways and his 'argument'/'defense' is garbage.

Russ Brandon did such a great job of regionalization, it shouldnt be a problem selling out once the team isnt a perpetual joke. So it should be on the Bills to get their act together, not the fans.