CodeMonkey

No Erie County judge who wishes to be reelected that's for sure An appeals court or NYS Supreme Court in Albany who knows.

This is a very interesting topic and I hope that once the financials are released and things move into the actual bidding phase that there is transparency in the process. I doubt there will be because for the parties involved I would imagine that would be a giant pain with no benefit, but for us it would be a terrific view into a process most sports fans never get to see.

And that really is the crux of the matter. Would the court go this far. My lawyer friend says they do not in "normal" lease breaking cases and doubts the court would in this case either. But he also says this situation is anything but normal so he won't discount the possibility completely.

Yes they are free, you just need to go to one of the designated Verizon stores in the Rochester area and ask for them. They generally only give out a couple per person, so my wife brings our kids and they all go in individually if we know others who need tickets I will try and post here as they announce the tickets being available and will help out as many as I can.

Thanks! My kids always harassed my wife to get there early for this, now they won't have too

Great recap, thanks. If fans can get to the gates at 12:30 and still be in their seats by kickoff then that would be fantastic. No one should be able to complain about that.

Exactly. I mean, how could they make or even prepare a bid before seeing the financials. We are talking about a billion-dollar-ish investment here It is encouraging to hear that he is serious about it though.

Excellent article, thanks for posting!

That's anywhere in PA. Not that long ago you couldn't even buy it in a grocery store at all.

As opposed to a game with 60 minutes on the clock that can drone on for 3 hours or more you mean?

Nah. You underestimate the parking lots and the resolve of Bills fans sir!

He is still in the courts here in Rochester as well over property taxes that he thinks he should not have to pay. NY is tax crazy and I do not blame him at all for leaving. Wouldn't blame him if he moved Paychex as well. And yes he does love the region that is pretty clear. He donates a lot of money every year to universities, high schools, and a children's hospital that bears his name in Rochester. As to free time, I guess we disagree. In my experience Golisano and others like him do not spend all day on the back porch sipping margaritas. They are plenty busy. Could he make the time to run the Bills, almost certainly. Particularly if he left Brandon to most of the day to day like he does now. But lots of free time is unlikely at least in my opinion

Yeah diving is a big problem in both soccer and hockey. You see "simulation" (diving) yellow cards being given in soccer some now. But it needs to be enforced more in my opinion. Penalty kicks are necessary otherwise any time someone got any kind of a good look in close, a defender would just tackle them. This is actually no different than a PI call in football, particularly in the end zone. it's extra time, not penalty time. And it is to make up for time wasted when players go down (dive or otherwise), time to reset the game after a goal, a player intentionally delaying a game to milk the clock etc. It is also not arbitrary, though it does look that way. Yes they could switch to a countdown clock and stop it in the time wasting cases (that would make it more TV friendly as well to insert commercials), but the ruling body prefers to stick with the traditional way which is that the referee keeps the official time. The one on the scoreboard is merely for the convenience of the spectators. The cards are mainly to prevent injuries. If the ref sees any kind of dangerous play, even if no one is injured, a card will be given. Reds get you ejected and also an immediate suspension for a couple games. Two yellows in the same game equals a red. And the yellows accumulate across games such that if you get so many in a season you are also suspended for games. Again, not so much different than a headshot for example in football. Except that even the attempt can get you a card in soccer, regardless if it connects or not.

A big difference too is they have not changed the rules of soccer for TV. There are no timeouts, no TV timeouts, no swapping of offense and defensive squads etc. that are a great place for commercials. I for one find American football maddening to watch live due to all the time wasting. The only worse one is baseball. I enjoy watching Bills games without commercials. But I enjoy watching quality soccer even more. Watching English or Spanish Premier league soccer for example, or World Cup now, is very entertaining. However watching MLS is like watching a high school game. If what people are judging soccer on is what we see in the MLS, do yourselves a favor and watch some of the world cup. I don't expect everyone to love it or to necessarily think it is a better sport to watch than American football. But there is no reason people with an open mind could not enjoy both. The rest of the world embraces what Americans call soccer, maybe it's time for some of the more closed minded Americans to see why instead of just considering it an attack on the sport they grew up with.

Right but the question beckons as to why they (they being the Bills as well as the county) would write stadium improvements into a lease knowing (or at least they should have known had they looked into it privately if not publicly) a new stadium would almost certainly be required in the near future. It's not stupid at all in my opinion. Any good businessman would have the same question. I suppose you could argue that it was stupid, or at least politically incorrect. for him to make that statement to the press instead of just thinking it himself

Golisano owns and runs Paychex. Is a philanthropist who has a foundation in his name that donates large sums of money to various causes and institutions. Is soon to be married and resides in Florida, not NY anymore. Where are you getting the information that he has all this free time?

I saw an interview on the local news with Golisano and he denied any business discussions with Congel regarding the Bills at all. It seemed to be a media inference that he denied. He did question the whole renovations thing like you are saying. The way he said it he was questioning the due diligence (or competence) of Erie County. He was questioning why renovations were being done on the Ralph at the same time the NFL was stating a new stadium was necessary. In his opinion based on what the NFL was saying, the county was flushing money down the toilet.

There is really no reason for it to go to court until the teams tries to move. Erie county would bring the Bills to court if the Bills wanted to break the lease. So at least in my mind the order would be (assuming a owner wanted to move): 1) Trust agrees to sell 2) NFL approves sale 3) NFL approves relocation 4) Erie county brings the Bills to court and the fun really begins.

I didn't know this. If he also owned the Bills would that be a conflict of interest situation ... particularly when it came to Dareus for example? Also the timing and the amount of the sale are indeed curious. But I wouldn't think he would need to, or would want to, liquidate that asset to buy the Bills unless his offer for the Bills was accepted. Which by all accounts could not have happened yet.

I thought that about Sunday mornings as well. ... particularly when you can go out to Hammers and have some that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Couldn't have said it better myself

Yup. And obviously Whaley and Marrone aren't terribly worried about Manuel or they would have not traded next years first round draft pick for Watkins. They know more than we do so don't worry, be happy at this point

Part of it? What other reason is there? They should be able to sell it whenever. I know that you used to not be able to buy beer in supermarkets before noon on Sundays as well. Supposedly this was to encourage going to church instead of drinking. Much like how bars used to be closed on election day to encourage voting. But I'm pretty sure I can go into wegmans Sunday mornings now and buy beer, though honestly it has been a long time since I would have tried so I could be wrong.

Sorry?

That is a really good point about soccer that I had not thought of before. The playing surface of most NFL stadiums is too small to comfortably fit a regulation soccer field so If the Bills do get a new stadium then hosting a future MLS team should be considered in the design. A MLS team would be another good tenant and if the playing size is proper, if the US ever hosts the world cup or women's, or junior's world cups again Buffalo could be a viable venue.