CodeMonkey

He is a "gunslinger" who tends to throw a lot of interceptions. So his superior decision making skills are questionable. I don't think his leadership or toughness can be questioned. As for the bolded, yes it can because you did

Well if we are fantasizing ... I want to extract Fitz's brain, put it in Vicks body, and have the resulting hybrid QB the Bills forever.

How anyone could think the name of the team make any difference at all regarding attendance is beyond rational thought to me. If the team changed it's name to the Niagara Falls Nancies but kept playing at the Ralph would you stop going just for that reason? Of course not. Putting a Stadium somewhere else could affect attendance of course, but the name is irrelevant.

Wow I have never stayed in a hotel in Buffalo, but I would have never dreamed rooms there could get up to nearly $200 a night for any reason!

I've been saying that for years. ST subscribers do pay to see the game and should not be blacked out for any reason. I suspect the NFL fears that bars who get the ticket will allow too many people who have the audacity to not go to the stadium to still see the game.

How in the world do you figure this is true? You mean that Mr. Wilson, the man who owns the Bills outright, gets a sweetheart deal on the stadium, and has zero debt load for the team or the stadium, that Mr. Wilson cannot afford to drop down to 85% even though he has one of the lowest ticket prices in the league and plays 2 teams twice a year that has some of the highest? Come on man, the one thing Mr. Wilson can't plead is poverty

Sunday ticket subscribers within the blackout area are absolutely blacked out. Even though they do pay to see the game. My guess is, the NFL feels that they do not make as much money off of those people as they do people at the stadium. Or in HD on satellites if you are technically capable. But not everyone in capable of that, or even online.

Very short sighted. What about the lifelong Bills fans who are not physically able to attend? What about the 23% unemployed and the "underemployed" who cannot afford the $300 per game? What about creating new young NFL fans for the future? It's clearly not "just that simple". The NFL is comprised mainly of greedy !@#$s, that much is "just that simple" to be sure. And I agree that legally the NFL is within their rights to charge whatever they like, impose blackouts however they like and so on. But to not let senior citizens (as an example) who have been life long season ticket holders but are now physically unable to go, watch their team play on TV for the sole sake of putting a couple extra dollars in a group of billionaires pockets defines greedy !@#$s and a disturbing lack of a moral compass IMHO. And make no mistake, blackouts are all about the money, nothing else. If it was about anything else, the other major sports would have similar policies. And they do not.

Not sure what areas you think are most obese etc. from the text above but Buffalo according to Healthy Kids Healthy Communities The only mention in LA was New Orleans ... I think obesity tends to follow poverty as "healthy" food costs more than McDonalds. Additionally, with that kind of poverty level I think the fan support of the Bills is outstanding despite what Reed thinks.

It's not bull or laughable. The north and south are vastly different, as are big cities and small ones like Buffalo. Everything he said highlights the differences in culture. I don't agree with what he said about the fans, but everything else is accurate.

I wish they had autographed ones for all the players like they do for Sanborn. I would be picking them up for my kids for sure! Hmm I see now that they do have FredEx autographed ones .. hmmmmmm In fact most players seem to have them available, just not super Mario. And nothing for Gilmore yet. Probably still stocking up.

We have typically paid about $5-$10 a ticket on stub hub for previous kids day preseason games for sideline seats. This year that game unfortunately is Pittsburgh so people are trying to get about 3 times the norm. If you look on stub hub you should be able to see what people are asking. The ones you see are generally priced too high and the ones priced under that have sold. If you have 5, let me know

People are that way now everywhere else. Why should a football stadium be any different. I'm over 45 and prefer my family room to the stadium.

It isn't news. Just someones opinion like all the others. We will know when we know and not before.

When there is that much money involved it is no longer a game. It is all business. Has been for a long time.

Yeah its quite strange. If you search at the global dhgate level you come up empty. However if you contact the individual sellers directly they seem to have them for sale. I wonder if the US finally put enough pressure on China on behalf of the NFL to make them remove NFL jerseys from the public store fronts. Update: I heard back from the one dealer I know there and this was his response ... If the main dhgate site stops listing the knock-offs people will probably have to start getting them from other places like ebay and pay a little more.

Best of both worlds? They get the "energy of the crowd" when they want to. The technology when they want to. And not be rained/snowed on or freeze their asses off. Sounds like a great gig if you can afford it.

The middle one makes a good point. There are a lot of people who are not physically able, or cannot afford, to go to the stadium for games. The NFL has no legal obligation to lift blackouts, but in my opinion they certainly have a moral obligation in cases like these. A great many people like myself could go if they wanted to. And if I get blacked out on broadcast TV I will just watch via a internet or some other feed. But how the NFL can tell lifelong fans who would go if they could to !@#$ off is beyond me.

I agree completely. Large, affordable, HD televisions definitely did not do the NFL stadium experience any favors. And the NFL really cannot sabotage the TV experience (any more than they already do with blackouts at least) because of the amount of money they make from the TV contracts. If you strip out commercials the TV experience is even better. However if you are in the comfort of home with friends and family watching in real time the commercials aren't nearly as annoying. Only thing I miss about the stadium is tailgating with people I don't see very often when the weather is nice.

So to summarize ... 1) National media think the Bills are improved but probably not quite enough to make the playoffs next season. 2) Some Bills fans think the national media is full of **** and the Bills are vastly improved over the team that last year would have made the playoffs were it not for unlucky injuries. 3) The same fans think that not only are the Bills playoff bound this year, but they have a very good chance of winning the division. SSDD.

I think they upgraded the food vendors last year if memory serves. We don't get much there except something to drink though so I may be mistaken.

The whole cost thing got me thinking that in recent years the NFL has been trying to make games more family friendly in order to sell more tickets to families. While at the same time the ticket prices are so high (talking entire NFL, not just Buffalo) a large number of people cannot afford 4 tickets or more per game. I wonder if the smarter play by the NFL is to drop the family friendly facade and market it as an adult experience. Its easier for a guy and his buddies to buy 1 ticket each than it is for each guy to buy 4 or more in order to bring his entire family.

I agree about the cost issue. Before it's said and done I'm probably going to spend $250 taking my family of 5 to a meaningless preseason game (kids day) where the starters will play half the game if we are lucky. Considerably more than that for a regular season game. And Buffalo is among the cheapest in the league. It's easy to see how a great many people simply cannot afford to attend games even if they wanted to.

The NFL loves big markets, and they don't get much bigger than LA. So I don't see the NFL ever giving up on it. Filling the stadium never hurts. But whatever person or group ends up purchasing the Bills, they know where the team will be located before they even place a bid. And ultimately the fans have no say, full stadium or no full stadium.

That's not rocket science. Addresses (for GPS) and/or driving directions to any lot you choose here. They are not bus stops so asking for a bus stop will get you no where. And most people living near the parking areas probably have no clue what places are being used for training camp parking. But if you used the correct name, like "Pittsford Sutherland High School, 55 Sutherland Street" I suspect most in the area would know where that is. Of course if you just drive to some random place in Pittsford and ask where the Bills camp bus stop is then yeah, you might have trouble finding it. But if my wife can find it easily multiple times every year I'd have to think pretty much no one should get lost looking for it