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I'm in 136 row 31...

I so want him to be the guy. Settle this thing once and for all for the next 10 years so we can move on to other things.

I just got off the phone with my guy, and the news I'm getting is as I had feared. Due to season ticket demand and other required allotments, the Bills will be capping the number of tickets available to groups for the opener (and also the New England game) to 50. He's trying to get our group up to 100, but even that is well short of the 261 that have been requested in this thread. This puts me in the awkward position of having to "play God", determining who gets to buy tickets with the group, and how many. I had said before that if that came to pass, I would be using membership seniority and a rather nebulous "community contribution" (including post count and prior TBD tailgate attendance) as criteria. Some other things to note: However many tickets we get will likely be in the same area of the stadium as prior years, and will probably end up at around $75/ticket When tickets become available for ST holders to buy extras, they will be capped at 6 max per game for the first 3-4 days. He expects the opener will be sold out before the end of those 3-4 days. My guy is treating our group as any of their business partners with an allotment of tickets for this game. He's hoping to have a concrete number of tickets for me in the next few days. I've already reached out to some of you who asked for large numbers of tickets. I will continue to do that as I work to come up with the who and the how many for our group. It sucks that it's come to this, and I apologize to those who will have to look elsewhere for tickets. I'm going to have to draw a line somewhere and that's unfortunate.

That's Turd Ferguson

At this point, not much. As a kid - stamps and football cards.

http://youtu.be/AbwHKbkFgcM Just saw this one...

I was hoping this would get posted. Lakeside Park??? Sick! I was really hoping they'd play all 4 parts of the Fear trilogy.

Adam Schefter put this on Facebook (FWIW): Adam Schefter 1 hr · Some "more-probable-than-not", opening-night starters in Foxboro: NE QB: Jimmy Garoppolo NE RB: Jonas Gray PITT RB: DeAngelo Williams.

My guy said he'd call this afternoon so I'm waiting by the phone...

LIKE!

Tall and skinny? Nope not me.

Once I got official confirmation we're a go, I'll publicize that. Due to demand (we're over 250 tickets requested and I'm not sure how many the Bills will give us), here's what I've decided. I'll be distributing the purchase details to people in a phased approach. Your contributions to this community (in terms of post count, membership seniority, and prior tailgate attendance) will determine when you will be given the opportunity to purchase from the group block. So if you joined the board last week and only have 4 posts, you'll probably be the last in line. If the Bills grant us a block smaller than the number of requests we have, it's possible we will not be able to allow some people who asked to buy from the group. But I'm still waiting for official confirmation...

LIKE!

Early showing of Age of Ultron

Well it's for the community, wherever they choose to tailgate (or don't tailgate at all). I was thinking that if they won't give us 250 tickets I'd have to put in a ranking system involving post count and/or membership date seniority to demonstrate board participation.

Well I finally added up all the numbers in this thread. Taking everybody's highest number given, we're at 236 seats right now. Last year we used 91. If, now that we have the schedule, people want to adjust their numbers or can't make it please let me know. I don't want to ask for 250 tickets and only use 100, you know? Obviously this is not a binding contract or anything. And I cannot stress strongly enough that this is for the use and enjoyment of TSW posters and their guests only! NO RESELLING!!! If reselling for a profit is found, that poster will be banned from future purchases. This is a special arrangement granted by the Bills to us only and any misuse will be handled in the harshest legal way. Seriously.

This isn't a "Bills thing". The laws of Orchard Park, Erie County, and New York State are such that no smoking is allowed. Neither is re-entry, meaning a smoking area is not something that can be done. Not allowing those items into the stadium (where they can't be used anyway) removes the temptation to use them by people who have them, and removes any gray area from enforcement.

I suggested they take a lead from the bridges to Canada, where signs give the wait times for all bridges so you can pick your best option. Because they're too difficult to tell from real ones, leading to enforcement issues. Ban anything that looks like a cigarette and then if you see one you're good to enforce.

Maybe they could borrow Jacksonville's tarps.

I choose to think they're trying to alleviate the crush just before kickoff in an effort to make it easier for everyone to get to their seats in time. They're actually talking about bringing in bands and having discounted food - hardly money making efforts to me. They can't serve alcohol before noon so that's out.

Oh yeah - season ticket update: Currently over 55k with 96% renewal rate. They think they can get to 60k and some talks of capping the number have been had. And I think Rex is just a bad parker. It's not like he was straddling a line, he was just on top of one. It is a very big truck.

Another enjoyable and productive get-together. John Murphy came up before his show to just chat a bit and share his enthusiasm for this season. After every meeting one member goes on his show - I'm gonna volunteer for that (and of course plug TBD). Some tidbits: Wi-Fi Update - vendor has been chosen. Plan is to have wi-fi available in-stadium by the opener. May need some tweaks early in the season to get it optimized for all areas and usage. Loyalty/Rewards program for Season Ticket Members (not holders - they call them Members) - In the works. Bills Bucks being replaced by a card on which they can load value. Will start with a percentage rebate of your season ticket price (2% I think). Working on a more robust system but will be starting simple. There will be much more discussion on the particulars of this program. OneBuffalo - They are beginning to consolidate and cross-pollinate with the Sabres. I suggested maybe a OneBuffalo sports weekend with a Friday Sabres game and Sunday Bills game package. They did say the NFL is adamant about keeping themselves separate from other sports leagues but sounded intrigued by the idea. Question asked re: ticket packages to home or away games. They will not get into the travel agency business, but if someone wants them to check on tickets to away games they are happy to do that. It would be last minute, from any of their unused allotment which are usually pretty bad seats. Some teams are more cooperative than others for other requests. All tobacco products, matches & lighters, and e-cigs will be officially banned and not allowed entry into the stadium with these items. Leave 'em in your cars, people. Drones are illegal in Orchard Park and have been officially banned from all stadium property. Bills Bucks expiring - this was something Delaware North (who run the food concessions and the Bills Store) wanted for accounting purposes. If you have expired bucks, call your ticket rep or customer service and they can work with you. For out-of-towners they even said they could take your bucks and buy what you want and ship it to you. The Bills are improving in just about every metric taken by the league. For last season they were first overall in club seat holder satisfaction and 5th in general ticket holder satisfaction. Other Fan-Fest like benefit suggestions? I said how people were so into that event I got to go to with Rex, Jim, and Thurman and suggested maybe something like that (but bigger) maybe tied into the 20th anniversary of the 4th Super Bowl team. Get alumni and fans together to talk about that team/season and anything else that might come up. Also wondered if there was a way Bills Backers around the country could be involved. Maybe something like that will come to be... Season Ticket Members watch your emails tomorrow or Monday for communication regarding tickets for the game in London. They were disappointed with no home primetime game this year, but are optimistic that another successful season will land them one next year. They said that Buffalo comes off great in that type of game if the national interest is there. They are looking for ways to entice people to get into the stadium earlier. I basically said they'd have to come up with a compelling reason for people to leave their tailgates and come in. Any suggestions any of you have along those lines would be appreciated. Everybody in the front office said that Rex Ryan is always just the way you see on TV. And he wants to win so badly... His truck was still there when I left the stadium at 8:20. He needs to work on parking between the lines

I'll have a definite answer tomorrow, but my guy sounded very optimistic that "we'll get it done".

YESSSSS

Love this annual thread! We miss you here, brother Rich.