Kirby Jackson

It’s been a rough week in New Orleans, first Leah Chase and now Dr. John. RIP to a couple of icons

Most late round picks don’t make the roster? I think that they have only cut 1 draft pick over the last 7 drafts (Proehl). Listenbee was released on an injury settlement. Johnson is a LOCK. As for a sleeper, I guess I’ll go Ray Ray. He seems to be having a big offseason and has got some time with the 1’s. He has a chance to claim that last spot.

I was just starting to like Rodak. I thought he did a decent job but we held his New England ties against him. Oh well, on to the next one

I really am surprised that some here don’t see this whole situation as inevitable. Here is what it is: - The league wants to Bills to generate more money. We are not talking about Dallas money but they want them to move up from 32nd in revenue. - The Bills want that too. - The Pegula’s don’t want to look like bad guys so Goodell speaks out to apply the pressure on the government. - The government doesn’t want to pay for it either so they are basically saying, “the stadium is fine.” Both sides are posturing to keep their contribution as small as possible. It is basic, basic negotiation. At the end of the day, either a new stadium or a total retrofit will take place. The government, the team, the fans and the league will all share in the expense. That’s how it is done in 2019. There is nothing more and nothing less to this non-story.

I guess my point is we need to stop thinking about this as Jerry World or MetLife and start trying to be Jacksonville. There is no reason that the Bills can’t climb from 32nd in revenue to 25 (or maybe even higher). The goal isn’t to go from the lowest revenue to the highest. It’s just to grow.

Shops, restaurants, hotels, parking, concession, concerts, digital, sections of the stadium, advertising boards, etc... You have a completely clean slate. The sponsorship opportunities can be customized and in some cases even driven by the partner. I tell this story a lot on here but when we were doing upgrades to the arena here in New Orleans the state offered us a check each year. It was significantly higher than what we got in our previous lease and we declined. We asked instead of that check, invest a portion of it into the arena to give us “assets” to sell. We ended up generating way more that way and at a lesser cost to the state. It was an absolute win-win. The Bills will be VERY smart in how they develop this new stadium. The first thing that they will do is marry the best locations in the stadium with the best amenities. It’s backwards that this isn’t the case now but you need a clean slate to do it. There will be clubs, all-inclusive opportunities, loaded tickets (where you generate money off of slippage), etc... That’s just a few ways that they will generate more in stadium. The sponsorship opportunities will be even greater. As an example (just thinking out loud), how about a Tim Horton’s breakfast garden that opens an hour before the lots? In order to get in the lots an hour early you pay the $10 a head to go there. They offer donuts and coffee at no charge. Tim Horton’s pays the Bills for this advertising opportunity and the Bills turn around and monetize it to make more. Now this is just off the top of my head so it isn’t flushed out but it’s an example. Say Tim Horton’s paid $75k a game for this (which would be cheap) and the Bills had 5,000 people each week go to it (also conservative). That’s an additional $1.25M a year. How about giving a particular bus company exclusive rights to sponsor the bus lots? Let them pay you for that right and in turn that company gets “x” number of free spots (plus the signage). Now that company can advertise as “the official bus company of the Buffalo Bills” and charge a lesser rate because they don’t need to factor in parking. Or take it a step further, allow people on that companies’ buses a “tailgate village” that’s right there. They don’t have to leave where they are. The people that travel on a bus would absolutely pick that company as their top option. So basically, the bus company has paid for the right to be at capacity each home game. Again, this doesn’t even get into the digital opportunities that lie ahead. Chargers in your seat brought to you by National Grid. In game, highlights, replays, 360 views sponsored by DirecTv, etc... These aren’t fully hashed out but I hope that it gets the idea across that there are a lot of ways to make money. Dallas isn’t what they are worth because of their ticket prices. That’s a part of it. Their value is tied to their many, many revenue streams.

Some good stuff from Sal:

The league wants more revenue. Ticket prices are a part of that but only a little part. If the Bills just decided, “we aren’t doing anything else but raising all prices by 25%.” The league wouldn’t be satisfied. The Bills would be able to kick in a larger portion of the shared revenue and their value would increase. However, they would miss the bazillion other revenue opportunities that a new stadium presents. That’s the “long-term” stability that Goodell referenced. It is ALL about revenue maximization. Ticket prices are a little piece and a short-term fix because there is a tipping point in terms of what the market will allow. There is no “ceiling” as to how much money you can generate elsewhere. I 100% agree except for the last piece. It will never be all or nothing. The larger market teams are going to push to split less and less.

You are underestimating their knowledge of the market. The Bills know EXACTLY what the market can handle. They’ve been gathering that data for years. The new stadium will have a LOT more revenue streams. It’s not just PSLs and tickets 10x more expensive. They aren’t stupid. They are however the lowest revenue team in the league. People foolishly say, “we will never be able to support Jerry World.” Of course not!! That’s not the plan!! I never hear anyone saying though “we can never be the Jacksonville Jaguars!!” They are 25th. That’s what the Bills are trying to do. That’s roughly $30M more a year. If you don’t believe that the Bills can squeeze another $3M a game in revenue out of the market I don’t know what to tell you. There are a TON and ways to do that and a price increase is a tiny piece.

This thread has inevitably triggered some. This topic scares people. People worry that the team will move. People worry that they’ll be priced out. People worry that tailgating will disappear. Etc, etc, etc, This situation has been inevitable for years. The league is evolving and the Bills must do the same. We don’t need to fear what’s next. Different doesn’t mean worse. The Pegula’s have built some first-class facilities and I’d expect this to be the same. This isn’t something that we can prevent (even if that’s what some want). Let’s embrace it and enjoy the future!

I could do without the clickbait trash from PFT. I’m calling on all of my fellow TBD members to boycott that trash site!! With that being said this is pretty much the exact same situation that it’s been forever. It’s posturing. A new stadium or a massive renovation is absolutely coming. That has ALWAYS been the case. Everyone is going to try to leverage the other side to pick up as much of the tab as they can. At the end of the day it will be a public/private partnership where each side picks up their piece. My one wish is that this whole thing didn’t play out in the media. When comments like this are made, trash media, like PFT, will create their own narrative for clicks. The uneducated now believe that they are in jeopardy of leaving.

I think in some ways it was “semi-retirement.” It’s similar to what happened to people like Bill Munson and Jerry Foran a decade earlier. Basically, they were stripped of any and all power but still got to collect a check until they didn’t want to work anymore.

That’s the food and drink tab each game. So for the 41 home games looking at about $33k for nonsense. He really just uses it for staff, family and a few business associates.

He opened the season as our starter after getting picked 5 times in a half. The entire country laughed at us as we tried to convince people that he could play.

Brutal

Yeah, the suite prices are absurd!! My client has one here in the arena and he said that his bill is over $800 every game

Are people really not putting Peterman up there?!? He is literally the worst QB in history!!! We kept trotting him out there and acting like he was a viable option. Nothing has brought more shame to this franchise than his performance against the Chargers. That whole situation was an absolute, predictable, train wreck. He is numbers 1-10 on the list.

Much like the Wall of Fame this is so easy!!

Love me some Rachel Bush

FWIW, I’m not a big McDermott fan. I find him to be kind of fake. I think he’s a pretty good football coach though. His teams are prepared and don’t beat themselves. He just hasn’t had a lot of talent. This year we are going to find out though. This team SHOULD compete for a playoff spot.

Nice job GB!! I’ll nitpick a little but nothing major: Zay to black Maurice Alexander to red Jordan Phillips to black DiMarco to red Shaq to black (with the uncertainty always surrounding Murphy he’s the insurance)

There is definitely room to move people around. I tried to do it without too much “resume factoring.” Jon Gruden won a Super Bowl and I don’t think he’s very good. My approach was pretty simple, “if my team could pick any current HC, what’s the order that I would draft them in?” So, while there is some “resume factoring” I really tried to look more at their coaching ability (or at least my perception of it).

I’ll give it a shot: Belichick Payton Reid Pederson Reich Carroll Harbaugh Tomlin McVay Lynn Nagy Arians McDermott Shanahan Zimmer Rivera Kitchens Quinn Garrett Vrabel O’Brien Taylor Kingsbury LaFleur Fangio Marrone Jon Gruden Jay Gruden Gase Flores Patricia Shurmur

I’d agree if OJ wasn’t up there.

This is easy to me (keep in mind I wasn’t alive for Byrd). Bennett was the best of the LBs and the 2nd best defensive player on those Bills teams. There are a bunch of guys up there that he was better than. He was a 2 time AFC DPOY and the guy that elevated the Bills from good to great. Forget about the off the field stuff (OJ is up there), Biscuit is WAY overdue.