jrober38

Sure. Canada as a whole has next to no history of publicly funding stadiums. The politics of it are way too messy and it's not something politicians can support if they plan on keeping their jobs. Toronto is never going to be able to build a world class stadium, unless they make an ambitious play to go after the Summer Olympics with the hope that the federal government would pour money into it. Without a unifying event as the reason for building a stadium, there's no way the public can fund a new stadium that would only cater to the "elites" in Toronto.

I don't think this is true. Past estimates during the Bills in Toronto Series (which was largely considered a huge failure) pegged the number of fans at Bills games as roughly 15%. I never saw this figure attached to the number of season ticket holders in Southern Ontario. I think that's just ticket sales, which includes single game purchases. So for a sell out, the Bills probably get about 10,000 Canadians per game, which seems right. The issue is that many of these Canadians are fans of the other team. My family has season tickets in the lower bowl near the goal line on the oppositions bench side of the field. Our section is always packed with Canadian away fans who come down to watch their team play against the Bills. Almost all of the New England fans in our section when we play the Pats are from Southern Ontario. My family has had seasons to almost 30 years. Since around 2000, I haven't met a single Canadian who has them as well. You get tons of people who like going down with a big group of friends or on a bus in November and December when the tickets are cheap, but otherwise there aren't many people who are going down to support the Bills. It's essentially just a spectacle where you get to watch drunk people smash themselves through tables and act like morons, with a football game following the tailgate. Of the 10,000 Canadians going to each home game, my guess is about half of them are Bills fans. Maybe less. The Bills are mostly just a punch line up here because they've been so bad for so long.

This is well intentioned but Ontario is dead broke. They're not giving any money to support a sports franchise in a different country. The economics behind dumping piles of money into a sport that plays 10 games a year has never made any sense. Toronto is an international city that draws tourists from all over the world. Connecting it to WNY, and a market that probably doesn't send many people to visit and installing services that will cost significant cost in upkeep and wages for the people running the transit systems seems like a proposition that will lose a ton of money for the province. Buffalo needs to figure out its stadium on its own. Figure out how to build a 65,000 seat stadium right downtown with a roof that can be used 12 months a year, and then figure out how to get 20 events in their each year. Anything more than that isn't happening.

There aren't many season ticket holders in Southern Ontario. There are lots of young guys who like to go down on a bus once a year and get really messed up, but not much of a fan base who would ever be willing to go to games on a weekly basis. Anyone 25 or younger never watched the Bills when they were good in the early 90s. They grew up watching other teams who were successful in the early 2000s and picked their allegiance a long time ago. Baring the Bills getting a transcendent talent who they could market to the Toronto market, the odds of Buffalo picking up many new fans from Toronto isn't very good. Most of their Toronto fans are 35+ and settling down with families and not looking to go to Buffalo 8 times a year.

Great point. Greater Minneapolis = 3.9 million residents. Greater Buffalo = 1.1 million residents. Buffalo has got to be one of the smallest markets in the NFL.

There's a reason the tickets are already as cheap as they are. Buffalo draws from all over WNY and Southern Ontario, but the team always has issues selling tickets late in the season. The #1 priority for any stadium plan needs to involve a dome. You have to make the games in late November and December as appealing as games earlier in the season by removing the elements. People can talk about how much they love the games being outdoors, but reality is that you lose a massive portion of the population who simply aren't going to hang out outside for 6-8 hours in miserable weather (seniors, children, some women).

Greater Buffalo's median income is $53,000. Minneapolis' median income is $73,000. Hard to imagine a place like Buffalo putting up $2500 per seat license on a 65,000 seat stadium, and then paying for tickets that double in value. I get what you're saying about the Country Club. The issue is that it's meant to be exclusive. That's not a sustainable business model for an NFL team operating in a low income market.

I agree. I have no issue paying more for my tickets provided the team is competitive. The fact that there's been absolutely no resale market for half the home games this year has made it tough to be a season ticket holder. It's the one time Seat License fee that really hurts.

I live in Toronto. A $2500 seat license and ticket prices doubling isn't in the budget for me.

Who is going to pay for it? The Bills and their fans can't support a $1.4 billion stadium.

I'm not giving him the benefit of the doubt. Just pointing out that he's only ever had QBs who are complete garbage to work with.

With how good the Bills D is, it's fairly straightforward to see them winning 3 of their remaining games and winding up 7-9, which is quite incredible when you consider that we've had to start four different QBs this year. I've been very hard on McDermott all year, but I've never doubted that he knows how to get his guys to buy in and play hard. If the offense isn't losing games, and the defense plays hard for four quarters, this team can beat 75% of the teams in the league on any given Sunday. The issue now is that what was looking like a pretty promising top 10 pick might now slip into a 1st round pick in the mid to late teens where it will be harder to get a blue chip prospect. It'll be interesting to see how the final 5 games go, and then this will probably be the biggest offseason this franchise has had in at least 10 years as they fill holes and try to solidify the D and load up on weapons to surround their QB with.

Hard to pin this on Hackett. He's been stuck with one of the worst QBs in the league. Would have made more sense to bench Bortles and give Hackett a week with Kessler to see if there was a difference than getting rid of both guys at the same time.

No surprise. He's terrible. They have all the pieces to be successful and he's been letting them down for the past 3 years. Shocking he got as much time as he did.

He had a great game yesterday. 300+ yards, a couple TDs, 76% completions, and a win.

Like I said, you're completely triggered about the smallest remark. Boo hoo. Someone said something mean about Allen. So sad. I agree with what you said. He would be better on KC, but he certainly wouldn't be Mahomes, but because I said something critical, there you go again completely flying off the handle, incapable of taking any criticism directed at your crush.

What the hell are you talking about? How do you know if I'm happy or not? Yesterday's game was great. The second half was fun to watch and the whole team showed great heart. Just because I say Allen has a long way to go as a passer, you immediately get triggered and freak out. Sad.

8 of 19 and he threw one bad pass? The standards are so low on this board. Allen managed the game well, but he still leaves a ton to be desired as a passer. The fact that you guys are incapable of allowing anyone to be critical of him is pathetic.

Where did I bash Allen? It's completely insane to think Allen would be throwing for 300 yards a game on a different team. That's one of the most ridiculous claims I've heard on this board in ages. Allen played a good game, and led his team to a win. But saying he'd be producing the numbers Pat Mahomes is putting up is seriously just crazy talk.

I don't. I think that's a ridiculous claim. Mahomes is a natural passer. Allen is currently just a really good athlete playing QB. There's a huge difference. Mahomes isn't throwing WR screens into the turf like Allen did yesterday. Suggesting Allen would be putting up MVP #s on another team, when he's currently completing like 50% of his throws and throwing for like 150 yards a game is totally crazy.

Cam threw for 4,000 yards with 800 yards rushing as a rookie and had 35 total touchdowns in 16 games. I think this is a very optimistic projection. At this stage Kapernick seems more realistic, due to Allen being a more effective runner than passer. Allen makes plays with his feet, but his efficiency as a passer isn't very good. He's a lot like JP Losman in the sense that he can provide the big plays, but he can't dink and dunk and keep the offense moving and control the clock. At some point defenses will figure out how to slow down his running, or he'll get hurt (like essentially every running QB does). Once that happens, he'll need to progress dramatically as a passer if he's going to make it in this league. All the top QBs are top players because they're elite passers and Allen has miles to go in that department. Yesterday's game was fun to watch. The fight, and ensuing heart the team showed were great. Allen made some nice throws, and he made some bad ones. He relies on his running ability to bail him out of situations when he can't find an open receiver, and I'm not sure that's sustainable long term. Running QBs don't have much long term success in the NFL, and at some point you need to find someone who can throw for 4,000 yards a season. I'm not going to harp on his stat line because he did what was needed to win, but I don't think that model for success will have sustained success for him in the NFL. At some point he'll need to learn to operate from the pocket and make more consistent plays with his arm.

Hopefully we get at least two guys. The WR depth chart needs to be completely rebuilt. Would love a possession receiver with size and a burner who can stretch the field.

He's wide open on the majority of the plays against busted zone coverages. Looks like a nice college player, but there's a reason NFL wide receivers aren't 6'6. Size mattered 5+ years ago when DBs could get their hands on receivers. Now they can't touch them at all, and the league has figured out how to scheme guys open with pick plays. The result is that "small" guys are putting up huge numbers all around the league because they're so explosive after the catch with the ball in their hands.

Nothing about those highlights suggests he's a top pick. He's a big, tall WR who isn't fast, and can't sink his hips and make quick cuts. Good luck separating from NFL calibre DBs. 6'6, 225 doesn't come around very often. Those guys also don't work out very often either because they can't get low and create separation.

Nope. No one has been able to slow down any of those teams all year.