BillnutinHouston

So are you up for PSL's?

Would love to see a link on that one.

OP, I agree with your overall point but some of the evidence you present to support your premise is very weak. Hiring a QB coach and a WR coach is hardly evidence of Marrone hedging against Hackett's failing. It's called building a staff that was undermanned last year without a QB coach. On the other hand, there's no question that Hostler has OC ambitions and I like that - it definitely incentivizes Hackett to succeed.

I think it's interesting that, per Brandon's statement, a "substantial renovation of RWS" is still in play as an alternate option to a new stadium. Does anyone know if the recent study done by HOK (I think that's the name of the firm) assessed the viability of this vs. a new venue?

Yes it's viewable. Nicely done.

To clarify, I've been a consistent supporter of the Bills' regionalization efforts, I understand and support their obvious need to mine the Toronto market, and I urge Bills fans to drop their customary short-sightedness and insularity when it comes to the Bills trying to expand their market. But that's a long way from declaring the Toronto series successful in these regards. I'm quite sure I've never done that. Well then, it appears to be settled.

That does not a correlation make.

How so? What exactly has the series accomplished for Rogers except revealing how tepid Toronto fans' support is for the NFL product?

What I'm not sure any of us know is the degree to which the incumbent owner's wishes count in selecting from prospective ownership groups. After all, the team is technically the property of one man, not a Committee of NFL owners. For all we know, Mr. Wilson, who knows the process and personalities better than anyone, may place stipluations on the sale to favor an ownership group that is committed to keeping the team in Buffalo. Hypothetically, this stipulation could be made with a requirement that the winning bid (for an owner committed to Buffalo) be no less than X% lower than the team's full open market valuation, or X% lower than the highest valid bid. If such a stipulation from Mr. Wilson carries any weight with the other owners (and I suspect it would if he took the trouble of crafting it, given his Hall of Fame credentials), this Fund could be relevant.

There's a lot about your post I agree with factually, but I urge you to resist the temptation to just surrender without even putting up a fight. You'll hate yourself later if you didn't lift a finger. Fortune favors the brave!

To my knowledge, every NFL team is profitable and according to this post the league is swimming in money. So then why you may ask would anyone move a team, ever? For MORE money. It's not just about making an annual profit, it's about maximizing the return on investment for your investors. This plan offers those investors a softer landing in Buffalo, with the hope that it will help offset the grener pastures in other places like Toronto and LA. If you can't appreciate that concept, it's no wonder you would scoff at contributing to this fund. Kudos to those attempting to be proactive in addressing the soon-to-be unsettled ownership situation. Where do I send my check?

In order for this idea to go anywhere, it needs the endorsement of some key leaders in order to establish the plan's legitimacy. The Bills can't/won't touch it as it acknowledge's Ralph's mortality. Jim Kelly can't either, since his supposed ties to a prospective ownership group would lend the appearance of a conflict of interest. I wonder if there is anything prohibiting a political leader from endorsing it. Someone of Schumer's ilk. If you intend to rally thousands of people to give money to any kind of effort, you must have strong leadership and absolute legitimacy. That may be the Achilles heel of this idea.

How in the world do you get to 60,000 season tix? I think they're in the mid-40's now.

Good tackling from the Seahawks but what also impressed me was Seattle's receivers. Many of their catches were difficult, but the only one I remember being dropped was by Willson, the TE.

Why would the stadium renovations help justify a ticket price increase? Aren't the renovations funded solely with public money?

$170 million doesn't seem like it would be enough to move the needle on anything, but I'd be in. I agree with you that the Bills for some reason do next to nothing to cultivate Buffalo expatriates, who are among the most rabid of Bills fans. Kind of a mystery there. What do you mean by "major Bills hubs"? Do you just mean fans in other major cities?

It's been reported that this year for the first time, cameras were inside the room and the presentations will be shown on TV at some point. Can't wait to watch Gaughan's presentation.

Where is the official announcement?

Why is this less than clear? In years past the announcements were done live, correct? Why the different process this year - is this supposed to be an improvement over previous years?

You may recall that a few years ago the Bills conducted a "marketing" study in Canada, I believe led by Mary Owens (Ralph's relative). The purpose of the study as I recall was to learn about Canadians' attitudes about the Bills and how the Bills could reach out to them more effectively. It would not shock me if the Bills were told in effect, "I won't think of you as my team until you play games in my town". If you put yourself in the shoes of Canadian fans, its not hard to imagine the Bills getting this kind of polite yet direct feedback. Of course, I'm sure they didn't expect to have to watch bad teams and have to pay high prices for the privilege.

I submit that the above statements almost completely miss the point of the TO series. Brandon is trying to set the team up to be not just "viable" but actually, at least minimally attractive to a new owner from a financial standpoint. In contrast to Mr. Wilson, the next ownership/investor group will likely be up to their ears in debt and possibly looking to build a new stadium. What investor group in the real world sits in that position and settles for just "viable" or "not in financial trouble"? That doesn't cut it, you must have return on your sizeable investment or else the Buffalo thing just doesn't work. Again I say, we should all be thankful for Brandon's efforts to link up the Bills to Toronto - he's doing us a favor whether we realize it or not. Do I like this? Of course not, but who ever said I had to?

Who said a 4 game-per-town split needs to be attempted during the life of the CURRENT lease? On the other hand, I see no reason why a new owner couldn't look to renegotiate the lease as a condition of the sale. I'm thinking that the prospective ownership groups are not simply competing in a highest-bidder auction, but are also about pitching to the NFL various "concepts" about what their franchise will be about. Some groups may say they want to move the team to LA, some may pitch a full-out Buffalo team, and others may pitch a hybrid. A hybrid history/tradition/max revenue blend might be appealing to all of the NFL owners (who have to approve of all sales), especially if those proposals come with high valuations of the team. And if such a high bid "hybrid" group secures the NFL's approval, wouldn't that lessen Erie County and NYS' hand a bit?

Yea, I'm chairing an ownership group and we're working on all those details now. Why is it so hard to think that a new owner will come in with a completely new paradigm that looks to maintain the history of the franchise while fully mining the revenue that could be had from the Toronto market?

On the other hand, considering that Hostler has OC ambitions, it could ratchet the pressure UP on Hackett.

It would not surprise me if this or something like it plays out under a new owner, as a condition of the sale. But Russ will have had nothing to do with it.