Olaf Fub

For a football stadium, they are cheap. Seeing a game and buying food for a UB game is probably cheaper than a movie.

For what it's worth. The Bulldog on WGR has metioned that there might be as many as 4 local groups willing to buy the Bills. I'd love to Golisanio buy them but he might not be our only hope.

I don't know them but I did e-mail Stu Boyer about the show and he did respond to me. (I was half asleep when they announced it on Sunday, didn't remember the details.) You should try e-mailing him. He's about halfway down the list. Channel 2

If interested: Anybody watch Sports Extra? Last Sunday was the last one. The show was cancelled because NBC has Sunday night football now, so Sports Extra would be on too late. They are replacing it with a show called the Sports Zone. It's on Monday through Friday. It's part of a 10 o'clock newcast on WB but more than half the show will be sports. I'm excited. I think it's going to be good. Plus, it's starting just in time for the Sabres' playoff run. I used to watch Empire every night and I've missed a nightly sports show since the station went under.

I like Turner Gill. I think he'll do well. I guess he was one of the top recruiters in the nation when he was at Nebraska. He's seems to be more of a traditional coach. Kind of tough on the players. UB has had player coaches in the past. The team makes a lot of mental errors, so I think Gill's style will fix some of those problems. If he could just get the team to around .500 and maybe get a player or two drafted in the NFL, UB could be really competitive in recruiting. Buffalo is the biggest market in the MAC. UB is a good school. Weather isn't even that big of a factor, all the schools are in the North. I think a lot of potentially good players are choosing other MAC schools over UB simply because of the losing. Omar Jacobs (QB from Bowling Green) said he almost came to UB. He's probably going to get drafted, maybe on the first day. A star player like that would do wonders for the program.

I've been a UB season ticket holder since their second year in division one. My seats are on the 50 yard line. That's the same thing I thought when I first bought them and I'm still waiting. If you like football their games are a good time, as long as you're not too worried about UB winning. It kind of funny watching them find a way to lose each week. Plus, as you mentioned, the tickets are cheap. However, I'm looking forward to having season tickets for the Bulls and the Bills for many years to come.

The operating income that Forbes lists is a pretty good indicator of how profitable the Bills are. The depreciation/amortization has no effect on cash flow and would just be used to reduce the tax liability. They have one of the lowest amounts of debt in the league, so interest wouldn't be that big a deal.

I think Felser is off base with this one too. It's not like this is the first time it's happened. There are 5 Sundays in December this year. That's almost 1/3 of the schedule. We've got three home games in December, which is about 1/3 of the schedule. I think the Thanksgiving weekend and the Christmas Eve game will be sellouts. People will be home those weekends, visiting family, and they will want to see the Bills.

It's gone from the Albany paper's site. He it is on Channel 2: AP article on Wilson and the Bills

I noticed this the other day. Kind of the same point, the gap between the Bills are other teams isn't as large as people are making it out to be. One ticket to one game in the M&T suite at the Ralph is $285. M&T Bank Club-Buffalo Bills The Bills don't list the price for the other premium seating, I guess it's in the "If you got to ask you can't afford it" catagory. I'm all in favor of Ralph putting politcal pressure on league. I think he's doing the right thing for himself and for Buffalo. I hope he gets the best deal possible for the Bills in the new CBA. I also think the big market club have an advantage over the Bills. But I think all this "the Bills are moving" talk has reached the level of hysteria.

Ourlads has the Bills taking TE Joe Klofenstein in the 2nd round. I don't know anything about him. (Other than what I read in Ourlads) You seem like a big time draftnik Astrobot, so I'd value your opinion. Why do you like him? What kind of player do you think he'll be in the NFL?

If you haven't read it yet, I'd check this one out, AP on the Bills and Wilson's Comments Wilson's "can't promise anything" comment was explained to AP reporters after the mikes were turned off. I think it will put your mind at ease. Edit: The link above no longer works. Please try this one, if interested. AP story on the Bills and Wilson's Comments

I agree. The Buffalo News must be the worst place to work in WNY. Every columnist is miserable. Gleason, however, might be the worst. He got a chance to go to the Winter Olympics this year and whined about it the entire week. I have yet to read an article where I thought he made a good point. I hate to write this, because it's kind of mean, but I really wish the News would fire him. I used to love their sports page (when it was Felser, Kelly, Carruci) and I wish they would make an attempt to return to that quality.

I've got a theory, might be crazy but I'll weigh in. It explains why Ralph doesn't want to sell the naming rights, why he didn't ask Pataki for money and why he made a comment on Friday about the 3 million the County gives him each year ibeing counted as revenue. (which I thought was kind of weird.) There is one public source of numbers on NFL revenues and income. Forbes writes an article on it each year. NFL Revenues and Operating Income I read that revenue sharing was tiered. Top 5 teams share the most, 6-10 less and 11-16 less than 6-10. The lowest revenue teams will get the most, the closer you are to 16, the less you will get. The above article is 2004 numbers. The Bills were 14th in operating income and 21st in revenue. I think Ralph's main beef with the new CBA isn't that he is not making enough money in Buffalo, it's that he's making too much. His income and his revenue are too high to maximize revenue sharing. If he raises ticket prices, sells the naming rights, etc, it gets worse. If he could sell the naming right to the stadium, for example, for 3 million a year, he'd earn more revenue than the Giants. (The Bills are already ahead of the Jets.) Cincinnati is in a similar situation. (which would explain the other no vote.) I hope the political pressure works. More money for Ralph should equal a better product on the field. I do agree he went overboard with the Bills could lose money comments, however.

Agreed. Plus corporations hate bad publicity. This will create some.

Bill Polian mentioned, on WBEN, something about having to sell out your stadium or your franchise would be in trouble. After hearing Ralph talk today about the qualifiers, I think that is what he meant. It's sounds like Ralph is trying to just put some political pressure on the league. The new CBA is only guaranteed for four years. Hopefully a more small market friendly one can be struck as a result of Ralph's efforts. If he's right about the present one cutting into the bottom line of 16-18 teams, then I think he'll have a lot of owners on his side when it comes time to renegotiate.

He accomplished the same thing Mike Mularkey did in his first year as a HC, one winning streak.

I think we can beat Miami in week 2. I think they are overated. They have an aging D, an O line as bad as ours, there is no guarantee that Culpepper will be healthy for week 2, and their late season run last year was very similar to the Bills run in 04. Plus, I'm not sold on Nick Saban yet. Steve Spurrier and Butch Davis were just as hyped after their first year in the NFL. I'm not saying he's a bad coach, he just hasn't proved anything at the NFL level yet. It's a division game away so, of course, it's not a gimmie but I don't see any reason to assume we're going to lose it.

If Fergeson isn't valued as highly among NFL personnel guys as he is in the media mock drafts, maybe he'll fall to 8th. If the Bills drafted him, I'd be happy if he turned out to be an above average LT and played for the team for 6-8 years. Dr. Z is terrific. He had Mike Willams pegged as a bust his rookie year. He wrote a column that year stating that a couple of guys on the Bills O line just flat out couldn't play. Someone e-mailed him and said it was not fair that he didn't name who. He repsonded in his e-mail column that it was Mar. Sullivan and Mike Williams. I didn't want to hear, at the time, that we blew it with the #4 overall pick, so I sent him an e-mail. You're nuts-he's a rookie, give him time etc. Of course, he was right and I haven't really doubted his analysis since.

I think you're right, it was McElroy. Thanks Lori. I can't believe that was 10 years ago. It's the draft where we took Moulds. If you want a good laugh, check out who's rated #1 and compare it to where Ray Lewis and Donnie Edwards are ranked. 1996 Draft Great quote from John Butler, also.

I still think they might take Ngata. "He doesn't fit into our scheme," might just be a smoke sceen. Sending out false information was the MO during the Polian/Butler days, Marv might be doing the same thing. Remember a smallish RB (I can't recall his name), he lasted 3-4 years in the league. I think the Bills were drafting 21st and someone asked John Butler about him. Butler said if a RB of that man's talent fell to 21st there was no way the Bills would pass him up. He fell to the 21st pick and Butler passed on him. (I think he got drafted by Arz in the 2nd round?) If AJ Hawk falls to 8th, I'd like to see the Bills draft him. I think he's going to be a great player. If he's not there, then the best D lineman.

They made 36 million dollars last year and were in the top half of the league. So the "inside source" is full of it. Forbes Buffalo Bills 2005 They are not going to move, even if Ralph or his estate sells the team.

I guess what the point is depends on what you want out of your football team. If you want to have fun in the off-season, sign a bunch of big name players and then bounce between 5-11 and 9-7 each year, then Cleveland did a good job. I'd like to watch a Bills team that has at least a shot of winning a Super Bowl, so to me, the point is to build a long term contender. You're right, we won't know if some of the signings Marv made so far will lead to this. However, I think you're wrong if you think that the team was only 2-3 big name players away from the playoffs. They have been bad for five years and I welcome a rebuilding year to try and fix this team.

Adams and Williams were benched on a 5-11 team. Maybe we didn't use a TE in the offense last year because Campbell was no good. Personally, I'm glad we cut Milloy. I'm not suggesting that are problems have been solved but we're younger at every position. I like the fact that he seems to be building the team for the long term and not overspending of FA just to get some big names here. Cleveland, for example, signed a bunch of big name FAs but what did it get them. They might make the playoffs this year but I doubt it. So far they are a bad team who got mediocre in the off-season. They essentially got "Donahoed." The fans will be excited but they are no closer to the Super Bowl.

I like it. The first game starts at 7pm. The whole reason MNF starts at 9 is for the west coast. With a double header, they can start the first game early.