grammer_police Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Ok, we all know that Ralph is getting pretty old (and thats an understatment) I seriously hope he lives forever, but the fact is that he wont. My question: What if he suddenly got sick and just died? Would the team instantly be put up for aution and immediatley move (assuming the new owner want to move which is almost a certanty). Or, would there be some kind of waiting period? I mean...what if he passed away today for example? Would this season even be played in Buffalo? Sorry for the dark question, and once again: LONG LIVE HOFer RALPH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Depends on with whom he leaves the team. If it's his wife, there are no estate taxes and no need to sell immediately. If it's his daughters, they will have to pay the estate tax and that will necessitate selling the team fairly quickly (within 9-12 months). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfreak Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Ok, we all know that Ralph is getting pretty old (and thats an understatment) I seriously hope he lives forever, but the fact is that he wont. My question: What if he suddenly got sick and just died? Would the team instantly be put up for aution and immediatley move (assuming the new owner want to move which is almost a certanty). Or, would there be some kind of waiting period? I mean...what if he passed away today for example? Would this season even be played in Buffalo? Sorry for the dark question, and once again: LONG LIVE HOFer RALPH If he passes he might leave you some money for spelling and grammar lessons.... just messing with you. Seriously, I don't think a team can just move because the owner dies, I am pretty sure the owners would have to vote on it. I am sure they would play this year in Buffalo as scheduled, and move would happen before next year and before the schedules are created. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grammer_police Posted June 25, 2010 Author Share Posted June 25, 2010 If he passes he might leave you some money for spelling and grammar lessons.... just messing with you. Seriously, I don't think a team can just move because the owner dies, I am pretty sure the owners would have to vote on it. I am sure they would play this year in Buffalo as scheduled, and move would happen before next year and before the schedules are created. Thanks for the response... and with regards to the poor sppelling and more bad grammar... I can blame it on the pbr's (and the other thing) that I've seem to loose count of! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpl6876 Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Very good question. I suppose time will tell if the Bills stay in Buffalo. I know I will be crushed if they leave and I live in San Diego. I can't see myself cheering for another team....Hope they never move but I suspect Ralph's daughter will look to sell the team. I know the LA area is dying for another team. The NFL is so money hungry that I believe they would love to have another big market team on their menu. IMO, there is no more loyalty in sports. It is all money driven from players to owners and everyone in between. The fans are the ones who suffer. I remember the good old days of following your teams and favorite players... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malazan Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 You couldn't have put this in the other thread (JHags to LA) that made you think of this post? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeviF Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Thanks for the response... and with regards to the poor sppelling and more bad grammar... I can blame it on the pbr's (and the other thing) that I've seem to loose count of! What is with you people and PBR? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CountDorkula Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 What is with you people and PBR? You rang? A doctor once told me, if it hurts, don't do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CountDorkula Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Thanks for the response... and with regards to the poor sppelling and more bad grammar... I can blame it on the pbr's (and the other thing) that I've seem to loose count of! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Ok, we all know that Ralph is getting pretty old (and thats an understatment) I seriously hope he lives forever, but the fact is that he wont. My question: What if he suddenly got sick and just died? Would the team instantly be put up for aution and immediatley move (assuming the new owner want to move which is almost a certanty). Or, would there be some kind of waiting period? I mean...what if he passed away today for example? Would this season even be played in Buffalo? Sorry for the dark question, and once again: LONG LIVE HOFer RALPH If he passed away today, where would the Bills play this year? C'mon. Think logically for a second. Training camp is in a month. Do you really think a team would move at that time? Where could they possibly move to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrudginglyPessimistic Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Also in this particular situation there are two separate processes going on which life will force to work together to create the eventual outcome, One is his death and the disposition of his estate. The other is transfer of ownership of the team and the contractual obligations under which this happens. Both of these two processes have their own rules which legally must be respected. Neither of them completely trumps the other process and thus if Ralph tries to mandate an outcome which is counter to dictates of his agreed upon partnership with the NFL, the courts might choose to simply ignore his attempted mandate. On the other hand, if the NFL tried to take some action which it interprets as what is mandated by their rules but it runs counter to what Mr. Ralph has legally mandated in his will then it is also within the courts power to mandate that the will be followed. Thus, the answer to your question is really no answer. If he were to due it would depend upon what he tried to mandate, whether that differed from NFL rules and how hard either party hired and employed lawyers to argue their case. My guess is that the real answer is that all of this will take time. In general the courts will want to do things in a manner that will not cause irreversible harm to the value of the franchise. Since the NFL is a going concern and though the value of the team may be higher at some particular point based on a specific sale, the courts instead will be more interested in taking the time to settle any disputes fairly rather than make a sell right now. You gotta figure that the team will essentially remain in Buffalo for an entire year before the issues were settled even if there was full agreement of all parties involved. To the extent there is any dispute between the parties involved (Ralph's family, Ralph's business partners, the local community then simply add on additional years to deal with however complex the dispute is. Even if there was little dispute between Mr. Ralph's wishes expressed in his will, his heirs or anyone who has a serious claim, and the NFL the local government would still fight kicking and screaming about the team leaving. It could be beaten but this would take time to make happen (and my sense would be at least create a negative business publicity and climate for the NFL that since it is driven mostly by dollars that a prohibitive cost for moving could easily be created that it would strongly mitigate against WNY being totally screwed by the outcome. if Mr. Ralph were to suddenly drop dead in some elevator or in the arms of some hottie, it I think it would prove unlikely that the team would leave here for several years and probably not ever as this likely would not suit NFL interests to make another dollar. I think what should be instructive for us is the general resistance which has been put up by cities like Cleveland, Baltimore, and Houston to their teams successfully moving, but even though these owners did leave today there are the Browns, the Ravens and the Texans affiliated with these municipalities. Even if Mr. Ralph writes a will which facilitates the team running out of town and the NFL views this as consistent with NFL strategies for maximizing profits for the league (which is different than maximizing profit for individual owners) its hard for me to see how that would happen for several years. Its also impossible to predict that such a move would be successful in moving (though if both Mr. Ralph's heirs and the NFL wanted it to happen they would be tough to beat) as even relatively stupid political leaders have waged a good fight in the past. My guess is that like the Cleveland, Baltimore. and Texans situation that even if the team moves there will be substantial opportunities for even stupid municipal leaders to get a team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bufcomments Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 It's a dark question but a good one. All I know is it will be a very sad day in Buffalo when it happens. It will be a long process and and all of Bills nation will be concerned with the result. I think his wife Mary gets the control over the estate. Or his daughter. Either way they will most likely sell the franchise to the highest bidder . The NFL will monitor it ofcourse but I like the fact that Goodell being from the area knows what the team means to this region. Which is a huge factor in anything the goes down after Ralph passed to the big football stadium in the sky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yungmack Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Ok, we all know that Ralph is getting pretty old (and thats an understatment) I seriously hope he lives forever, but the fact is that he wont. My question: What if he suddenly got sick and just died? Would the team instantly be put up for aution and immediatley move (assuming the new owner want to move which is almost a certanty). Or, would there be some kind of waiting period? I mean...what if he passed away today for example? Would this season even be played in Buffalo? Sorry for the dark question, and once again: LONG LIVE HOFer RALPH 2010 would be a great year for him to croak...because the estate tax this year is ZERO. In 2011, it jumps back up again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperKillerRobots Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Ok, we all know that Ralph is getting pretty old (and thats an understatment) I seriously hope he lives forever, but the fact is that he wont. My question: What if he suddenly got sick and just died? Would the team instantly be put up for aution and immediatley move (assuming the new owner want to move which is almost a certanty). Or, would there be some kind of waiting period? I mean...what if he passed away today for example? Would this season even be played in Buffalo? Sorry for the dark question, and once again: LONG LIVE HOFer RALPH If he died today, or anytime in 2010, there will be no estate taxes. The tax twilighted at the end of 2009 and will come back in 2011. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperKillerRobots Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 2010 would be a great year for him to croak...because the estate tax this year is ZERO. In 2011, it jumps back up again. Beat me to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrudginglyPessimistic Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 It's a dark question but a good one. All I know is it will be a very sad day in Buffalo when it happens. It will be a long process and and all of Bills nation will be concerned with the result. I think his wife Mary gets the control over the estate. Or his daughter. Either way they will most likely sell the franchise to the highest bidder . The NFL will monitor it ofcourse but I like the fact that Goodell being from the area knows what the team means to this region. Which is a huge factor in anything the goes down after Ralph passed to the big football stadium in the sky. The NFL will do a lot more than monitor this. Ralph has contractually agreed that this asset will not simply be sold to the highest bidder but that teams will only be sold to potential owners who are judged qualified by a vote of 75% of team owners. Think about it for a second people. Let's say Ralph was alive and decided to sell his team to the highest bidder. The highest bidder turned out to be a fellow named Osana Bin Laden. Do you think that Ralph could sell to the highest bidder? No. Lets say that the highest bidder is not someone obviously reprehensible to all like bin Laden, but is only reprehensible to some lets say someone named Rush Limbaugh. Could Ralph simply sell to the highest bidder? No. Lets say Ralph is dead and he either orders from the grave or fails to do some fairly elementary things to organize his estate that the team goes to the highest bidder. No. The reason for this is that what is good for Ralph (getting the highest bid he can) and what is good for the NFL are not the same thing (making sure all new owners do not hurt the product in any substantial way (such as pissing off the true majority owner of the BFL- the players who were able to force the owners to let them have 60.5 of the total receipts without any designated receipt carve out for the team owners. The practical expression of this is that Mr. Ralph has contractually agreed that the team he alone owns, but profits through his close collaboration with his partners (his fellow owners, the recipients of a majority of the total receipts, the players, and the folks who really rule the roost because they provide the big bucks the TV networks will only be sold to the entity that gains 75% of the votes of fellow owners. The notion that the Bills MUST be sold to the highest bidder is a fantasy flat out. My guess who buys the team if Mr. Ralph drops dead is that if there is any controversy it will be the NFL as an entity which buys the team and then sells it at its leisure (and with enormous profit) to whomever it chooses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 The NFL will do a lot more than monitor this. Ralph has contractually agreed that this asset will not simply be sold to the highest bidder but that teams will only be sold to potential owners who are judged qualified by a vote of 75% of team owners. But...Ralph has it in his will that the team will be sold to the highest bidder. Jerry Sullivan said so! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 The NFL will do a lot more than monitor this. Ralph has contractually agreed that this asset will not simply be sold to the highest bidder but that teams will only be sold to potential owners who are judged qualified by a vote of 75% of team owners. Think about it for a second people. Let's say Ralph was alive and decided to sell his team to the highest bidder. The highest bidder turned out to be a fellow named Osana Bin Laden. Do you think that Ralph could sell to the highest bidder? No. Lets say that the highest bidder is not someone obviously reprehensible to all like bin Laden, but is only reprehensible to some lets say someone named Rush Limbaugh. Could Ralph simply sell to the highest bidder? No. Lets say Ralph is dead and he either orders from the grave or fails to do some fairly elementary things to organize his estate that the team goes to the highest bidder. No. The reason for this is that what is good for Ralph (getting the highest bid he can) and what is good for the NFL are not the same thing (making sure all new owners do not hurt the product in any substantial way (such as pissing off the true majority owner of the BFL- the players who were able to force the owners to let them have 60.5 of the total receipts without any designated receipt carve out for the team owners. The practical expression of this is that Mr. Ralph has contractually agreed that the team he alone owns, but profits through his close collaboration with his partners (his fellow owners, the recipients of a majority of the total receipts, the players, and the folks who really rule the roost because they provide the big bucks the TV networks will only be sold to the entity that gains 75% of the votes of fellow owners. The notion that the Bills MUST be sold to the highest bidder is a fantasy flat out. My guess who buys the team if Mr. Ralph drops dead is that if there is any controversy it will be the NFL as an entity which buys the team and then sells it at its leisure (and with enormous profit) to whomever it chooses. This is true for the sale of any team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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