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Peter King on Toronto Series

robertpaul49

By robertpaul49
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robertpaul49

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Is it just me or does Peter King's idea of the leagues idea of mixed feelings are that mixed:

 

 

When I've talked to owners and league officials about the Buffalo-Toronto thing, I sense there are three ways of thinking. One: When the team is owned by someone other than Ralph Wilson, the bottom-line people hope the team is moved to where it'll make more money. Two: Traditionalists hope the team can always have a footing in Buffalo, perhaps in the 5-3 split between Buffalo games and Toronto games. Three: Some owners would love to see an NFL franchise in Toronto. So my real sense is that the league has a lot of mixed feelings about what to do in Buffalo long-term.

 

1. Move the team.

2. Move the team partly to Toronto.

3. Move the team completely to Toronto.

 

MONDAY MORNING QB - TUESDAY

 

I think the owners would make the same mistake as baseball. Florida is growing, we should have teams there, even if no-one shows up or roots for the teams. Houston, Jacksonville, Carolina, etc. They stink.

 

The Bills need to win to get people excited about the team so they can't move the team like they couldn't move the Browns.

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ieatcrayonz All Pro

ieatcrayonz

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Posted

Is it just me or does Peter King's idea of the leagues idea of mixed feelings are that mixed:

 

 

 

 

1. Move the team.

2. Move the team partly to Toronto.

3. Move the team completely to Toronto.

 

MONDAY MORNING QB - TUESDAY

 

I think the owners would make the same mistake as baseball. Florida is growing, we should have teams there, even if no-one shows up or roots for the teams. Houston, Jacksonville, Carolina, etc. They stink.

 

The Bills need to win to get people excited about the team so they can't move the team like they couldn't move the Browns.

The well documented fact that Peter King is a complete blowhard gives me comfort.

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Zulu Cthulhu Veteran

Zulu Cthulhu

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My thinking on PK's thinking about attempting to think (and usually failing) is this: GM's, coaches, players all over the league are seriously regretting giving PK their phone numbers.

 

I can just picture them looking at their caller IDs, sighing out loud, answering, and then telling King something, anything to make him go away.

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nucci Hall of Famer

nucci

Posted
Posted

Is it just me or does Peter King's idea of the leagues idea of mixed feelings are that mixed:

 

 

 

 

1. Move the team.

2. Move the team partly to Toronto.

3. Move the team completely to Toronto.

 

MONDAY MORNING QB - TUESDAY

 

I think the owners would make the same mistake as baseball. Florida is growing, we should have teams there, even if no-one shows up or roots for the teams. Houston, Jacksonville, Carolina, etc. They stink.

 

The Bills need to win to get people excited about the team so they can't move the team like they couldn't move the Browns.

The Browns did move and people here will always be excited about the Bills. None of it means a damn thing regarding whether they stay or leave.

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Geno Smith's Arm Veteran

Geno Smith's Arm

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I believe that most of the owners would like to maximize the profits from every team, but aside from LA or Toronto, where would they move the team? San Antonio? There is no good reason to move from a firmly established fan base.

This doesn't mean that I don't think that a new owner won't THINK they can be more successful somewhere else, just that they won't be.

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ICanSleepWhenI'mDead Veteran

ICanSleepWhenI'mDead

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The well documented fact that Peter King is a complete blowhard gives me comfort.

And the well-documented fact that Ralph has repeatedly complained to the other NFL owners about how difficult it is for him to make money in small market Buffalo makes me uncomfortable. Unless Ralph leaves the team to a family member (which he has said he will not do), the NFL Constitution & Bylaws give the other 31 NFL owners the right to decide who the next owner of the team will be. My concern is that Ralph has "poisoned the well."

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-ownersrankingspartone072208

 

A few months shy of his 90th birthday, Wilson should be in a celebratory mood. Largely because of his bitching, moaning and general grumpiness, Wilson was essentially handed the keys to a monster market, in the form of a deal to play eight games in Toronto over the next five years – one which guarantees his franchise $78 million. “We’ll see if the guy stops whining and complaining now,” one owner says. “Toronto, if you put it in the U.S., would be the fourth-largest city. If Jerry Jones staked a claim to Mexico City, or Robert Kraft did it with Montreal, or Paul Allen wanted to play one game a year in Vancouver, we’d never approve it. Ralph was given a special accommodation because we’re sick of hearing him cry about being in a small market.”

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-silver_al_davis_raiders_relocation_la_stadium101011

 

The Bills will likely be sold upon the passing of 92-year-old owner Ralph Wilson, but numerous owners prefer that a buyer would choose to relocate the franchise to nearby Toronto, the fourth-largest market in North America. A move to L.A. is viewed as a secondary option.

 

Everybody got all warm and fuzzy when Roger Goodell was in town for the Eagles game and told the press something to the effect that he would do everything in his power to ensure that the Bills remained in WNY. Problem is, nobody followed up to ask him exactly what that might be.

 

Goodell's office investigates potential ownership groups and makes recommendations to the team owners about whether to accept or reject change of ownership deals - - but Goodell doesn't have a vote - - only the owners do.

 

Besides, part of Goodell's job is to tell fans what they want to hear, so they feel good about the NFL in general and their favorite team in particular.

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Nanker Hall of Famer

Nanker

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Right. The Tore-on-Tow crowd embraces The Bills about as much as that silly B word in the endzone embraced Chandler in his endzone leap after his second TD last Sunday. "Oooooohh! I wasn't expecting THIS! Did you see what he did? I almost spilled my drinky! He about jumped into my lap!"

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RJ (not THAT RJ) Veteran

RJ (not THAT RJ)

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Is it just me or does Peter King's idea of the leagues idea of mixed feelings are that mixed:

 

 

 

 

1. Move the team.

2. Move the team partly to Toronto.

3. Move the team completely to Toronto.

 

MONDAY MORNING QB - TUESDAY

 

I think the owners would make the same mistake as baseball. Florida is growing, we should have teams there, even if no-one shows up or roots for the teams. Houston, Jacksonville, Carolina, etc. They stink.

 

The Bills need to win to get people excited about the team so they can't move the team like they couldn't move the Browns.

 

I have no idea whether the Bills will move, but I do think PK is honestly reflecting the opinions of people in the NFL. It is hard to find anyone in a position of authority within the League who believes that the Bills will stay in Buffalo and play all their home games at the Ralph indefinitely. We may or may not like that, but that is how things are right now.

 

The bolded part here caught my eye because it reflects a persistent historical misperception around here. When Art Modell announced the Browns were moving during the 1995 season, Cleveland was not struggling at all. The team was coming off one of its most successful seasons in recent memory, having reached the playoffs in 1994, and started well in 1995. (Bills fans should remember the hard-fought MNF game early that season, where the Bills came back to win on the strength of a Kelly-to-Reed bomb.) Once the move was announced, and sponsors withdrew ads from the stadium almost as fast as ticket holders decided to stay away, the team unsurprisingly tanked. But the decision to move had nothing to do with either the quality of the team at the time or the level of fan support. It came down to a stadium issue, and also Art Modell's own financial problems. Two types of issues that are almost certain to arise with the post-Ralph Bills.

 

[Connecting the two points, I am afraid that there is less than zero chance that the NFL would do for Buffalo what it did for Cleveland—move the franchise, but agree to a future team. If the Bills leave, the NFL is as gone from Buffalo as it is gone from Canton and Rochester.]

 

I know, I depress myself, too.

Edited by RJ (not THAT RJ)
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OCinBuffalo All Pro

OCinBuffalo

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Perhaps it will be helpful to keep a few things in mind:

 

We are nearing the beginning of a what I think will be a long, arduous process of transferring the ownership of a massive asset. There are a probably close to 100 major players that will have some real skin in this game, and they will have 100 different agendas. Any of them will be able to say whatever they want to the media whenever they want, and the media will lap it up and hype it because it sells.

 

So, here's some unsolicited advice:

1. Do not believe anything you read that isn't directly quoted and attributed to a name. Anonymous sources, i.e. the "some owners" in King's comments :rolleyes:, can and will say anything. There is no accountability for them, or the idiot media person that quotes them....

2. Of the stuff that is quoted, ask yourself: yeah, but what does this mean for the person being quoted? In this case, what do the "some owners" have to gain? How do we know these "some owners" aren't in our division, and are now scared schitless of this new team? How many of these "some owners" want to play in Buffalo in December, or even September? Or worse, how many want to play here in January? They know their now overly corporate home crowd will NEVER be as intimidating as our overly dirtbag crowd. :devil: (largely benevolent dirtbags, mind you) We have the advantage, and they know it. They have over-extended themselves(ahem, Jerry Jones) and they can't stand to have a real NFL city like Buffalo make them face the fact that the crowds they chose to create in their stadiums are now 100% superficial, and therefore will turn on them quickly. Look what's happening in Miami, and, what would happen to the Pats if they went 4-12 next year?

3. Anything that seems like an exaggeration, probably is. In fact, it's probably good to throw out 50% of whatever assertions are made.

 

People will flat out lie to you regarding this deal. It's too big, and there's too much at stake, for that not to happen. The media will be willing accomplices in these lies.

 

In business, when you are working at the elite level, it's common to hear, "hey this is the NFL". The context and meaning of that usually boils down to "don't be a crybaby, suck it up and keep playing, you are going to get hit, the only thing that matters is what you do after". Well? This IS the NFL. Do not let your emotions rule you. These people have already determined that you are stupid. It's on you to prove that you aren't.

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billsfan89 All Pro

billsfan89

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I don't understand what makes Buffalo undesirable? The fans support the team through thick and thin? The Bills have almost 50 years of history in the NFL does that mean nothing?

 

Is the NFL looking to root out the Packers because Green Bay isn't the biggest market? I am sorry but if Erie County can do a good deal with renovating the Ralph I don't see why not the Bills couldn't stay in Buffalo long term? The NFL should realize the importance of the Bills to the area and the NFL's history.

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hondo in seattle All Pro

hondo in seattle

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In 1900, Buffalo was something like the 10th biggest city in the US. By 2000, we had become something like the 40th biggest metro area in the country. That demographic trajectory will be scary to anyone investing close to a billion dollars for a NFL franchise. There are only 32 teams, you'd expect them to be in the top 32 biggest markets. Buffalo has fallen out of the top 32 and will only fall further in the future.

 

So regionalization is the only hope. I'm all for a game per year in TO and hopefully our Canadian friends will warm up to the Bills.

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NoSaint Hall of Famer

NoSaint

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I don't understand what makes Buffalo undesirable? The fans support the team through thick and thin? The Bills have almost 50 years of history in the NFL does that mean nothing?

 

Is the NFL looking to root out the Packers because Green Bay isn't the biggest market? I am sorry but if Erie County can do a good deal with renovating the Ralph I don't see why not the Bills couldn't stay in Buffalo long term? The NFL should realize the importance of the Bills to the area and the NFL's history.

 

 

Hmmm it's not just market size in people but also dollars. I will also point towards green bays unique ownership situation for a reason they will be hard to move despite market size.

 

I'm not saying it's right but it's the discussion.

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Arkady Renko Veteran

Arkady Renko

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In 1900, Buffalo was something like the 10th biggest city in the US. By 2000, we had become something like the 40th biggest metro area in the country. That demographic trajectory will be scary to anyone investing close to a billion dollars for a NFL franchise. There are only 32 teams, you'd expect them to be in the top 32 biggest markets. Buffalo has fallen out of the top 32 and will only fall further in the future.

 

So regionalization is the only hope. I'm all for a game per year in TO and hopefully our Canadian friends will warm up to the Bills.

 

In that case, then Charlotte, Indianapolis and Jacksonville should be at risk of losing their NFL teams as well. Hello Orlando, San Antonio and San Bernardino! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_States_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas

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Sisyphean Bills All Pro

Sisyphean Bills

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I think the owners would make the same mistake as baseball. Florida is growing, we should have teams there, even if no-one shows up or roots for the teams. Houston, Jacksonville, Carolina, etc. They stink.

You realize that Houston and Charlotte are not located in Florida, right? And why would anyone think football has no market in Texas?

The Bills need to win to get people excited about the team so they can't move the team like they couldn't move the Browns.

All those Lombardi trophies the Browns have won since the merger made all the difference, for sure. :ph34r:

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