If the Toronto group buys the Bills, will you still support the team?

[ET1062]

This picture alone should be enough for the NFL owners not to approve a sale of the Bills to Bon Jon.

 

Edited July 19, 2014 by ET1062

[Dragonborn10]

I would stop being a fan the moment they were sold to any group not intent on keeping the team in Buffalo. The Seattle Super Sonics were sold to a guy rom Oklahoma City. It was just a matter of time before the team moved. If the Bills are not sold to a local I am done. I haven't lived in Buffalo since 1988. I probably would not even watch the NFL except I have two boys that enjoy watching the Seahawks. I would rather golf or play in my shop than watch most non Bills NFL games.

[HopefulFuture]

I have little doubt the Toronto Group wants the team in Toronto eventually.

 

If they purchase the team, I would immediately stop any support of it.

[Buftex]

I'd like to think that I would bail right away.... but the Bills of Buffalo have been too big a part of my life, for too long... I think I would root for them right up to their final minutes as the Buffalo Bills...just couldn't pull for them as a Canadian team. Of course I say that, not knowing if they will be any good in 2020. I don't forsee cheering for them in Toronto, in fact, if I still give a proverbial !@#$ about the NFL at that point, I would likely hate them more than any other team in the NFL. As I have gotten older, I have gotten leery of the way the NFL treats its' fans in general, this would likely only crystallize my already negative feelings about the league. If I were to pick another team, it would likely be the Browns, Bengals, Chiefs or Broncos. Been a detached Broncos fan since the Craig Morton era, the Chiefs kinda remind me of the Bills for some reason.....but I feel a strong kinship with Cleveland and Cincinnati.

 

I have only my experience, at 13, of losing the Buffalo Braves, to compare. The Braves were my favorite team in all of sports. I was crushed... devastated. I tried, halfheartedly perhaps, to root for the Clippers in San Diego.... not easy to do in Buffalo in 1979. I just didn't care though.... I started rooting for the previously despised Celtics... the only team you could really follow closely, in a non-NBA city on the east coast at that time. Basketball was my game as a lad....favorite game to play, and the only one I personally had a modicum of personal success with... I had to have a team to pull for.....at nearly 50, as much as I love the Bills and as much as I enjoy football, I don't feel as personally connected to the actual game, only the Bills.

 

I'm also one of those curmudgeons who thinks the NFL is dangerously close to suffering from over-saturation (do we really need 16 weeks of Thursday night football?).... and I don't think it as good a game as it once was....

[Buffalo Barbarian]

those clowns wont buy the team but if they do I'm out.

[Bad Things]

The entire NFL would be totally dead to me.

 

(I moved away from upstate NY in '91 and have been living in New Zealand for almost a decade now. The Bills are one of the only things that I have left that link me with NY.)

[BuffaloBob]

Nope. The Bills and the NFL would be immediately dead to me. I wouldn't watch another NFL game as long as I live.

 

Nope. The Bills and the NFL would be immediately dead to me. I wouldn't watch another NFL game as long as I live.

[KGUNBILLS]

If they aren't the BUFFALO Bills, they don't mean sh*t to me

[8-8 Forever?]

I know how I think I would feel, but until you're actually in that situation it is difficult to know for sure. Plus, over the course of a few years it's very likely a lot of fans' feelings will evolve. And a lot depends on how good they are. If a Toronto owner wins the bid they are undoubtedly going to say they are staying in Western NY. Some will believe them and many won't. They will look into a stadium and there will be all kinds of reports that make us (or some believe they have every intention of staying).

 

If the Bills are in a playoff hunt, the fans will want to believe what they want to believe and I'm pretty sure the city will go nuts over them, especially at first. If the team stinks, it's going to be impossible to fill those November and December home games. The real issue will be 2-3 years from when they bought it. That's when fans IMO will begin to stay away in droves because the Toronto owners have only paid lip service to building a new stadium.

 

Then, if the team is bad, it will become an enormous embarrassment to the NFL. The league is obsessed with its image. That is why there is very little chance, IMO, that they even consider the Toronto group. What I truly believe is that behind the scenes they, and everyone else, will be saying the Toronto bid and group is very real. But the purpose will be simply to drive the price up so NFL franchises are all worth 50-200 million more.

 

That, to me, is the only reason they are telling the Toronto people they have a legitimate chance. And it's going to work. They are going to bid about 1.2b and that is going to make Pegula match it, which I am confident he will. That way, the NFL gets what it wants: Its image intact, and its franchises worth more than ever after a team that is valued at 870m is sold for 1.2b. Each of the owners will make about 100m overnight just for lying.

Makes sense only if Pegula is willing to give the largest hometown discount in the history of professional sports; both overpay for a WNY team by at least 25% AND build a stadium that won't pay off in his lifetime . Hope he , or a group he puts together to share the financial pain, does it, but it won't be done for business reasons -- its a gift . Which is fine with me. But don't expect much of a team, as they will be run like a corner store from a financial standpoint with the owners having blown all their football dough on a overpaying for the team and building an L.A. scale stadium with no tailgating in WNY. And ticket prices will double at least and PSLs will be introduced. The grounds of the CNE still looking as bad to you?? Things will never be the same. That much is for sure.

[Buffaloed in Pa]

How many times ?

[HopefulFuture]

Makes sense only if Pegula is willing to give the largest hometown discount in the history of professional sports; both overpay for a WNY team by at least 25% AND build a stadium that won't pay off in his lifetime . Hope he , or a group he puts together to share the financial pain, does it, but it won't be done for business reasons -- its a gift . Which is fine with me. But don't expect much of a team, as they will be run like a corner store from a financial standpoint with the owners having blown all their football dough on a overpaying for the team and building an L.A. scale stadium with no tailgating in WNY. And ticket prices will double at least and PSLs will be introduced. The grounds of the CNE still looking as bad to you?? Things will never be the same. That much is for sure.

 

Where to begin?

Let's start with a Stadium. First off, the Stadium will be owned and operated by the county or state, that much is certain. Therefore, the ROI on a stadium rests largely with the tax base that pays, not the individual, because the individual or private shell company that is established can write off the Stadium expenditures. That is huge for investors playing in that kind of money.

Second, every cost is going up, not just tickets and PSL's. Have you noticed inflation creeping in? Any increase won't be as hard an impact as you imply here.

Third and last, tailgating may or may not be considered with a new stadium, it's an unknown at this time.

[ALF]

When the Braves left , I lost interest in the NBA , would be same now.

[YellowLinesandArmadillos]

Bon Jovi and his hair still sucks and and he and the Bills will be dead to me if he buys the team and moves them.

[NewEra]

It's hard to say at the moment. There's a chance I'd hold out hope that they'd leave the Bills in buffalo after 2020 and root for them until they move. There's also a chance I'd never watch a down of the NfL again in my lifetime. Ever

[Ted William's frozen head]

Bon Jovi and his hair still sucks and and he and the Bills will be dead to me if he buys the team and moves them.

 

 

I have a twinge of admiration for Bon Jovi.

He parlayed a lot of REALLY BAD music into a pretty impressive personal fortune.

[Tyrod's Tailor]

I will support this ownership group when they break ground on a new stadium in NYS.

[Ted William's frozen head]

Toronto Bills doesn't make sense as a name. They would have to rename the team.

 

Toronto Mullets

[BUNCH OF MULARKEY]

If Bon Jovi and his band of Canadian scumbags are announced as winning the bid, say next month, it's gonna be a really weird season.

Do I stop all Bills following immediately? No more interviews. No more press conferences. No more murph and kelso on golden autumn mornings?

Or do I follow em through the lame duck period. Geesh

[machine gun kelly]

when they leave western Ny , NFL Football will lose all meaning to me because i will have a broken heart.

But i will find something else to be passionate about.

Like croquet . Or knitting . Or train spotting

 

shoot me now.

 

I have suffered in my life but...

 

I am not a strong enough man to have my Buffalo Bills taken away.

 

edit i had to wipe some of the tears off my post. and add an el to the word will . i was very upset .

 

who tf comes up with such horrid thoughts to be considering anyways ?

 

what he said.

 

You brought a tear to my eye reading your post as I couldn't agree more. It's just too painful to think about.

 

God save us amd Mr. Pegula.

[bigK14094]

My opinion for what its worth.....if the Canadian group buys the Bills, the lease will still be in place. But, the fan base in Buffalo will not...and attendance will drop in the following couple of years to the point where they are hemmoraging money.....and it will pay them to buy out the lease early. I am guessing , then, that Erie county might very well get a big windfall of cash from the buyout...earlier than some suspect. I, for one, with my four season tickets, will likely not support the team if an owner with relocation intentions buys the team. Of course, the smart big money will not admit they have that intention, but the Toronto buyers cannot hide in that myth...we know they would move it sooner or later. Galisano, Pagula...they would leave it long term, I think, the guy from LA, Trump...well, they say they will leave it in Buffalo, but who knows...conditions change in business. As for the new stadium red herring.....I think the Notre Dame like solution might work...that is a bubble roof over an existing stadium....(the Ralph) Its all about the money, not "new"...ticket prices will rise. One more item in this rant......those wanting a new facility downtown near the water are trying urban renewal on a hobby basis. 10 dates a year does not make a new downtown. And, the baggage of poor transportation will turn away as many as the other attractions downtown might draw. I, for one, with my four season tickets go for the football, not for adjacent resturants and a view of the lake......and traffic near the Orchard Park stadium is bad enough with 360 degrees of egress. Cut that to 180 degrees of egress roads, and you can imagine the traffic mess that would ensue. Rant over....