Is Binghamton Bills country?

[Gray Beard]

For a few years the Jets had training camp in Cortland, which isn’t far from Binghamton. They probably knew there was a fan base to draw from.

 

Bandwagoners are everywhere, thus the Pats stuff.

 

As a Utica area person, I can attest to the fact that much of the fan base here is split between Giants and Bills. I imagine in Binghamton the draw of the New York City teams is stronger.

 

Also, the college crowd in Binghamton has a large New York City area contingent. 

[ExiledInIllinois]

1 hour ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

Binghamton is not Bills territory. Not even close.

There is certain "Degenerate" in Horseheads that would disagree... "Not even close?"

 

Give him hell (or are You an outlier):

@Degenerate Mike in HHDS

Edited September 22, 2018 by ExiledInIllinois

[Wayne Arnold]

Just now, ExiledInIllinois said:

There is certain "Degenerate" in Horseheads that would disagree... "Not even close?"

 

Give him hell (or are You an outlier):

@Degenerate Mike in HHDS

 

Last I checked, Binghamton and Horseheads are not the same. Did they recently expand the city of Binghamton to include all of the land 60 miles west of it?

[Bills Fan of St Augustine]

1 hour ago, FrenchConnection said:

That part of NYS tends to be an extension of NYC in its sports fandom. Met Life is closer by an hour and the Giants used to have their training camp in Albany. This map is a bit old, but it gives you an idea of the limited geographical reach of Bills Mafia.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/matadornetwork.com/read/mapped-where-to-find-fans-of-your-nfl-team-across-the-us/amp/

Unless this map is so old it pre-dates the Jets, this map is not very accurate. Jets are Long Island at least. Eagles space too small. Bills goes a little further and definitely goes into Canada so it is misleading. GB and the Bears are about 50/50 along the Wisconsin/Illinois border. I bet there are other issues too. 

12 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

There is certain "Degenerate" in Horseheads that would disagree... "Not even close?"

 

Give him hell (or are You an outlier):

@Degenerate Mike in HHDS

I think it may be time to rename Horseheads anyway. The name is quite insensitive. Horses the world over are offended. 

[Playoffs?]

It’s as simple as this. Binghamton is a few hours away from a number of different NFL teams.  Why would they choose a regular loser?

[ExiledInIllinois]

2 minutes ago, Playoffs? said:

It’s as simple as this. Binghamton is a few hours away from a number of different NFL teams.  Why would they choose a regular loser?

Erie, PA is on line one calling! 

16 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

Last I checked, Binghamton and Horseheads are not the same. Did they recently expand the city of Binghamton to include all of the land 60 miles west of it?

You said: "Not even close."

 

60 miles is close.

 

So yes... Binghamton is close to Bills Country, if not already in it.

[Wayne Arnold]

Just now, ExiledInIllinois said:

Erie, PA is on line one calling! 

You said: "Not even close."

 

60 miles is close.

 

So yes... Binghamton is close to Bills Country, if not already in it.

 

Solid addition to the conversation. Keep up the great work.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

14 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

Last I checked, Binghamton and Horseheads are not the same. Did they recently expand the city of Binghamton to include all of the land 60 miles west of it?

..but without splitting geographic hairs, the I-90 East corridor to Albany as well as the I-81 South corridor to Binghamton(or even I-81 north to Watertown), including neighboring Elmira, Cortland, Horseheads, etc are all somewhat Bills country generically....so stop nitpicking.....more importantly and relative to the St John Fisher camp. why would you alienate that contingent by adding at least 1.5 hours to their travel time by eliminating the Rochester based camp?.....Pegula owns the AHL Rochester Americans and just took over managing their arena....he also now owns the Rochester based lacrosse franchise.....why invest further in the Rochester sports community if you'll pull the plug on Fisher camp, alienating your Rochester fan base as well as adding travel time to the aforementioned fan base?...make any sense??..............

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

1 hour ago, Degenerate Mike in HHDS said:

Young pup! LOL. 1978 grad of Elmira ND. Yes there are a lot of Giants fans what you seldom see is any Jets fans

 

78! Mike I had no idea you were that elderly 

[145B4IDIE]

say hello to Degenerate Mike if you find yourself behind the Arnot Mall

[Mike in Horseheads]

1 minute ago, 145B4IDIE said:

say hello to Degenerate Mike if you find yourself behind the Arnot Mall

LOL,,,I live about a mile or so from there

[Wayne Arnold]

Just now, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

..but without splitting geographic hairs, the I-90 East corridor to Albany as well as the I-81 South corridor to Binghamton(or even I-81 north to Watertown), including neighboring Elmira, Cortland, Horseheads, etc are all somewhat Bills country generically....so stop nitpicking.....more importantly and relative to the St John Fisher camp. why would you alienate that contingent by adding at least 1.5 hours to their travel time by eliminating the Rochester based camp?.....Pegula owns the AHL Rochester Americans and just took over managing their arena....he also now owns the Rochester based lacrosse franchise.....why invest further in the Rochester sports community if you'll pull the plug on Fisher camp, alienating your Rochester fan base as well as adding travel time to the aforementioned fan base?...make any sense??..............

 

"Bills Country" goes from Buffalo to Rochester. You can also include the Ontario region of Canada if you want. That's where "Bills Country" ends.

 

If you walked into a Binghamton - or, hell even Syracuse - sports bar and said "Turn on the Bills game - I'm in Bills country" people would literally laugh in your face until you walked out in shame.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

3 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

"Bills Country" goes from Buffalo to Rochester. You can also include the Ontario region of Canada if you want. That's where "Bills Country" ends.

 

If you walked into a Binghamton - or, hell even Syracuse - sports bar and said "Turn on the Bills game - I'm in Bills country" people would literally laugh in your face until you walked out in shame.

 

...tell that to Shaw66 who commutes to home games from Connecticut......broaden your perceived fan horizon......I'd bet there are others as well..............

[Wayne Arnold]

Just now, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

 

...tell that to Shaw66 who commutes to home games from Connecticut......broaden your perceived fan horizon......I'd bet there are others as well..............

 

What the hell does that have to do with anything? Good Lord. 

 

My brother lives in Los Angeles. He's a Bills fan. By your logic, that means Los Angeles is Bills country.

[ComradeKayAdams]

If the Bills weren't such an historically inept franchise - punctuated by the 17-year playoff drought that killed an entire generation of potential fans - then I'd say that "Bills territory" would probably encompass all of New York state north and west of Putnam and Rockland Counties.

[RochesterRob]

23 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

"Bills Country" goes from Buffalo to Rochester. You can also include the Ontario region of Canada if you want. That's where "Bills Country" ends.

 

If you walked into a Binghamton - or, hell even Syracuse - sports bar and said "Turn on the Bills game - I'm in Bills country" people would literally laugh in your face until you walked out in shame.

  There are Bills sports bars in Syracuse.  

[Wayne Arnold]

Just now, RochesterRob said:

  There are Bills sports bars in Syracuse.  

 

There are also Bills sports bars in San Diego and San Francisco. And probably in other countries as well.

[RochesterRob]

19 minutes ago, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

 

...tell that to Shaw66 who commutes to home games from Connecticut......broaden your perceived fan horizon......I'd bet there are others as well..............

  The Bills have quite a number of fans along I-81.  Second only to the Giants.  If Eli had not won two SB along with SU alum Tom Coughlin there would be considerably fewer Giants fans.  A lot of the Giants fanbase was built up before the AFL came into existence.  Back in the day you went along with whomever dad and grandpa were rooting for but that is not so anymore.  The appeal of going to a game is big with a number of people and it is far easier for Joe Fan from Syracuse to obtain a ticket and drive to Orchard Park than it is to Jersey.

[Augie]

2 hours ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

Binghamton is not Bills territory. Not even close.

 

But at least it’s in the state of New York, unlike the Jets and Giants. (I just have to throw that in whenever I can.) 

[RochesterRob]

Just now, Wayne Arnold said:

 

There are also Bills sports bars in San Diego and San Francisco. And probably in other countries as well.

  Yeah, but more than just a couple like there would be for SF and SD.

2 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

But at least it’s in the state of New York, unlike the Jets and Giants. (I just have to throw that in whenever I can.) 

  It's Giants territory with the Bills and Jets running even seconds.  And like anyplace else you are going to have GB, Steelers, and the hot team (NE) fans.  The hot team fans in those towns are dirt cheap so they use their old SF and Cowpie jerseys to dust the house with along with wiping down the dog after the dog's bath.  In a few years the Brady number 12's will line the bottom of the doghouse.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

28 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

What the hell does that have to do with anything? Good Lord. 

 

My brother lives in Los Angeles. He's a Bills fan. By your logic, that means Los Angeles is Bills country.

 

..have your dog take you for a walk...thought perhaps your high horse attitude had changed...guess I effed up........

7 minutes ago, RochesterRob said:

  The Bills have quite a number of fans along I-81.  Second only to the Giants.  If Eli had not won two SB along with SU alum Tom Coughlin there would be considerably fewer Giants fans.  A lot of the Giants fanbase was built up before the AFL came into existence.  Back in the day you went along with whomever dad and grandpa were rooting for but that is not so anymore.  The appeal of going to a game is big with a number of people and it is far easier for Joe Fan from Syracuse to obtain a ticket and drive to Orchard Park than it is to Jersey.

 

 

..great analysis......geography does not preclude fans from outside that territory from being rabid supporters elsewhere...nice job bud....

[RochesterRob]

8 minutes ago, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

 

..have your dog take you for a walk...thought perhaps your high horse attitude had changed...guess I effed up........

 

 

..great analysis......geography does not preclude fans from outside that territory from being rabid supporters elsewhere...nice job bud....

  The Bills have a number of fans outside the traditional boundaries of WNY which is a major reason why the NFL signed off on approving the Pegula's as the Bills' owners.  The NFL is also trusting that the Pegula's will go the next step in marketing from what Ralph did which is to draw big spending fans from further away.  No way would the NFL approve an owner that only intended to market the Bills to the extreme west end of New York State and no further.

[PearlHowardman]

52 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

If you walked into a Binghamton - or, hell even Syracuse - sports bar and said "Turn on the Bills game - I'm in Bills country" people would literally laugh in your face until you walked out in shame.

 

Wayne- How does SU Orange sports do down in Binghamton?  I live in Syracuse, and football fans here are primarily SU Orange/college football fans first, then comes the NFL.

 

Most NFL fans here in Syracuse follow the Buffalo Bills.  It's not uncommon to find Bills fans from Syracuse, at Bills home games.  Metlife is way too far for any Giants fan to travel to from Syracuse.   

[Beast]

It’s Giants territory followed by the Bills.

 

 

1 hour ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

"Bills Country" goes from Buffalo to Rochester. You can also include the Ontario region of Canada if you want. That's where "Bills Country" ends.

 

If you walked into a Binghamton - or, hell even Syracuse - sports bar and said "Turn on the Bills game - I'm in Bills country" people would literally laugh in your face until you walked out in shame.

 

Except that isn’t true.

 

 

[PearlHowardman]

..come to think of it, there's a lot of Buffalo Bills fans from here in Syracuse, NY who attend Bills home games.  Probably the best Buffalo Bills reporter is Matthew Fairburn  who used to work for Syracuse.com.

[Tsaikotic]

I was born in Binghamton, parents are from Greene and Harpursville, we moved up into Rochester area when I was around 5 ... most of my family lives in the Binghamton area ... some of my family were Bills fans but not die-hard fans ... Syracuse used to be the line where Bills country kinda faded off ...didn't help the jets used to hold training camp in Cortland, which is not far south of Syracuse (so between Syracuse and Binghamton )

[Happy]

1 hour ago, BiffFromTonawanda said:

If the Bills weren't such an historically inept franchise - punctuated by the 17-year playoff drought that killed an entire generation of potential fans - then I'd say that "Bills territory" would probably encompass all of New York state north and west of Putnam and Rockland Counties.

 

If the Bills were a winning franchise, areas further east from even Binghamton might see more Bills fans as well as be Bills Country.  I've run into people from Albany and further north who are Patriots fans.  Seriously, you're from upstate NY and you're a Pats* fan!?  Sad.  Winning will fix this, but they have to start winning for younger people to be Bills fans.

[RochesterRob]

9 minutes ago, Happy Gilmore said:

 

If the Bills were a winning franchise, areas further east from even Binghamton might see more Bills fans as well as be Bills Country.  I've run into people from Albany and further north who are Patriots fans.  Seriously, you're from upstate NY and you're a Pats* fan!?  Sad.  Winning will fix this, but they have to start winning for younger people to be Bills fans.

When the Pats start losing again those Albany Pats fans will be no place to be found.  

[PearlHowardman]

9 minutes ago, Happy Gilmore said:

 I've run into people from Albany and further north who are Patriots fans.

 

Albany is about 20 miles west of New England.  Buffalo is about 300 miles west of Albany.  I bet going to Patriot games in Foxboro is not a bad trip if you live in Albany.

[RochesterRob]

54 minutes ago, PearlHowardman said:

 

Wayne- How does SU Orange sports do down in Binghamton?  I live in Syracuse, and football fans here are primarily SU Orange/college football fans first, then comes the NFL.

 

Most NFL fans here in Syracuse follow the Buffalo Bills.  It's not uncommon to find Bills fans from Syracuse, at Bills home games.  Metlife is way too far for any Giants fan to travel to from Syracuse.   

  I'd say that at least 60 percent of the Syracuse area NFL fans have their allegiance with the Bills.

[PearlHowardman]

16 minutes ago, Happy Gilmore said:

If the Bills were a winning franchise, areas further east from even Binghamton might see more Bills fans as well as be Bills Country.  

 

This is probably the most sensible statement in this thread.

[Helpmenow]

It’s not 

[HamSandwhich]

I grew up in Binghamton (Johnson City), it'd more NYG or NYJ country. 

[Tierlifer]

I’ve lived here all my life (Johnson City) to be exact. It’s mainly Giants 60%  and I would say 20% Bills/Jets and the rest is all random. At least in my opinion anyhow. 

 

I see you went to our WingFest today.....thoughts?

 

 

Also...Thank you very much for not spelling it “Binghampton”!!!!! One of my biggest pet peeves lol

1 hour ago, Binghamton Beast said:

It’s Giants territory followed by the Bills.

 

 

 

Except that isn’t true.

 

 

It’s not even remotely true. I go out to watch games all the time and they are always on. In fact sometimes the Jets/Giants are on local affiliatea over Buffalo and there’s a huge uptick in Bills fans at local bars when that happens. 

Edited September 22, 2018 by Tierlifer

[Beast]

20 minutes ago, HamSandwhich said:

I grew up in Binghamton (Johnson City), it'd more NYG or NYJ country. 

 

There are very few Jets fans to Bills fans, and that includes when you add in SUNY Binghamton.

[DRA3196]

I live in WNY and the teams you mentioned have a much bigger following than Buffalo. From Rochester southeast to Bath and west from there to Jamestown is Bills country. But Many fans picked up other teams simply because they got tired of watching the Bills lose. It has been this way since the last SB loss to Dallas. It is great to see BillsBacker groups from all over posted on the board. Many of my friends are not Bills fans and don't understand how I can be  after the dismal losing seasons and the 4 SB losses. I have raised my son on the Bills, taking him to both preseason and regular season games. But his interest is on the individual players of the team and he has no emotional connection to the Bills. (Thanks Fantasy Football)

Edited September 22, 2018 by DRA3196

[HamSandwhich]

6 minutes ago, Binghamton Beast said:

 

There are very few Jets fans to Bills fans, and that includes when you add in SUNY Binghamton.

It's mostly NYG fans for sure.  

[BillsPride12]

33 minutes ago, DRA3196 said:

I live in WNY and the teams you mentioned have a much bigger following than Buffalo. From Rochester southeast to Bath and west from there to Jamestown is Bills country. But Many fans picked up other teams simply because they got tired of watching the Bills lose. It has been this way since the last SB loss to Dallas. It is great to see BillsBacker groups from all over posted on the board. Many of my friends are not Bills fans and don't understand how I can be  after the dismal losing seasons and the 4 SB losses. I have raised my son on the Bills, taking him to both preseason and regular season games. But his interest is on the individual players of the team and he has no emotional connection to the Bills. (Thanks Fantasy Football)

The same can be said for some WNYer's as sad as that is 

[TigerJ]

I'm in Bath, 2 hours to the west, and this area is a blend of Bills and Giants fans with others (especially Steelers fans) mixed in.  I'm guessing the further east you go the more Giants influence you will encounter.  

[BADOLBILZ]

5 hours ago, Happy Gilmore said:

 That and the Bills have been bad to mediocre for so long, they are not getting enough younger fans.

 

 

This is a problem.

 

The kids who grew up during the SB era and idolized the team started buying tickets about when Donahoe took over and are now reaching middle age.

 

Kids born since the MCM have had no reason to root for the Bills.........this makes a BIG difference the further you get from the stadium.

 

That drought ran nearly 3x as long as any previous run of futility in club history........it was truly horrendous and it will take a lot to get some of that territory back.