Bills announce training camp headed back to SJF

[Peevo]

1 minute ago, corta765 said:

 

Bud the GM & Coach only care about what is best for the team. You are only thinking of it from a fan perspective and honestly your perspective is really wrong considering how many fans like how close you can get to the team and the access provided that doesn't exist anymore. Sounds like you have had poor experiences in Pittsford, but for many families and kids especially you are not getting near the same experience in stadium as you do at SJF. 

 

And to repeat again the GM & Coach will do what they believe is in the best interest of the team cost be damned. If they feel this is what is best they will do so and Pegula has smartly let them and stayed the heck out of it.

 

Yeah, maybe for the kids IN ROCHESTER. Again, it's a small fraction of a fraction.

 

You can literally offer the exact same experience for more people in Orchard Park. And make more margin, due to far fewer operating expenses.

[corta765]

1 minute ago, Peevo said:

 

Yeah, maybe for the kids IN ROCHESTER. Again, it's a small fraction of a fraction.

 

You can literally offer the exact same experience for more people in Orchard Park. And make more margin, due to far fewer operating expenses.

Do you work for the Bills or something to be so considered with margin and expenses lol

 

The NFL prints money this is a drop in the bucket.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

1 minute ago, corta765 said:

 

In today's NFL where most teams do not do camp like that, access is very limited, and it is very corporate driven if not monetized also; BUF is one of the few remaining like PIT/GB where it is a far more relaxed old school feel. The NFL has very few things that are so open and free for fans like this. I expect at some point it will end because everything is monetized now by the NFL, but while it exists I am happy for fans and families that get a more unique experience then what exists at most of the NFL teams.

I went to Steelers camp when the bills did a joint practice there. It was marrone era, so this might be dated— but it was like a Fredonia feel. No corporate stuff, no tickets. You showed up if you wanted and moved around and sat on the grass and got to watch whatever you wanted. 
 

 

[corta765]

7 minutes ago, Wacka said:

Houghton Park on Cinton St. in Buffalo like one year in the 60s!

 

My dad once watched them at Sheridan park with like 100 people. The list of where training camp use to be is quite wild honestly.

[Peevo]

2 minutes ago, corta765 said:

Do you work for the Bills or something to be so considered with margin and expenses lol

 

The NFL prints money this is a drop in the bucket.

 

Not really, I'm just looking at the whole picture. It's this really significant undertaking for, in my opinion, little payoff. Training camp used to be "a thing".

 

It stretched into the 3rd or 4th week of preseason. 

 

This story is dated August 25th (!) 2004. https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2004/08/25/bills-rookie-qb-losman-breaks-leg/28437218007/

 

Training camp stretched into LATE AUGUST at one point. It's such a short thing now, what's the point?

 

That's all I'm saying. The suits at OBD should be asking "is the juice worth the squeeze" for 10 days in Pittsford?

[corta765]

1 minute ago, Peevo said:

 

Not really, I'm just looking at the whole picture. It's this really significant undertaking for, in my opinion, little payoff. Training camp used to be "a thing".

 

It stretched into the 3rd or 4th week of preseason. 

 

This story is dated August 25th (!) 2004. https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2004/08/25/bills-rookie-qb-losman-breaks-leg/28437218007/

 

Training camp stretched into LATE AUGUST at one point. It's such a short thing now, what's the point?

 

That's all I'm saying. The suits at OBD should be asking "is the juice worth the squeeze" for 10 days in Pittsford?

Literally last year McD on why they like going to camp:

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2024/7/25/24205694/buffalo-bills-head-coach-sean-mcdermott-talks-about-the-state-of-the-roster-not-a-rebuild

 

Stop repeating yourself I get it you think the $ should be looked at. The head coach and GM don't care and have their value of being at SJF right now.

Edited 19 hours ago by corta765

[The Wiz]

8 minutes ago, Peevo said:

 

Sure, that's why they named the buildings after him. That's the trade off. $ = naming rights. It's not that deep.

 

The "Jacobs School of Management" is named at UB for the Jacobs family. Do the Boston Bruins practice at the Pepsi Center?

Yes, it is why.  Same as the Wegmans School for Pharmacy.  It was well known for a long time that he was a big supporter of Fisher.

 

And I have no clue where the Bruins practice nor care for that matter.

[corta765]

3 minutes ago, The Wiz said:

Yes, it is why.  Same as the Wegmans School for Pharmacy.  It was well known for a long time that he was a big supporter of Fisher.

 

And I have no clue where the Bruins practice nor care for that matter.

Hopefully in a trash dump

[Peevo]

2 minutes ago, corta765 said:

Literally last year McD on why they like going to camp:

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2024/7/25/24205694/buffalo-bills-head-coach-sean-mcdermott-talks-about-the-state-of-the-roster-not-a-rebuild

 

Stop repeating yourself I get it you think the $ should be looked at. The head coach and GM don't care and have their value of being at SJF right now.

 

Okay? You asked my opinion, I gave it.

 

I get the coach finds value in it, that's fine. But the value is in the camaradie of going away to summer camp. Not SJF necessarily.

 

Couldn't you argue the EXACT same experience could be had at any public Rochester college with better infrastructure for fans? Like, I dunno, Brockport or something?

 

If that's the goal, why not move it where fans can park there? Like, i'm not asking for much. Just better logistics. I feel like I'm crazy right now. This is not a big deal at all. 

[balln]

30 minutes ago, Doc said:

 

True, but Kim grew up in Fairport.

Red raiders 4 life !

[skibum]

If it was easy for fans to get to, it would be a circus. I’m guessing the team likes SJF because the isolation makes it easier for them to focus on their jobs. Only the hardest of the hardcore fans go through the trouble. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

25 minutes ago, Wacka said:

Houghton Park on Cinton St. in Buffalo like one year in the 60s!

>>> "Mr. Wilson, should I call Cottrell and charter a couple of school buses?"

<<< "Let everyone walk, the exercise will do them good."

😁

10 minutes ago, Peevo said:

 

Okay? You asked my opinion, I gave it.

 

Peevo's peeved?

[Doc]

24 minutes ago, skibum said:

If it was easy for fans to get to, it would be a circus. I’m guessing the team likes SJF because the isolation makes it easier for them to focus on their jobs. Only the hardest of the hardcore fans go through the trouble. 

 

It's not hard to get to.  You go to either Pittsford Mendon or Sutherland High School, park and take a bus there.  The hard part (now) is getting tickets.

[balln]

3 minutes ago, Doc said:

 

It's not hard to get to.  You go to either Pittsford Mendon or Sutherland High School, park and take a bus there.  The hard part (now) is getting tickets.

Yup. Or like me as young adult. Ride my bike from fairport down to east Rochester. EZ

[Wacka]

Raiders used to do training camp ay a motel in the  Napa Valley as recently as 25 years ago. There was no public allowed. Someone I worked with was a neighbor of Gruden and their kids were in the same class.  He invited them to the training camp and there were  very few other guests there. They got to be in the hot tub with a couple of the D-lineen.

Edited 18 hours ago by Wacka

[CA OC Bills Fan]

I grew up in Irondequoit, for those that don't know it's a suburb North of Rochester. My father still lives part of the year at the house he bought in 1954 (he turns 101 this August). Since they moved TC to SJF, I've enjoyed going to camp every year I can make it and my father likes going with me. No chance I'd talk him into going to Buffalo to go to TC, but assuming I can get tickets and make it back to Rochester during camp, I'm really hoping to take him again this year. Even being a STH, I couldn't get tickets on the only day I could make it last year. That's to me the one thing that stinks about the changes the last few years, the difficulty in getting tickets. 

 

Having TC in a Rochester suburb is a great thing for those fans in Rochester. I can understand those living in Buffalo likely don't enjoy the drive, but for me, I hope they keep going to SJF.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

50 minutes ago, corta765 said:

 

My dad once watched them at Sheridan park with like 100 people. The list of where training camp use to be is quite wild honestly.

 

I love that i've played recreational sports at both of these.  Hit an absolute whopper at the sheridan park softball field too - clear onto sheridan drive (ump didn't call low arc on the previous pitch and called it a strike, so i knew if i got another low arc pitch it was fair game to destroy it).  Never understood why you'd have your field hitting directly into the street, but maybe its related to the golf course or something.  

7 minutes ago, Doc said:

 

It's not hard to get to.  You go to either Pittsford Mendon or Sutherland High School, park and take a bus there.  The hard part (now) is getting tickets.

 

No more 2-a-days, no more night practices, and a truncated period creates a lot more demand.  

Edited 18 hours ago by Bleeding Bills Blue

[Mr. WEO]

1 hour ago, Peevo said:

 

Training camp these days is like 2 weeks at most. I don't know the numbers, but the margin on SJF has gotta be tight.

 

Yes, they sell sponsorships (Connors and Ferris), and I'm sure the gift shop does well. 

 

But still, the operating expenses of packing up the entire training department (the Bills training staff literally pack up all their gear in a truck and unpack it every year), for 2 weeks, can't possibly be worth it.

 

Look at this way. You're a Buffalo/WNY area fan. Under McDermott, the team has retired night practices completely.

 

You want to go to training camp in Pittsford, NY?

 

• Take PTO for the morning drive on some random Tuesday morning in August
• Wake up at like 5:30/6 AM
• Drive 90 minutes plus down the highway - depending where you live (Fredonia, NY for example, you're 2hrs or more)
• Park at a random high school parking lot 25 ish minutes away from SJF
• Wait in line to get on a bus / shuttle to campus
• Wait in line through security to enter Training Camp
• Walk the entire campus to finally reach the facilities
• The grandstands are already packed to the gills, and there are 0 spots available to see anything
• You resort to sitting on some grassy knoll across the street from the practice field
• You see literally nothing
• It's 12:30 PM on a Tuesday in Rochester
• You get an underwhelming garbage plate
• It's now 1:40 PM on a Tuesday in Rochester
• What do you do now?

Back when the team actually used Rochester as a marketing vehicle, there were weekend night practices.

 

You could go out, get a dinner, go see a band at BugJar something. Make a night of it!

 

Now it's a waste of resources for just about everyone except immediate residents of Pittsford / the surrounding burbs. 

 

The only reason they went to SJF in the first place is because of Russ Brandon's affiliation with the team. He hasn't been employed by the Pegulas in 6 years. 

 

Pittsford training camp has long surpassed its useful life. Maybe it was important to "regionalize" the fanbase in the Drought Era. I get it. But Josh Allen negates all of that.

do you have to be back in Buffalo before the street lights come on ?

 

[Doc]

10 minutes ago, balln said:

Yup. Or like me as young adult. Ride my bike from fairport down to east Rochester. EZ

 

Or park in the front yard of someone who lives nearby.

 

3 minutes ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

No more 2-a-days, no more night practices, and a truncated period creates a lot more demand.  

 

Yup.  Especially with STH's being offered tickets first (as they should) but being allowed to get 4 at a time.

[balln]

1 minute ago, Doc said:

 

Or park in the front yard of someone who lives nearby.

 

 

Yup.  Especially with STH's being offered tickets first (as they should) but being allowed to get 4 at a time.

If I had to- I would recommend parking at east Rochester Wegmans. And just biking there