Hammered a Lot Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Some Bills fans (CUSTOMERS) did not get into the phins game till half time as they waited in line to pick up their tickets at the will call window or to purchase tickets at the last minute. A lack of "cattle control rope" allowed cutting in line which led to pushing and shoving. http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20061219/1026286.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary M Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Some Bills fans (CUSTOMERS) did not get into the phins game till half time as they waited in line to pick up their tickets at the will call window or to purchase tickets at the last minute. A lack of "cattle control rope" allowed cutting in line which led to pushing and shoving. Link coming soon. 871820[/snapback] What there wasn't enough scalpers around? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammered a Lot Posted December 19, 2006 Author Share Posted December 19, 2006 What there wasn't enough scalpers around? 871822[/snapback] I saw less than normal. The one scalper that I know, will not be scalping, his wife told him he could not scalp x-mas eve!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinandjokin Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 I saw less than normal. The one scalper that I know, will not be scalping, his wife told him he could not scalp x-mas eve!! 871832[/snapback] Especially when he'd only be pulling in about $7 a ticket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ1 Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Some Bills fans (CUSTOMERS) did not get into the phins game till half time as they waited in line to pick up their tickets at the will call window or to purchase tickets at the last minute. A lack of "cattle control rope" allowed cutting in line which led to pushing and shoving. http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20061219/1026286.asp 871820[/snapback] I bought and printed my Titans' ticket via Ticketmaster. Had to update Windows and Adobe Reader to do the printing but I'm glad I did with the above story in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmanbfan Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 What do people expect, of course there would be huge lines that day! With the blackout, people were buying tickets last minute and picking them up...if you waited till noon to pick up tickets, expect lines. I got there at 10:15 am (after waiting at the border for 45 min), walked directly to the will call, and waited 2 minutes. No problems here.... Mind you, the guy who served me was about 75 years old and was moving at the pace of a snail, so I could only imagine when the lines got bigger! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Flanders Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Just read the article, and only one word comes to mind: unacceptable. How in this computer-driven age can a will-call transaction take more than 2-3 minutes, at the most. And moving just 1700 tickets on game day results in this type of snafu? Please. Maybe they should go back to selling tickets out of shoeboxes...I remember back in 1995, not really that long ago, the day before the Jets game, I went to the ticket office to pick up a few...the young lady proceeded to go and dig some tickets out of a shoebox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olaf Fub Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 The worst part about this is, it isn't new. The same complaints were heard 10-15 years ago and the Bills haven't done anything to solve the problem. This poor distribution system was the talk of every playoff run back in the golden era. Their entire business model seems based on selling all their tickets in the summer. Their track record for selling tickets in-season is horrible. How much of a walk-up crowd will there be for future games, if this is the way they treat their customers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BILLS02138 Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 I have no sympathy for these folks. You had plenty of time, notice and options way before Sunday to get your tickets. On the flip side - this goes to show you that the marketing/ticketing deparmet @ One Bills Drive is dated and lazy. If I ran the show there - the game would have been sold out WELL in advance. I'd pay my marketing/ticket staff and encourage them to be as aggressive as pharmaceutical reps. With a market that stretches from Syrcause to Toronto - I would have worked with the team, the players, and the coaches and found ways to collaborate a marketing plan that would pull at the heart, soul, and purse strings. It's just unacceptable - I don't care about the Bills record - this is the NFL! No excuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albany,n.y. Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Petrino had a ticket, got caught in a traffic jam and was almost sent away for arriving after the 3 minutes to half gate shutdown.* He sweet talked a woman at the gate who let him in and he arrived right before the 2 minute warning. It was not just the people at the will call window, the roads made people late too. *-he did waste time trying to take a "shortcut" to get out of traffic, that caused him about an hour delay getting to the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammered a Lot Posted December 19, 2006 Author Share Posted December 19, 2006 Petrino had a ticket, got caught in a traffic jam and was almost sent away for arriving after the 3 minutes to half gate shutdown.* He sweet talked a woman at the gate who let him in and he arrived right before the 2 minute warning. It was not just the people at the will call window, the roads made people late too. *-he did waste time trying to take a "shortcut" to get out of traffic, that caused him about an hour delay getting to the game. 872105[/snapback] If he parked at Hammer's Lot and not Dannys he would have had no problems at the gate (Wasted time with the LOOOONG walk from dannys). Petrino shoulkd have had no problem getting in at halftime. The Bills/Hammer rule for admission per Bills web site is gates close end of the 3rd quarter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockpile Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Some Bills fans (CUSTOMERS) did not get into the phins game till half time as they waited in line to pick up their tickets at the will call window or to purchase tickets at the last minute. A lack of "cattle control rope" allowed cutting in line which led to pushing and shoving. http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20061219/1026286.asp 871820[/snapback] That explains why the stadium took so long to fill up - especially the upper deck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Flanders Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Their entire business model seems based on selling all their tickets in the summer. 872094[/snapback] This is true...don't live in the area anymore, so I can't rate the print/electronic media campaign, but you're right: the Bills seem to push tickets through training camp, and that's it. Bob Lamb used to rail on the Forans when they ran the ticket operation (do they still?) and his accounts always brought a chuckle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANCOCK Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 it was horrible. i was one of the folks caught in line sunday. the problem was that for nearly a hour there was just TWO WINDOWS OPEN how do you only have 2 windows open one hour before kick off?? the San D game had all 5 windows open, this one just 2. made no sense at all. i got into my seats 8 mins into the 1st QTR. but at that moment as i was walking away from the crowd it was getting crazy. folks started pushing and shoving, it was getting ugly, i had a god awful time pushing my way out of the crowd. glad i got my tickets by then. imma try that printing my tickets out idea for this weeks game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarthur31 Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Berchtold said at Bills.com that they had 10 windows open!!! Man what a !@#$en liar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 If he parked at Hammer's Lot and not Dannys he would have had no problems at the gate (Wasted time with the LOOOONG walk from dannys). Petrino shoulkd have had no problem getting in at halftime. The Bills/Hammer rule for admission per Bills web site is gates close end of the 3rd quarter. 872144[/snapback] Not all the gates stay open that long, though - think there's only two or three left at halftime, and one in the 3Q. I'll go find the press release... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Balls Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 It's been strange and frustrating this season attending games. I'm not exactly sure what the deal is but the two games I've went to this year have been a pain when it comes to entering the Ralph...and I had bought my tickets back in August I always park over at the ECC lot and have never failed to make it in plenty of time for a 1:05 kick-of, this after using the washroom and buying a brewski. For some reason they decided to do things quite a bit differently to make it difficult for anyone who wants to attend. The main thing that threw me off was having the crowd go through the gates that correspond to the number on the tickets. That might seem like common sense but after decades of having a lax policy on which Gate to enter it seemed disconcerting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stussy109 Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 What there wasn't enough scalpers around? 871822[/snapback] Scalpers had singles only if anything by 11:30am. I had to pay 90/ticket to get in. I have a bucnh of seasons, that i sell off myself, but a couple friends wanted to go so had to scalp. I had to pay 180 for two seats on the 50 5rows up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stussy109 Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Berchtold said at Bills.com that they had 10 windows open!!! Man what a !@#$en liar. 872530[/snapback] heard there were only 4 or 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammered a Lot Posted December 20, 2006 Author Share Posted December 20, 2006 it was horrible. i was one of the folks caught in line sunday. the problem was that for nearly a hour there was just TWO WINDOWS OPEN how do you only have 2 windows open one hour before kick off?? the San D game had all 5 windows open, this one just 2. made no sense at all. i got into my seats 8 mins into the 1st QTR. but at that moment as i was walking away from the crowd it was getting crazy. folks started pushing and shoving, it was getting ugly, i had a god awful time pushing my way out of the crowd. glad i got my tickets by then. imma try that printing my tickets out idea for this weeks game. 872228[/snapback] Contact the Bills and see what they will do for you. By scanning your ticket, they know when you got into the game and which gate you entered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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