Kelly the Dog Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 the fact that this is an excuse and calling miami at home in december "not sexy", is making me sick to my stomach That is because you misread or misunderstood. I excluded Miami by the using the word "excluding" directly in front of the word "Miami". That means, to the layman, that all of the games except Miami were not marquee games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yall Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 It's really no surprise that the Bills had trouble selling out the games this season, and it's also not much cause for alarm. It was the perfect storm:1] Too many games late in the season when the weather was cold. 2] Most of those games not sexy, excluding Miami, who had been on a downtrend. 3] Christmas Eve against the Titans instead of Saturday, two days before Christmas. 4] The 2005 Season, all its turmoil and turbulence that left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. 5] The five years of Tom Donohoe and the malaise that it brought on the franchise, especially concerning dashed hopes. 6] The uninspiring, to a large portion of fans, hiring of Marv Levy. 7] The uninspiring, to the majority, hiring of Dick Jauron. 8] The uninspiring draft and Free Agency signings. 9] The surge of the Sabres and their high scoring, exciting, dramatic play, players and playoff run. All of those things are semi-small, but all of them are significant in some way, and together are enormous. Most of them no longer exist. Plan on selling out all eight home games next year. I'm willing to bet tthe October storm had a small part to play as well. I'm sure that chewed up some discretionary income as well as free time for a lot of residents. Plus, considering the amount of cleanup still left for a lot of people, I wouldn't be surprised if many spent their December weekends taking advantage of mild weather to finish cleaning up. I know I did (but then again I went to 2 of the four blacked out games). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDawkinstein Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 i understand that, but it still was a late season game and you also qualified it by saying they were on a downtrend, so... its not a personal attack at you, youre not the only one ive seen using those as excuses, just the last one i could quote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albany,n.y. Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Let's add the uncertainty of the time the game will be played into the mix. All of the blacked out games were subject to change due to the flex schedule. So, one way to insure blackouts is to schedule as many games as possible after flex scheduling kicks in. When you have 30,000 seats to sell, it helps to have the time of the game locked in. Let's also add an early snow which cost a lot of people in the metro Buffalo area $ in repairs, cleanup, etc. Those are $ that could have spent on the Bills that went to snow recovery instead. As long as we don't get another 4 regular season home games after Thanksgiving, including 2 of those 4 on holiday (Thanksgiving & Christmas) weekends, we won't be looking at 4 straight bnon-sellouts again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDawkinstein Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 the time change is a bunk point because its not like a lot of people schedule big plans for immediately before and after the bills game. i guess all these points can be argued individually and they all combined and contributed to the slow ticket sales. but what it also all combines to is one big excuse. get to the games people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 lol, i was there. my dad and i got season tickets in 1985, when i was 6 years old. we saw every home game, good and bad, for the past 21 years. i moved away after last season and still made it back for 2 games i was there, i was 9, i was on the field with my dad and 3 other guys from our section. the "let it snow" game was on the scoreboard at the tenn/xmas eve game as the greatest ralph moment so i was just quoting the organization. im sure we all have our own personal favorites The best Jumbotron moment. The big board wasn't installed until 1994. (Although the Snow Bowl is one of my personal faves as well...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 i understand that, but it still was a late season game and you also qualified it by saying they were on a downtrend, so... its not a personal attack at you, youre not the only one ive seen using those as excuses, just the last one i could quote. I understand. The point was really that none of those excuses should be good enough to keep fans away, but it is more of the last straw concept. And that all of those things were working in concert, or weighing on people in their decision making. And that I, personally, see no cause for worry, and fully expect that next year, because of the schedule, when the games are likely to be played, the goodwill of this season from Marv and Jauron and Losman, etc, and the Sabres winning not being such a novelty, we will sell out every game, or very, very close to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDawkinstein Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 to lori: lol, WHATEVER it was, at least you know what i was talking about. and it WAS one of my favorite moments in bills game history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Let's add the uncertainty of the time the game will be played into the mix. All of the blacked out games were subject to change due to the flex schedule. So, one way to insure blackouts is to schedule as many games as possible after flex scheduling kicks in. When you have 30,000 seats to sell, it helps to have the time of the game locked in. Let's also add an early snow which cost a lot of people in the metro Buffalo area $ in repairs, cleanup, etc. Those are $ that could have spent on the Bills that went to snow recovery instead. As long as we don't get another 4 regular season home games after Thanksgiving, including 2 of those 4 on holiday (Thanksgiving & Christmas) weekends, we won't be looking at 4 straight bnon-sellouts again. I completely forgot about that. Hey everyone, we're moving the Miami game to 4:00... uh, no, just kidding, we're leaving it at 1:00 after all... sorry for the inconvenience (not really). Still no reason for a freakin' MIAMI game to not sell out the day single-game tix go on sale, but I can understand the other three... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albany,n.y. Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 the time change is a bunk point because its not like a lot of people schedule big plans for immediately before and after the bills game. A lot of people travel hundreds of miles to see the games. Add to the group people who are flying &/or scheduling hotels and the flex schedule cuts down on the out of town folks who are willing to buy a ticket late in the season. Bunk, hardly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 this is THE WORST EXCUSE ive ever heard. as Bills fans we should be priding ourselves of the winter weather. THATS OUR THING! saying the Bills couldnt sellout games because they were in the wnter months of the season is a stance directly opposed to our home field advantage. plus you guys had a MILD winter up there. did it actually snow at any games this year? i barely had to wear my wintercoat to the tenn. game and im not used to the cold. im living 1500 miles away and still made it in for 2 games this year. SUCK IT UP! All bullsh--. This is not a new thing. I remember, albeit 20 or so years ago, going to a Bills/Redskins game. It was late in the season, cold and Buffalo had a bad record. There were between 10 and 20000 at that game. Westeren New Yorkers were'nt so tough back then either apparently. Most bad teams are not going to draw,period. If the Bills had a decent team the last 5 years it wouldnt matter. We would sell out every game. Can't blame the fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yall Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 A lot of people travel hundreds of miles to see the games. Add to the group people who are flying &/or scheduling hotels and the flex schedule cuts down on the out of town folks who are willing to buy a ticket late in the season. Bunk, hardly! No doubt. How many game time changes happened league wide this year? I'm curious how other markets responded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDawkinstein Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 A lot of people travel hundreds of miles to see the games. Add to the group people who are flying &/or scheduling hotels and the flex schedule cuts down on the out of town folks who are willing to buy a ticket late in the season. Bunk, hardly! so what? its not like theyre changing days 12 hours before the game. youre either gonna be busy/at the stadium from 9-7 or from 11-9. either way, all day sunday. how many people did we really lose because they didnt know the time so they couldnt fly into town 2 hours before the game and 2 hours after? i mean, its sunday, the whole day is football. no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDawkinstein Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 All bullsh--. This is not a new thing. I remember, albeit 20 or so years ago, going to a Bills/Redskins game. It was late in the season, cold and Buffalo had a bad record. There were between 10 and 20000 at that game. Westeren New Yorkers were'nt so tough back then either apparently. Most bad teams are not going to draw,period. If the Bills had a decent team the last 5 years it wouldnt matter. We would sell out every game. Can't blame the fans. seriously? 20 or so years ago? you cant call BS with that argument gramps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yall Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 so what? its not like theyre changing days 12 hours before the game. youre either gonna be busy/at the stadium from 9-7 or from 11-9. either way, all day sunday. how many people did we really lose because they didnt know the time so they couldnt fly into town 2 hours before the game and 2 hours after? i mean, its sunday, the whole day is football. no? I don't even know if it's so much that people would be unable to deal with a changing start time, but you must realize that it's certainly an annoyance to a lot of people, and might turn them off as a potential buyer. On the other hand, I know a few people who do shift work and can go to 1:00 games but not 4:00. I'm sure there are individuals for whom the door swings the other way as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 I don't even know if it's so much that people would be unable to deal with a changing start time, but you must realize that it's certainly an annoyance to a lot of people, and might turn them off as a potential buyer. On the other hand, I know a few people who do shift work and can go to 1:00 games but not 4:00. I'm sure there are individuals for whom the door swings the other way as well. Yup. Moving the Miami game to 4pm would've cost me an extra day's vacation... and good luck getting that night off less than two weeks before the game... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albany,n.y. Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 so what? its not like theyre changing days 12 hours before the game. youre either gonna be busy/at the stadium from 9-7 or from 11-9. either way, all day sunday. how many people did we really lose because they didnt know the time so they couldnt fly into town 2 hours before the game and 2 hours after? i mean, its sunday, the whole day is football. no? No, the travel after the game is very important to those of us coming in from out of town. I'll give you some examples: When they moved the Miami game to 4, the 1st thing I did was sign off from work on Monday. It meant a total rethinking of my routine, since I wasn't sure whether I'd be driving all the way home after the game-it's a 5 hour drive. When they moved it back, I recinded my Monday day off & went with my normal travel routine-leaving immediately after the game, no lingering-that means I was gone by 4:15-4:30, not 7:00. Now lets shift to the game that directly affected my plans. I bought a ticket, flight & motel room in Baltimore back in July. 6 days before the game, it gets changed. Now I've got the last flight out of Baltimore at 8:55pm & I had to make a decision-leave the game early, stay another day in Baltimore to the tune of around $200 more, or cancel the trip entirely. I eventually chose to leave the game early & I decided that I will NEVER buyt a ticket to a flex schedule game unless I'm driving to the game & I can control my schedule-something you can't do when you book in advance to get discount rates or book the last flight out & the game gets moved too close to get to the airport in time. Try traveling to games hundreds of miles from where you live & you might understand the problems that flex scheduling presents. Go on the Thruway after the game & you'll see that a lot more people drive in from out of town than you are imagining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDawkinstein Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 i could always see how it would be a pain for people who have to fly. but thats why i also posed the question of how many people do you think do that(fly in and/or out on gameday? 100? tops? thats still a lot less than the number of tickets left. the point still stands that the games shouldve sold out, there was just too much other stuff going on for most of the people in buffalo. and there arent enough people around to pick up the slack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDawkinstein Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 but speaking of flex-schedule!... what if the league had a rule that if they changed the gametime within 6 or 7 days of gametime, they cant black it out locally. the whole flex-schedule thing is the league saying they care more about the tv deals then they care about actual ticket sales. and probably rightfully so. but if they say that, then they should give us the games. right? not that this has any effect on your traveling to see the game, but about flex scheduling... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jester43 Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Does that mean there isnt enough fan base to support a pro football team? i'm starting to suspect that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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