apuszczalowski Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 No sand; just really good connections. Is it really you Soprano? I won't tell anyone your new identity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I'm just going by what Ralph publicly stated, i.e. that his daughters aren't interested in owning the team. If you know anything different, please do tell. And make sure to name names. As for SA, why does anyone think they'd have more trouble selling luxury boxes than in Buffalo? I might agree about the stadium, but do they have significantly LESS money than Houston, who built an expensive stadium for the Texans? Ralph said recently, publicly, linkable quotes, within the last couple months, that while he used to not seriously consider his family retaining ownership, he is now considering it. This isn't the only one but I did a very preliminary search and this mentions it. http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20070107/1001670.asp Furthermore, the idea of the ticket sales making the team move is pretty ludicrous. The amount of money lost by the empty seats this year is probably less than 1% of the team's income. It was what, a total of 40,000 seats? At 50 bucks a pop that's $2,000,000. Considering that home teams get %60 and visiting teams get 40%, that's what, 1.2 million? That alone is about 1% of the TV money the Bills get this year. And that doesn't include any ticket sales or beer or parking or jersey sales, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadBuffaloDisease Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I read that as well article as well, but it didn't provide any definitive answer that they WOULD want to retain ownership. Hopefully, but even still, the death taxes (unless Ralph planned some way around these) would be enough to warrant selling the team. And no the money lost from non-sellouts wouldn't be the reason they'd move. It would just give an excuse to move. Basically a "if you don't support the team, I'll some place that will." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I read that as well article as well, but it didn't provide any definitive answer that they WOULD want to retain ownership. Hopefully, but even still, the death taxes (unless Ralph planned some way around these) would be enough to warrant selling the team. And no the money lost from non-sellouts wouldn't be the reason they'd move. It would just give an excuse to move. Basically a "if you don't support the team, I'll some place that will." Oh, so Ralph is going to say something like that before discussing it with them? He's going through all these machinations and decides that he really wants his family to retain ownership because it makes the most sense, brings it up at the dinner table and Mary and Linda say, "But Ralph, we don't want it. We never talked about either of us owning the team." Besides, I am not a tax attorney but I thought if you leave something to your wife she doesn't pay the death tax. I could be wrong. Secondly, Ralph is surely not going to sell the team to anyone with a mindset of, "If you don't support the team, I'll some place that will", or whatever it is that you meant. Granted, once someone bought them, he could say I had my fingers crossed when I promised you, Ralph. But I really doubt that is going to happen. It's VERY likely going to be someone with Buffalo roots or someone that wants to keep the team in Buffalo. I personally know someone who was approached in the last year about a minority ownership in the Bills, led by a team of investors that wanted another NFL team and almost bought them last year, and they promised him that they wanted to and would and planned on keeping the team in Buffalo. The NFL doesn't even want the Bills to leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tortured Soul Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 Furthermore, the idea of the ticket sales making the team move is pretty ludicrous. The amount of money lost by the empty seats this year is probably less than 1% of the team's income. It was what, a total of 40,000 seats? At 50 bucks a pop that's $2,000,000. Considering that home teams get %60 and visiting teams get 40%, that's what, 1.2 million? That alone is about 1% of the TV money the Bills get this year. And that doesn't include any ticket sales or beer or parking or jersey sales, etc. You have to add in parking and concessions to the lost tickets, which I don't think is shared revenue. What turns it into a significant problem is that the Bills have the cheapest tickets in the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadBuffaloDisease Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 Oh, so Ralph is going to say something like that before discussing it with them? He's going through all these machinations and decides that he really wants his family to retain ownership because it makes the most sense, brings it up at the dinner table and Mary and Linda say, "But Ralph, we don't want it. We never talked about either of us owning the team." Besides, I am not a tax attorney but I thought if you leave something to your wife she doesn't pay the death tax. I could be wrong. True. Hopefully the team IS passed to his wife, who then passes-it-on to the daughers when she dies, which hopefully isn't for a long time. But until I hear Ralph SAY that the daughters want the team, I'll have to go by what I've actually heard him say. Hopefully they DO want the team. But again, death taxes will be killer (unless he dies in 2010 and the death tax continues to be eliminated for that year). Secondly, Ralph is surely not going to sell the team to anyone with a mindset of, "If you don't support the team, I'll some place that will", or whatever it is that you meant. Granted, once someone bought them, he could say I had my fingers crossed when I promised you, Ralph. But I really doubt that is going to happen. It's VERY likely going to be someone with Buffalo roots or someone that wants to keep the team in Buffalo. I personally know someone who was approached in the last year about a minority ownership in the Bills, led by a team of investors that wanted another NFL team and almost bought them last year, and they promised him that they wanted to and would and planned on keeping the team in Buffalo. The NFL doesn't even want the Bills to leave. Ralph can't demand that the Bills stay in Buffalo. I wish he could. And I hope new ownership will never want to move the team. I really hope so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE Bills Fan Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 With blackouts like this year, the team IS dead. And the issue isn't what happens while Ralph is alive so much; it's what happens after he's gone, the team is sold for $800M, and the new owner can't justify keeping the team in an area that can't support even league-average ticket, parking, and concessions prices, while a place like San Antonio can. TOTALLY AGREE with you. It's about the NEW business model the new owner will have to address, not the one Ralph is working with today (No Debt). You are absolutely right. As long as Ralph is alive, so are the Bills in Buffalo, but once he is gone, his daughter has stated several times that she wants no part of the team and that it will have to be sold which then brings in everything which I and you have just stated, that the only logical alternative is to move the team to a city which will give the new owner subsidies as well as a much larger revenue steam to counteract the ever increasing CAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 Pyrite girl this is the type of post I was talking about. There is nothing factual about your post it's just all heresay. Schumer and the 'commish' are both working on keeping the team here. That's good enough for me. Put a good product on the field and fans will show up, again good enough for me. Any posturing beyond that is simply.... Just that... Posturing T_R ...and the steel mills will never close either. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Real Posted January 17, 2007 Author Share Posted January 17, 2007 ...and the steel mills will never close either. PTR Are you seriously comparing the Steel mill to the Bills. If so I got some apples for your oranges. Comparing a flustering market with no financial support to a team part of a league that recieves HUGE support is simply ridiculous. Promo, you're better than that man. T_R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 Are you seriously comparing the Steel mill to the Bills. If so I got some apples for your oranges. Comparing a flustering market with no financial support to a team part of a league that recieves HUGE support is simply ridiculous. Promo, you're better than that man. T_R Just pointing out how people tend to ignore a problem until it's too late. I'm sure many people never believed Bethlehem Steel would be reduced to an empty field back in the 70's. Now we have people who believe the Bills will never leave Buffalo, putting their faith in politicians, or a belief the Bills make more than enough money right where they are. They would rather whistle past the graveyard than deal with the issue head on. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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