GrudginglyPessimistic Posted October 18, 2009 Author Share Posted October 18, 2009 The OP is total nonsense, essentially claiming that if the NFL refused the highest bidder then the whole thing could get tied up in court with some other 3rd party being able to somehow acquire the team. Just using basic common sense, if the NFL refused the bid of a prospective owner, and that got taken to court, either that prospective owner would win, in which case the highest bidder would acquire the team, OR they would lose, in which case the NFL would award the team to the remaining highest bidder. There's no plausible legal scenario where the team would somehow become available to anyone other than the highest bidding team that the NFL approves, or somehow prevails in court if the NFL refuses them. What the post inarticulately says is that those who claim that the team automatically goes to the highest bidder are wrong. The original post meanderingly states what you say that the team would go to the highest bidder APPROVED by the NFL. This is different from the highest bidder as some flat-out claim as your reading substantiates the notion that approval by a 75% vote of the owners is an essential part of a winning bid. One might have the highest bid in the Mr. Ralph estate auction but then the NFL may choose as you state to give approval to a different bid and Mr. Ralph's estate is likely obligated by the contract which Mr. Ralph signed to get the original franchise to only be able to sale (or is it cell or sail) to a team approved by the other owners. This sounds like a legal scenario to me, though likely it does not even get to this point as the NFL can almost certainly conjure up accounting reasons to disapprove any sale done by the auction before it even gets to the contractual offer stage. As many have pointed out, even if a rich cat like Golisano is worth over a billion, it is not like he has that level of cash simply sitting around in a checking account for him to write a check for roughly a billion to the Mr. Ralph estate. Virtually any rich cat is going to go to some of the huge money lenders in society and borrow the ready cash. It may well be quite unlikely that he will be able to swing such a deal if when the money lenders check in with the NFL as part of their due diligence if the word comes back the NFL owners are unlikely to come up with 75% approval of the highest bidder and another bidder who might be second highest would be approved by the NFL. I think the bottom-line remains that the NFL team owners will maintain a veto over any potential owner. As we saw from the St. Louis Rams situation this week, a stern letter from the NFLPA and the typical glooming on histrionic so Al Sharpton proved to be enough to move the Rushmeister out. What amazes me are that some are so certain that the Bills will go at auction to the highest bidder no, if, ands or buts, when not only is this scenario not a sure thing, but nobody but Mr. Ralph knows for sure what his will even says. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrudginglyPessimistic Posted October 18, 2009 Author Share Posted October 18, 2009 Is "sale" a verb? Nope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrudginglyPessimistic Posted October 18, 2009 Author Share Posted October 18, 2009 There is a reason that I read everything on here but do not post much. However, this post is SO wrong AND bad that it warrants my reply. You have gone so far over the usual mindless dribble - not to mention your neglect of the English language - that I am compelled to point it out to you. Mr. Wilson may sell anything that he owns - it is his right. Might I suggest you sell some of the things you own and take some night courses in English and perhaps American Government. Sure Mr. Ralph can try to sail anything he wants. However, it strongly appears to be the contractual agreement signed by everyone who bought a franchise in the NFL that they can only complete the cell of the team to someone who gains the votes of 75% of the owners. Like Limbaugh, he had a right as a Merican to try to buy his way into the league, but Rams partnership applicant head Dave Checketts knew for sure that Rushbo having big bucks did not give him a right to become a team owner. Different situation but same rule. The highest bidder has the right to try to buy the Bills but Mr. Ralph almost certainly agreed that any potential buyer for the team must achieve approval by 75% of the NFL team owners. The NFL team owners demonstrated this week that they can be moved around by a strongly worded letter from the majority partners on the NFL (under the current CBA the players get 60.5% of the total gross receipts and are clearly a partner and arguably the majority partner in this enterprise). The fight over Modell taking the highest bid to move to Balt also shows that the NFL can be pushed around by seemingly ineffectual government of a city measured as being poorer than Buffalo (Clevelburg finished second to Detroit but beat out Buffalo in a recent ranking of the poorest US City. My GUESS is that when Mr. Ralph gets called to the great beyond, unless a lot of time has passed and we have recovered from the economic meltdown that it may well be the NFL itself that pays out the Wilson family for their estate tax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 So, basically he can sell to the highest bidder based on league approval. Why are you making such a big deal about this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delete This Account Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 If Mr. Ralph's estate simply sold to the highest bidder and this bidder turned out to be the modern equivalent of Adolf Hitler (or actually was someone controversial be it Limbaugh or Madonna or PETA) this owner would fail to get 75% support and the deal would be null and void. if it's adolph, then see ya, T.O. adolph's already on record as being against that signing in the first place. jw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRT88 Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 money talks and BS walks, it just that simple. No way owners won't agree to allow the sale to a group who is willing to move the team to market with far more cash. The Bills will end up elsewhere after Ralph is gone. Jerry Jones and a few of his wealthy friends would give the OK to move to Toronto faster than you could spell relocation. They don't want to share revenue with a small market team and they don't like seeing their "hard earned" revenue get wasted on a cheap franchise. The Bills are better off elsewhere because we continue to put a sorry @$$ product on the field year after year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 money talks and BS walks, it just that simple. No way owners won't agree to allow the sale to a group who is willing to move the team to market with far more cash. The Bills will end up elsewhere after Ralph is gone. Jerry Jones and a few of his wealthy friends would give the OK to move to Toronto faster than you could spell relocation. They don't want to share revenue with a small market team and they don't like seeing their "hard earned" revenue get wasted on a cheap franchise. The Bills are better off elsewhere because we continue to put a sorry @$$ product on the field year after year. the only revenue sharing that makes any difference is the TV money. Do you think the TV contracts will get bigger if the Bills move? Jones does not share any of his suite money and ticket sales are split 60/40 for the home team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SectionC3 Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 In our grandmother's NFL, the market was the local municipality. In today's NFL the market is actually a bunch of eyeballs watching TV so the TV nets view it as a good thing to deliver $ to the to create a product they can sell commercials around. The market (and thus the real $ for an NFL team owner) is found in expanding the product to Mexico City, Toronto, Berlin, Tokyo and other places. The local market is not a non-factor, but in an NFL where 2/3 of the revenue comes from the TV nets, it is a mistake for folks not to realize that being a small market in terms of stadium sales is a far less significant part of the $ than it used to be. With a fuller understanding of the real market the value of the Bills lies much more in its connection to tradition which offered by its being in the league you are selling to the new eyeballs. In addition, the negatives associated with a move if it leads to threats to the NFL's limited antitrust exemption make it a move to be put off as long as possible. I am not saying that is a stone cold certainty that it will happen a particular way. Its just simply not as straightforward as many posters argue. I agree with your point of view. I think there are two things that weigh heavily in favor of the Bills staying in Buffalo. 1. Chuck Schumer. 2. The full house at the Ralph. Like anything else, a product or a person is more desirable if someone else wants it. It's always easier to get another job if you already have one, or to get another girl if you're already dating someone. A game is much more attractive on TV if there is a full house and an exuberant crowd. Without articulating it any better or any more, if "they" (the fans) are that eager to watch something, "you" (the viewer) are more inclined to be as well. We have a full house that many other NFL markets can't match these days, and I while I don't think that Buffalo/WNY/Golden Horseshoe is one of the NFL's premier markets, there are a number of problem markets that the NFL would be well-served to consider moving before creating a problem by disturbing Buffalo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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