Two Bills Drive

‘Nine of the 16 players who left due to free agency or the salary cap were on defense, including four starters. Gone are the team’s all-time sacks leader (Bruce Smith), its best cornerback (Thomas Smith) and its defensive quarterback (free safety Kurt Schulz). The Bills have several veterans back, but most of the defensive depth will consist of players who have little or no NFL experience. Getting those newcomers ready for the season will be vital when the team opens training camp at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford.’

‘The Bills have garnered 15 major corporate sponsors for training camp, putting them near the top of the league in the marketing and promotion of their summer site. They will train in the posh new facilities of St. John Fisher College, which are an upgrade over the accommodations they used at Fredonia State College the past 19 years. And they have assured themselves of reaching an audience that dwarfs anything they could get in Chautauqua County.’

‘Here are 25 people to watch this season:…7. Wade Phillips: The Bills coach’s decision to bench Doug Flutie before a playoff game, then losing to the Titans, and his subsequent decision to start Rob Johnson, will have its ramifications. Phillips is second-guessed more in the rest of the country than he is in Buffalo, and he must hope the Bills’ performance this season validates his judgments.

”’Think of the camp as a thank you to the Rochester fan base,” says Charles Goodwin of the Greater Rochester Metro Chamber of Commerce. ”Those fans have turned out to buy a hell of a lot of tickets and a lot of corporate suites.” Rochester has paid its football dues: the Bills say at least 25 percent of their ticket sales each year are made to residents of this area. In addition, local businesses helped greatly in the Bills’ successful drive two years ago to sell luxury suites at the renovated stadium in Orchard Park, Erie County. Bills officials are hoping the Rochester connection will be strengthened by the training camp. In addition, they hope to draw fans from central New York and larger Southern Tier cities such as Elmira and Binghamton.’

‘And this training camp — the first for the Bills in the Rochester area — will offer even more. The Bills and Wegmans Food Markets Inc., the camp’s primary sponsor, are transforming the camp from a sleepy summer rite to a football happening. If all goes well, this training camp could double as a theme park. ”They’ll be more off-field elements than there’s ever been,” says Russ Brandon, the Bills’ vice president of marketing. ”It will be a much different experience from the time fans arrive at camp.” If enough fans come to the camp, the Bills, Wegmans and Fisher will all benefit. The team would expand its regional market. The small college would increase its visibility. The supermarket would underscore its identity with a popular team.’

Beef on wick?

‘Players were housed in the old Roycroft Inn. In many cases three and four guys were sardined into small rooms without any air conditioning during the dog days of summer. The locker rooms were about a quarter mile away at East Aurora High School. With more than 100 players in camp, there weren’t enough lockers to accommodate everyone, so trainer Eddie Abramoski put up clothing hooks in the gym for the spillover. The practice field was the polo grounds of the Knox Estate, roughly three miles from the high school. Players either walked or rode school buses to and from the two-a-day workouts. ”We joked that Buster kept a couple of the guys on the roster until the end of camp just because they were good bus drivers,” Abramoski recalled. ”It’s not like today where everything is in one setting and every player zips around in a golf cart.”’

”’Be patient,” Bills fullback Jonathan Linton said. ”We’d like to get to everybody, but sometimes we can’t. It gets even worse when somebody is willing to trample someone else for a signature. Especially when it’s an adult. The kids are the most important people to autograph for.” Linton admits that players are more likely to sign for a child than an adult, but doesn’t advise people to ”borrow” children to get an autograph. There are more prudent ways for older fans to ask players for a signature. The best time to ask a player for an autograph is after the second or afternoon practice, not earlier in the day. It is also wise to know where to ask for a signature. Although many Rochester residents may see Bills players at local hangouts or eating at area restaurants, these are not the best places to ask.’

‘The bottom line was the bottom line: Fredonia is about 40 miles southwest of Buffalo in Chautauqua County, a county with an estimated 137,431 residents. Monroe County, home of the Bills’ new summer home at St. John Fisher College, has an estimated 712,419 residents.’

‘The Bills do have a close tie to the Wings with Russ Brandon, one of the key players in the team’s decision to move its camp to Fisher. Brandon, a Fisher graduate and the Bills vice president of business development and marketing, served as Red Wings assistant general manager with Mason in the early 1990s. ”Hopefully we’ll help them sell some tickets during their regular season and they’ll help us during our season,” Mason says.’

‘The defensive unit of the Buffalo Bills has taken a few hits even before training camp. The Sporting News Pro Football 2000 annual ranks the 31 NFL teams in a variety of categories.’

‘Marcellus Wiley walked unaided into the media room of the Bills’ new administration building Friday. That was good news, and it was even better news that he seemed to be in new shape than the room that doesn’t yet look moved into.

‘…the ring belonged to [Chuck] Burr, an assistant general manager and public relations director for the Bills at the time. Oddly enough, Burr mentioned the ring to [Denny] Lynch two weeks ago, when Lynch called him about a 35th reunion for the Bills’ 1965 championship team.’

‘The Bills report the surgery to repair a bulging disc in Wiley’s lower back was successful. He is expected to return to action in four to six weeks. "Steve McNair had a similar thing last year during the season and missed five regular-season games," said Bills coach Wade Phillips, referring to the Tennessee Titans quarterback. "I’d say it’s somewhere in there, which would put us at the end of the preseason. Maybe he’ll be able to play in the last preseason game."’

‘…the ring belonged to team’s former public relations director and assistant general manager Chuck Burr, who in 1970 lost it at the beach, about 15 miles west of Buffalo. Burr had been given the ring after the Bills, led by quarterback Jack Kemp, won their first AFL championship with a 20-7 win over San Diego.’