Kirby Jackson

The Bills were never leaving Rochester. It is too important to the viability of the franchise. This couldn’t be less of a story. There is no credit to be distributed here. The Bills have a contract and are abiding by it. Why is this a story?

The thing that really rubs me the wrong way on it is that the agency makes just over $100k a year off of this account. That was a part of my issue. If you want him to work it and to be compensated for his work take it out of your cut, not mine. I would say that they are pretty reasonable depending on the topic. I’m close with all of them but not close enough that they will take my side against him. He is like the sun at that place. Everything revolves around him. With that hat being said I am working an account with our president who is basically the only other guy on his level. He is also the most reasonable of all. When I am with him next week I am going to try to have a heart to heart on it. He’s a really, really strong leader but is so busy that he kind of removes himself from the day-to-day. They’ve pretty much delegated the agency management to the CFO (another of the 5 partners). He is the a terrible leader and a bit of a snake. We get along really well put I don’t trust him. He’s the one that you always need to be careful with.

I would absolutely expect Popko to take a larger role. He was with the Bills prior too as the head of the sponsorship department. I think that he was the one that secured the naming rights.

Yeah, I think that my issue with it is that there are more qualified people. I 100% get it though. The Pegula’s got burned by Russ and it left a black eye on the organization. They pulled the reins in by putting her in that role. If she trusts and defers to that senior leadership team she won’t have any issues. The problem will arise if she’s at odds with someone more experienced and wiser and she wins out because of her position of power. I don’t foresee it happening often (or maybe ever).

I made a nice score in My Boy Jack’s last trip out. I hit the pick 3 which was a nice ticket and the super which wasn’t as nice. I’m going to use him, Justify, Magnum Moon and Hofburg for sure. I haven’t really handicapped it too much yet though. It’s supposed to be wet out there. I have a couple of horses going this week that you should consider. There’s a horse in the 5th at Churchill tomorrow named Talk VueVue to me (or something like that). I’m going to use that horse with amy’s challenge, Mia’s mischief and gas station sushi. There’s a horse going Saturday at either Arlington Park or Churchill (depending on the weather) named Making a Marc. If it’s at Arlington it won’t pay much but should be a decent price at Churchill.

South Park did an episode on it too. “Stan Darsh”

#russtoo

I’m not sure what the reporting structure is/was on contracts. It is different in a lot of places. As I understand it though, Overdorf is functionally the capologist. He lays the framework of the deals and Beane negotiates within that framework based on how highly they value a particular player. If I understand it correctly (and I may not) they identify comparable players as a starting point. They use their contracts (especially if signed recently) to establish a market. The agent will tell you why his client deserves more than “x” player and the team will tell the agent why he deserves less. They eventually come close on the value and then Overdorf begins working the deal so that it is most advantageous to the cap short and long-term. If the agent is good with that structure and those terms you have a deal. Otherwise it is more negotiation.

I guess that you are right. My point (that I didn’t articulate clearly) is that I’m sure that they signed off on many decisions but never made one. Maybe that’s a better way of putting it. The Pegula’s (and Russ when he was acting owner and GM) were asked, “is it okay if we _____?” They have never said, “we should take _____.” That role has always been on the football people. So, I’m sure that they have rubber stamped and vetoed different players but never pushed for a player.

I appreciate the advice from everyone on here and sorry for the whining. Lastly if you own a business or a farm with 50,000+ bees ( @Boyst62) I will be happy to help you out with the insurance. Just don’t be surprised when I come here to complain about how difficult you are :). Seriously, though thank you guys for the advice. It really has been exhausting but I think after today it will blow over some. Who needs a therapist when we have TBD?

No Yes (but pretty minimally) I think that the owners (and I guess Russ as the de facto owner at one point) sign off on people. I don’t think any of them ever pushed for a certain player but may have prevented a player from coming. As an example, the Pegula’s might have said “no” to Antonio Callaway this draft. If they don’t want that character in their organization i could see them vetoing someone.

She will be responsible for none of that in her new role. If you were to draw an org chart it would be the owner at the top and then 2 lines, one to the GM and one the president. (Some teams have 3 lines with the coach reporting directly to the owner but we will us 2 for the sake of this conversation). Everything that falls underneath the GM would be football operations. There is a web down from there that is the pro and college sides. The web underneath the president will be your CFO, CAO, CIO, CMO, CRO, COO, etc... it is your c-level executives. Their reports are comprised of VPs then directors then managers then coordinators, etc... There is no intersection or correlation between the president and the team performance. That has zero to do with their job. Kim’s role will be to oversee the business of the Buffalo Bills and Sabres. She will be in charge of ticket sales, corporate sponsorships, marketing, PR, stadium operations, IT, community relations, etc...That was the job that Russ Brandon held. So to get an answer you need to pretend that it is a different industry. Let’s pretend that the Buffalo Bills were the Buffalo Airport. Do you believe that Kim Pegula is capable of being the president there? If your answer is “yes” than you are fine with her in this role. If your answer is “no” you probably aren’t. She is running a business though not a roster.

No

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuvalllllllllllllll

Thanks Joe!! It really is just a draining experience. He was shooting me these emails at 10:42 last night. I wanted to be like, “go hang out with your wife.” This is his life and a lot of others here. We are a big agency and have a ton of great people. At the same time the most successful people there have the worst personal lives. I never want that to be me. I work to live not live to work.

I wish that I could sometimes. My non-compete is pretty iron clad too. They hold up in Louisiana. I’d be back at square one. If I could leave and take my 5 largest accounts I’d have done it yesterday and never looked back. I’m also in position to be a part of the next generation of agency owners. There are about 6 or 7 of us that will take over in the next 10 years. Those guys are all about it and I couldn’t be more indifferent. I don’t want to bail on them but I’m not sure that this is my endgame either. Without sounding like an arrogant jerk either, this group needs me and one other guy. We are the people that the others respond positively too.

He’s the most powerful man here by a lot. He’s great at what he does too. We actually get along quite well but this must have really pissed him off. I’ve put a target on my back.

So, I am in commercial insurance and write some heavy transportation accounts. I write a waste hauler that I split with a former co-worker who recently went to another agency. This account pays our agency $142,000 in revenue (about $1.4M in premium). The agent gets 33% of that annually. When my co-worker left the principals at the agency re-assigned his accounts and appointed one owner to each of them as well. They wanted me to relinquish 25% of the revenue to one of the partners for him working on it with me. It amounts to about $12k a year in actual money to me. So about a month goes by and I’m pretty pissed off because I absolutely do not need any assistance to keep this account. The owner would adopt me. I didn’t think that I should pay the owner $12k as I’m already paying the agency almost $100k a year for that account. I went to the partners and said my piece. I’m not sure that they totally agreed but they deferred to me. I was pretty adamant on it. It is my relationship that has brought the account in and kept it here. It would have been me just making a donation to him. Now, he is making my life a living hell. The guy makes like $2m+ a year and he’s throwing a passive aggressive hissy fit. He’s ripping apart my work and CCing the other partners on it. I’m getting emails in bold, underlines with exclamation points of things that i should have done differently. Half of what he is saying isn’t even accurate. He’s basically spent the last 24 hours auditing the account and I know that his endgame is to get his partners to give him back 25% of the revenue. He’s really good at what he does but he is making my life miserable. If I would have kept my mouth shut I wouldn’t have to be playing this defense but at the same time it would have been $1k a month out of my pocket. I’m usually a pretty level-headed guy but I’m on the verge of snapping. He’s made my life miserable, my assitant’s life miserable, the marketing rep is taking as much heat as me!! I’ve had my office door shut for 2 days. Anyone have any advice???

Training Camp in Rochester had one goal, regionalizing the franchise. It has been a grand slam and the envy of the league. Teams have spent 2 decades trying to duplicate what the Bills are doing there. If the Bills did anything it would be to move it back to the stadium like everyone else seems to be doing. That would be a massive mistake. Training Camp should remain in Rochester until forever. The ONLY possible alternative would be to move into the Toronto area (and that won’t sit well).

Apparently you missed the post before when I said, “it makes total sense. The Pegula’s got burned by Russ so they pulled the reigns back in.”

Again, it makes sense why they did it. They took control back. I don’t think that more Pegula involvement is for the best. I like that they will open their wallets; I don’t love owners that are very involved. My perception is that the best owners in sports (Rooney’s, Holt, etc...) stay at arm’s length. You may disagree but that’s how I feel.

Think that you missed the point. It makes total sense why she got the job. She isn’t the best person for that job in that building. Those 2 things are both true.

I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying that her 5 years of learning on the job don’t compare to Dave Wheat’s decade and a half as a C-level executive in sports. There are others that have even more experience than he does.

Ha ha, I already said I wasn’t trying to be a downer. I’m just telling it like I see it. If she operates as a figurehead it will be okay. If she tries to actually do what the job entails it will not be good. I’ll use a basketball analogy. It would be like having an all-star on your bench while you are starting Melo because he makes $28M a year. You will still play the all-star some but you aren’t maximizing your potential because the person in front of him has a certain “entitlement.”

We aren’t saying the same thing then I guess. There is NOTHING in terms of running the business side of a sports team that she can do that Dave Wheat cannot. There are hundreds and likely thousands of things that he knows about the job that she doesn’t. That’s not hyperbole either. Again, we may never notice but I promise you there are many, many people that they employ that know the business better. When she goes and sits in the senior staff meeting what is she going to do besides for listen? She cannot drive these plans because the people under her are miles ahead. She can’t talk to pricing strategy, corporate assets, community initiatives, stadium operations, game operations, etc... The president sits over all of those departments. A good president is as strong in all of those areas as the people under him/her. They let the people work but provide valuable insight and strategy. She isn’t capable of doing that. I know that for a fact. Again, I expected her to be in this role and don’t think that it is weird. My whole point is that it isn’t what is best for the Bills. The best case scenario is to have your strongest people with the most responsibility. The Pegula’s felt burned by Russ so they pulled in the reigns and are doing it themselves. I get it. It just isn’t for the best.