Ray

Not only economically but quality of life, identity, pride etc.....They are a HUGE factor to quality of life in Buffalo. They WILL remain in Buffalo. Nobody is moving the team. Keep in mind that Buffalo is losing population BUT we have close to 4 Million people within 60 miles. That is hardly a small population!

Big deal....they lucked out huge when Pennington fell into their laps! When he starts playing like he did in the playoffs how much of a genius is everyone then.......keep in mind they have no QB after Pennington and he has a history of playing like a yo-yo.....next year the fans will be calling for the back-up after 6-8 games.

Agree with PTR....it helps us a lot. I have always said we'll stay here and "the move" thing is overblown and overdramatized here but NO city nowadays is going to finance over a billion for a stadium...and that includes Toronto!! Way too much money for private funds as well. Buffalo keeps the Bills. California is in such a hole they may NEVER get a team in LA.

What a great day for the city and organization!! Congrats to both of them. We were truly blessed and spoiled during that run (except for the obvious), but consider that 90% of the Sundays we left happy. The seasons lasted well into January every season for about 6 straight years. Great moments and memories they gave us. A proud moment for us all as backers of this team and city!

We already have WRs better than him. No thanks

Nice synopsis of the season. I, too am still high on Hardy and when you see him play he has all the physical tools and just needs more time. His two TD catches were exactly what you thought would hapen this year....just we were hoping more often. I think he needs more time understanding the game but what is great about him is his attitude. He works like a professional and has a very good attitude and that should serve him well. To many ridiciulous impatient people....he is not a bust. By their criteria B Bunkley of the Eagles was a bust and outplayed by Kyle Williams. Tell me now who you would rather have as a starting DT. Give rookies 3 good seasons to get a decent idea if they are a player in this league. What the offense needs more than anything is a very good TE. That plays to TEs strengths and lets Evans go 1:1 much more often. I think our WR corps is certainly good enough if you add a legitimate TE threat.

Marv did what he was brought in to do. The whole feel/aura around the team after the Donahoe era was terrible. It was 110 times worse than today. They had no QB other than Losman and enormous holes to fill as well as the attitude of the organization and city. Do you really think Marv and the pro scouts were looking for a center and identified Fowler as the best center or Royal as the best TE? Of course not! But acting within the budget constraints of the team they identified mid-level free agents. What other free agent center at that time has excelled? NONE....is the answer. So let's put things in context which nobody seems to want to do. Whitner vs Ngata is a legitimate argument....but Ngata is not as good a player playing next to Kyle Williams. If we had Ngata then we would not have gone after Stroud. What they saaw in Whitner was a guy who was a leader and saw him for both his off field attributes and as a great safety (the latter has yet to materialize). But he is a good safety. Let's see how his draft with Lynch/Edwards/Poz goes.......depending how they play after their 3rd year it could range from average to one of the best drafts in Bills' history.

Plenty of people I know there are not from LA so they root for other teams. Among media types etc...they seem to want it more than the average fan. I am not worried at all about LA wanting/taking the Bills. Too many hurdles to overcome for LA including new stadium, is there a "real" desire there, they lost TWO teams already due to lack of interest. Biggest population in the US but nonetheless NOT an NFL town. Most people identify with other teams. They seem to be happy with USC.

Actually a lot more people within 60 miles of Buffalo than Pittsburgh. I agree that the Pittsburgh model is something the Bills realistically could model themselves after.

Weaver is 100% right....do you really think banks and municipalities are excited to dole out over 1B for a football team and stadium? Especially in a market that has failed twice! Not a big interest for NFL football in LA. They do after all have an MLS team to keep them busy.

I would MUCH rather sign a dynamic TE that is a serious offensive threat rather than overpay for yet another mediocre WR where you can get the same production out of Reed or Johnson. We have lacked a great TE for a decade. It fits TE's best skill set too which is his accuracy on short and medium routes and that in turn changes how Evans is played.

An owner would certainly need to put in at least 200M for a new stadium. You would need the NFL to put in probably another 200M and then the taxpayers another 200M. You can build a stadium here for 5-600M....but again you can NOT saddle the taxpayers with another 5-600M for a stadium. I just do not and can not see it happening anytime soon as much as we really do need a more updated stadium. It is (in terms of the physical plant) in the bottom ten of the league. Realistically though the main thing that makes the Bills profitable is that they do not pay anything for the stadium. I, like others would love to have a retractable roof dome downtown, functional and available for other events. You would be able to bring in other events, however, still not at a big enough rate to offset the costs. There will be a time soon, though, where something will need to be done as it is I believe one of the 5 oldest stadiums in the league. Downtown Buffalo or NF are much better sites and closer to the So Ontario contingent than OP. When you draw a dot on Buffalo and draw a 60-70 mile circle you have one of the biggest markets in North America (remember Tor-Buf-Chester is the 5th biggest megapolis in North America) So although Buffalo itself is small at about 1.1M, if you add in a realistic population within 60 miles that is a very big market.

I do not know quite honestly but I bet a huge amount.....last I read it was a lot more than originally proposed. However, you do know the Yankees are a good bet to almost always make money. I think Buffalo could and would.....do what Indy did and connect the stadium to a new Convention Center. Use the stadium year round for concerts, possible college games, conventions etc..... I think it would be great but I just do not see it happening with the fiscal pain of the state/local/federal gov't right now. Although with the new so called "stimulus" package maybe they can put people to work on municipal projects like that and build a new stadium and roads to it etc....we can dream can't we?

You could take 3/4 of the city and you would be doing everyone a favor. Good idea/concept of having the stadium there as it is the same distance away as OP. You get the Rochester crowd no matter what, you get Buffalo and NF obviously but then much easier to market in Southern Ontario as you are 30-40 minutes closer. Not even Toronto but Hamilton on South is over 1 million people. Add that to Buffalo/NY and Rochester and that is a 3M+ market all within 60 miles of NF. I do not see it happening at all or in doowntown Buffalo with a retractable roof unless federal and state money is available for it. Remeber the biggest reason Ralph makes money is b/c of no debt at all on the stadium. Add the debt of buying the team and the profit is gone....add in building a stadium and you are losing money.

Tim Graham has both the Bills and Dolphins going after Birk. That would be a great signing for the Bills.

What about the Jets or Dolphins made you think they were world beaters and just great football teams? The Bills were awful at times and were in all of those games. Chad Pennington has a long track record of having a good year and then a bad one and Chad Henne is their back-up. The Jets have no QB now. They have no HC.....heck, even if they get Shanahan remember who beat him this year. The Pats will be the class of the AFC East again but the big unknown is how Brady's knee is....let's not be too dramatic about things here and act like the Dolphins and Jets are great teams. If anything the idea that the Dolphins team we saw play at Roger's center is one of the better teams in the NFL.....not much difference there between us and them.

The "system" argument is the most ridiculous argument. Whatever you want to say NFL offenses are very similar. There are only so many ways to run a fly route, post, curl etc....Even with very average receivers Brady managed to do VERY well. I think you would have to agree winning 3 SBs is doing well. Why? Because he is smart, makes quick decisions, and is accurate. That is what makes a very good QB. A QB taking marginal/average players and making the team SB champs says a lot. Sorry, but he is the best QB going. He is marrying Gisele and he plays for the Pats and has 3 SB rings. Life ain't fair people. The Pats lucked out at the 6th round, and lucked out with Mo Lewis' hit on Bledsoe. Is it any coincidence that once Bledsoe was replaced the Pats started winning?

Newsflash.....Brady has won 3 SBs and Manning one. Manning has also had Pro Bowl talent around him for a decade.....not so with Brady until last year. Look how his WRs have done going elsewhere......Deion Branch has really flourished elsewhere. Same with David Givens and Patton. Well, maybe not. Maybe it was Brady who made them better. I know people on this board do not like him but face it he is the best QB of this generation. Manning is very good but has tended to lay eggs in big games. I really like PM as well he just has not accomplished as much as TB. TB won a super bowl with no pro bowl WR, no PB TE and Antowain Smith as his RB. The first year he does not play they do not make the playoffs. They were still good but they go 15-1 or 16-0 with him. He is that good!!

Gee, you couldn't see that coming. A guy not sure if we wanted to play, changed his mind about a half a dozen times this year. I'm sure his heart was in it and he was not going to break down at 39. Our QB situation a lot better than the Jets right now. Ironic how the owner wanted Favre so bad he over ruled Mangini who did not and then fires Mangini for basically Favre's collapse. Looks like Ralph is not the only suspect owner right now.

Will he even be there in the 2nd Round?

Wow....he wears gloves. Fascinating observation. Who cares....I am sure th ePatriots fans were upset with TB wearing gloves leading them to SBs. I bet that really upset them. Doug Flutie liked them as well in the cold as he learned from his days in the CFL......basically who cares? Next we should go after players who wear hats on the sideline.

You may not like him but he is the best QB of this generation and possibly the best EVER to play the game. Ask the Pats.....they would have gone 16-0 easy again had he played this year. He is not a system QB. Any QB that can take a team with the number one WR R Caldwell one game from the SB is a GREAT QB. Too bad he doesn't play in the NFC.

I would leave out WR as well. A TE is MUCH more important. A great TE automatically makes Trent and the whole offense better. We have enough talent in the WR to be very good. A very good RB duo. We have had NO production from the TE position in about a decade....probably a big part why the offense has been so poor.

To all who are cancelling their tix....you know you will be back next year opening day if you really love the Bills. As reactionary as we all can be they are still the Bills and that is why everyone checks out this board. From a marketing standpoint, this is horrendous however, this could mean they go after BIG free agents and not just second tier ones recognizing the need for a big splash. Would people still be upset if they made a trade for T Gonzalez, signed A Haynesworth to go beside Stroud and drafted the kid from Wake Forest as our outside LB? There are things they absolutely need to do from a marketing standpoint and signing big ticket people will make everyone forget about this poor PR play

I'll be there. I'll always keep my tickets. Go Bills...use the money saved to get a TE, DE and LB. Get T Gonzalez if you have to Ralph.