Ray

His involvement and his face and committment is responsible for millions in funding to leukodystrophies......he is the main reason there is so much awareness and funding now for this group of diseases. So he CAN accomplish a lot. Wow....a spokesperson for a gambling web site......I do not see the problem there. So he severs his ties with the web site if he is involved with a group that buys the Bills. Big deal!!!!! He, of course would be a very small owner but he has the contacts and knowledge of the NFL that would be helpful. Running a multi-million dollar charity and making it VERY successful does prove he can succeed in matters beyond being a QB. Him leading a group to buy the team is going to be the best chance of the team staying. He can do it and likely will

Losman...really? Then you can kiss the season goodbye!

5-2......1st place in the AFC East with second best record in the conference. Did you think they were going to win every single game the rest of the season? Did Bill Bellichek stink b/c Miami beat the Pats when the Dolphins were horrible and the Pats won the SB? Relax...it's one game. Let's see how the season plays out.

It will be interesting to see how these big market teams do in terms of selling out when they are over charging for tix.......they all seem to think that tix and everything will grom at 10% per year. Wonder how the new NY stadium will do when Wall Street has just taken such a tumble....will they have enough people to pay 100k for seats in some places???? What a deal we have in Buffalo!!!

With his athleticism I imagine he has more potential than Schouman and Fine. Low risk with big upside if you got him at the price.

Twobillsdrive Stadium Hmmmmmmmm...it may work

The Bills would be lucky to get 1M/yr......a lot? Yes to one of us individually but less than 1% of the salary cap hardly helps build wealth in the team!

Most domes are pretty bad. A retractable roof stadium would be fine if it was used only when the weather was miserable......say what you want but playing in tropical storm winds and a real blizzard is miserable and not good for the game. When it is snowing a bit and winds are reasonable, keep it open. But with a retractable roof stadium you would be able to draw other events/conventions etc...to generate more revenue to the stadium. Have it Buffalo themed. Have actual small santuary for real Buffalo. Honor the great lakes with some type of exhibit. Have a Bills store and a "museum" to honor all the past Bills and team next to the stadium. They could have pre-defined criteria to close the roof....winds over 30mph, blizzard , less than 10 degrees out etc....but actually 90% of the time despite what everybody thinks about the weather it would be open. That wonderful game against the Dolphins a few yrs back when it was snowing gently......those elements are fine. It is just the extreme elements people hate...extrme cold, wind and snow. That would give you really the best of both worlds and keep the advantage to us.

Good summary PTR.......it basically suggests what a lot of us have been saying all along.....that the finances of the Bills are not that bad. It does bother me when Ralph seems to suggest this team is losing 20M/year b/c the market is terrible. Although the team will never be a Dallas Cowboys they can do well and make a profit. Like you suggested the big question mark occurs when Raplh passes on......hopefully a long time from now. And hopefully estate tax consultants have aided somewhat the transfer behind the scenes. Likely a consortium of owners would buy the team to keep it in Buffalo and I highly doubt it would go gor 851M especially in today's market. Are there banks willing to fork over 400M to finance half the deal the way the credit markets are nowadays? That debt service would certainly cut into about all profits of the team but that would assume that the revenues are flat which they are not. Season ticket sales are up, revenue streams are up and the team looks better. Plus there a multiple teams in the league barely selling out games with lackluster interest (Jacksonville, San Diego) that would be a lot better for takeovers---moves. I'll gladly exchange a game or two a year to Toronto to collect the extra revenue stream....hey, if the schedule does go to 17-18 games a year Toronto may get another game a year some seasons. This is not a bad market. 8-9+ million people from Rochester to Toronto. Not exactly "small" market 60 miles each way from Buffalo, although Buffalo itself is small at about 1M people in Erie County. And about Toronto permanently taking the team.....if NYJ and NYG cannot turn much of a profit do you think Rogers can buy a team for 1B, build a stadium for 1B and pay the NFL another 600+M to relocate the team? That's close to a 3B bet to acquire a team to squeeze out 10M in profits a year. That's less than 1% profit per year on your investment! So people do need to relax...I do not think the NFL will take away a team that routinely sells out when it hasn't fielded a playoff team in 8 years. What other markets could say or do that?

why trade a guy who does not cost you much at all against the cap and is signed for three more years. The only way Peters has leverage is if the LT is terrible. The Bills hold all the cards otherwise.......bad advice from the agent. He is a top 10 LT, but hey, get to camp and re-do the deal while you show your committment to the team. Unless someone is offering two number one picks why trade a guy you do not have to and that is not costing you much. Does he really want to sit out for three years and roll the dice at 30 yrs old for another contract after not playing for three years?

Peters needs to think for himself and not have his agent lead him around like a puppet. Come to camp, prove you can still play after surgery and go out and compete. He has no leverage right now.....or very little. Nobody knows how he recovered from surgery or if he is in shape, or has been working out, etc... The Bills are NOT trading him. They can ride his contract out for three yrs if he wants to sit out until game 10 each year and sit on the bench etc... Then in 2011 a team can sign him without him playing for 3 years and see how things are then....bad advice from his agent. Go to camp, compete, play hard and rengotiate and make your millions more.

The fatalistic Buffalo fans will not be happy that yes it will be very difficult to move the team out of Buffalo. Do you think Rogers wants to leverage half of his net worth on an NFL team. Do you really think he will make 300M a year in profit on the team....he would have to buy the team, pay the relocation fee and finance a stadium privately. That is a lot of cash up front. Relax people....as long as the Bills draw well here and make an effort to broaden their fan base they will do well. The Bills are staying in WNY so support the team and be happy! Playing a game a year in Toronto is a very good thing for the franchise....it is NOT a prelude to moving there.

Had the Bills been in the NFC for the past 8 years they would have made the playoffs at least twice.....so it's not a fair comparison. Making the playoffs as an 8-8, 9-7 team playing in a weaker division is simply easier to be a playoff team. So let's be fair.

Your basing everything on the first preseason game? He had a good second year. DTs often are busts as 1st rounders...ask the Jets and Browns for their recent picks. Why don't we wait and see how things go in a 16 game season...he had a pretty good year last year leading the team in tackles for losses, so he's not all bad.

People like Losman...they like him a lot. We just don't like him as a starting QB.....he unfortunately is not going to be a starting QB in this league. So he had a good 1st preseason game against the Redskins' second stringers.....wow, way to go for your 4th year in the league. How did he do last year? How about the year before that in actual games? Oh, he got outplayed by Kelly Holcomb who is not even in the league anymore, is he? He will be a good back-up in the league and that is fine. Nobody wants him as their starter

People have become desperate.....evaluating a QB on 5 passes in the 1st preseason game. People are VERY bored.

No other teams showed any interest in the offseason so maybe he would stay but I doubt it. He probably wants to go and see what else is out there, but he has to realize the way he has played no team sees him as an upgrade and that he would have to compete again for a starting job and likely just be the back-up on another team. He is a good back-up in this league. He could help a team (ours included) for a few weeks but then his weaknesses shine through again and again.

The Jets have a 39 yo guy who was not sure he wanted to play for the team he was with for 15+ years. He has had one good season in the last 4-5 years. A definite upgrade over Pennington, but he may throw 29 INTs again. If the Jets start out 1-3 and the NY media gets on him is he really going to want to be there? That's a huge reason Green Bay did not want him....if a guy can not make up his mind if he wants to play what happens to his desire when things go bad? I am actually loking forward to the Bills getting 2-3 INTs per game against the Jets. Did Favre really wow people at the Ralph 2 yrs ago?

A guy who has had one good year at LT, is coming off of an injury and surgery and who has not practiced this year. Do you really want to pay him 30M in guaranteed money like the 1st pick in the draft got? Not until he shows his stuff on the field. Get to camp, show the Bills you are okay after the injury and that your heart is in it....then you'll get plenty of money.

Trent may not be the ultimate answer.....although I think he has a good chance to finally be the QB the Bills need for the next 10 years. We do know that JP is not the guy, even though we all desperately wanted him to be.....the complete lack of interest from any of the other teams certainly speaks volumes about the league's view of him...although I'll always maintain JP is a great guy. He is an average QB at best who will probably find his niche as a back-up QB. Trent has the most important thing a QB needs in today's NFL and that is intelligence and the ability to make quick decisions. Demonstrating that as a rookie was huge. Taking a guy from Standford who did not know a soul on a team across the country and have him come in and outplay our starter in both the pre-season and regular season was a pretty big thing. I think he really is going to be a great fit for this team. Growing pains to be expected given year two but overall we will see improvement from an already solid year one.

OW I was and am NOT against theToronto games at all....one game a year and a pre-season game is a huge revenue generator for the Bills. And that is fine. I do NOT see them splitting time as it is just a huge inconvenience for everyone splitting 4/4. One game a year is very doable both for the Bills and the Toronto group. As an aside....10% interest nowadays for that 500M is probably a high interest rate. Many commercial rates are still low around 6-7% which iss about $30M/yr and yes that eats away the profit. But the assumption that you cannot charge more are generate more revenue here in Buffalo I think is a falacy. I was also saying in my comments that I do NOT think the people of Toronto have this at the top of their things to do with their tax money and that is an ENORMOUS obstacle to overcome. The Mayor of Toronto agrees with me as well...from the National Post today... "When SkyDome was built, Metro Toronto put in $30-million, because at that time, the municipality had felt there was a need for a major sports centre," Toronto Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone said. "There's no political will in this town, that I'm aware of, to basically subsidize an NFL team in Toronto by putting taxpayers' money in it."

PTR I am not one of the people that hates the Bills playing a game in Toronto etc....I happen to think it is a good idea to regionalize things better, help the Bills make an extra buck or two or 10M. But I am just sick of the doomsdayers and how the Bills are gone etc...after Ralph passes. I am very aware of the fact we have no debt service on the stadium or team and that helps immensely. But Ralph always crying poor and how we cannot compete etc is also somewhat misleading. He makes a good 30M profit on the team. The TV money pays for the salaries of the players outright. Then the other revenues pay the extras and coaches etc...I am well aware that having 25M in interest payments a year really cuts into a new owner having the team. But to then say TO or LA (which has already failed TWICE supporting an NFL team) deserves or will take the Bills I think is very unlikely. Most markets are NOT NYC or DC/Dallas. Baltimore, Minneapolis, Cleveland, NO, Cinci, Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Tennessee, KC, Pittsburgh, etc.....are all very similar to B'lo. This market can and will support the Bills at a profit. When push comes to shove, moving this franchise will have enormous obstacles to overcome. Things in WNY could be better but combine Buffalo/Rochester/So Ontario (not including Toronto) and you have 3+ million people to support the team. Plus you have NYS that is NOT going to let this go......NO politician wants to be on the clock if the Bills move. Hey, I agree with you that it will be virtually impossible to get a new stadium etc given the debt service in addition to a new owner......but we will all probably live with that! As a Bills fan who used to live in Boston I know all the rumbles heard elsewhere and how Buffalo is such a dying town etc......but there a quite a few connected and wealthy people around here that will not let this beloved team leave. Expect the Bills to stay......I went through this with the Flutie years too. I do wish Ralph would make pre-arrangements to ensure and calm the people here that the franchise will stay. I do think his words and actions fan the flames.......and remember, the Ontario media has said an NHL team is coming to Hamilton for th past 25 years!!!! I have yet to see it happen, and they would much rather have that then an NFL team.

PTR I know you are in Boston and have now gotten the jaded NewEnglander view of things....but the Bills are NOT moving to TO......move back to Buffalo, and also talk with Toronto citizens....overall there is not a movement to have an NFL team. The dissolution of the CFL is a BIG thing to a lot of people. There is a huge amount disdain for even just one game up there from a lot of people in the Hamilton So Ontario area. Many of them prefer coming to Buffalo for the games!!!! I don't expect the bill to pass barring an NFL team, however, it does underscore the point that many people are OPPOSED to a team there!!! 52k seat stadium will NOT support an NFL team. Rogers is not going to, nor does he have the cash for a 1B stadium so that means the Ontario taxpayers...MANY who are opposed to the thing from the start. Majority from Hamilton, So Ontario and Ottawa are opposed. So realize the Bills are staying.....don't buy in to the whole thing. They are NOT moving. If this is SUCH the hottest ticket in Toronto's history then why have I been approached 3 times to buy premium seats? b/c I have club seats at The Ralph. Gee whiz they have filled 27k seats already.....are we supposed to be impressed by that! The actual buzz is that it is NOT as big a deal as they would like it.....and they misjudged how wonderful it was going to be. Toronto will ALWAYS be a hockey town.......compare it to the interest of the Bruins in Boston compared to the Red Sox. That is about the level of curiosity and interest there.

I know people are afraid of this......but for the 100th time, the Bills are staying in Buffalo. They are NOT moving to Toronto. I know the fatalistic types will disagree....but people they are not going anywhere. 1st, does Toronto and its people have the will to finance a 1Billion dollar stadium? 2nd, is the whole country willing to have the dissolution of their beloved CFL? Face it, the Canadians hate more than anything to be more "Americanized." That is an enormous obstacle....that is why you have Senators in Canada writing bills to prevent the NFL from placing an NFL team in Toronto!!!! That's right! Toronto will have ENORMOUS problems getting money, Canadians etc to support a full blown move. Also, do most Canadians even want the NFL there??? It is an event now and they still are generating only lukewarm interest from the people they need the most. That's the high end tix. Not even 50% have been sold. That leads to the question...do the Canadians really have as much interest in an NFL team and the fan base to begin with? They only have to fill a 52k stadium. The Bills now have over 52k season ticket holders. So relax people, Buffalo is on the way up a bit and the Bills are staying. The arrangement now is fine for the Bills and their fans.

I wonder if anyone on this board has ever backed up a car and bumped or grazed another car.....did everyone step out of the car to see if there was anyone in the other car? Did you even realize you bumped anyone? Has anyone driven a car in a crowd and maybe someone grazed your car or you bumped them. This, is from what we know so far the most that happened. Obviously it was not a direct hit and then woman fell down and whoever was driving did not proceed to run over her. Minimal bump, most likely and news b/c the car is registered to a pro athlete. This will happen in the Wegmans parking lot about 10 times today.