Update on the Stadium Lease negotiations

[Joe W]

If the New York State budget for 2012-13 is to be approved by March 31 will it have a provision for the $100 million in stadium improvements. What is going to have to happen for this funding to be approved, anyone know ?

[eball]

The cost of a roof would be astronomical.

So you're saying the cost of a roof would be through the ceiling?

[PromoTheRobot]

So you're saying the cost of a roof would be through the ceiling?

Realistically $100 Million will only buy a few noticeable improvements. Much of that money would go toward shoring up the stadium infrastructure. Not sexy but necessary. The one thing, other than a roof, that I would like to see is widening stadium concourses. They are too narrow. You cannot blow out any walls since many hold the stadium up, but you could build an outer ring of concourses that you can reach through walkways. Build new bathrooms and concession stands in this expanded outer concourse. That is something you might see for $100M.

 

PTR

[Buftex]

I'd love to know what kind of RWS improvements they have in mind. A roof would be huge in getting December games sold out. Not very likely though.

 

PTR

 

 

You could arge that putting a team on the field that is still competeing for a playoff spot in December would do just as much good in selling out those games.

[QCity]

$100 million+ is not required to keep it a safe and viable venue.

Tell us how you came to this conclusion. Is it a long history of stadium renovating experience, or did you figure out what it would cost to fix your house siding, then scale it up?

[Lv-Bills]

You could arge that putting a team on the field that is still competeing for a playoff spot in December would do just as much good in selling out those games.

Amen. A roof on the place would have done nothing to get me to attend games the last couple of years in December. Absolutely nothing. I am a season ticket holder as well.

[Ray]

You could arge that putting a team on the field that is still competeing for a playoff spot in December would do just as much good in selling out those games.

You could and that is a part of it but how come the Bills have sold out more games in December in the past ten years than they did during the SB years when they were awesome? See Mark Gaughns story In the Buffalo News how Dec and Jan games have ALWAYs been a tough sell even when they were great I am a season ticket holder too and I can't give the games away to two club seats in December with bad weather. Face it, people for the most part hate bad weather games. They are miserable. Everyone likes to romanticize the snow games but it is a fallacy. People want to be comfortable and PTR is right. It would help sell out those games. Obviously a good team is needed but the Bills need something to help better insulate fans and players down the road.

[Just Jack]

Re: my roof comment, I was just hoping, considering the advances in light weight materials, there would be a away to put something akin to a tent over RWS. But I realize that the winds we get might make that impractical. Again just saying what if.

 

PTR

The only way without major restructure of the current stadium to make it enclosed that I can see is to build an outer wall where the chain link fences are between the gates, the use those walls to support your roof structure. There may be some way of putting something across the restroom towers, but then I don't think it would be a fully enclosed stadium, maybe something like Seattle has where the "roof" only covers the stands.

[Buftex]

You could and that is a part of it but how come the Bills have sold out more games in December in the past ten years than they did during the SB years when they were awesome? See Mark Gaughns story In the Buffalo News how Dec and Jan games have ALWAYs been a tough sell even when they were great I am a season ticket holder too and I can't give the games away to two club seats in December with bad weather. Face it, people for the most part hate bad weather games. They are miserable. Everyone likes to romanticize the snow games but it is a fallacy. People want to be comfortable and PTR is right. It would help sell out those games. Obviously a good team is needed but the Bills need something to help better insulate fans and players down the road.

 

These are the last two regular season home games of each season 1987-96 (the "dynasty"). We all know, the "Comback" playoff game in January 1993 did not sell out, but, I believe, all other home playoff games in this era were sell-outs.

 

Attendance numbers not too shabby...the Bills, I think, would be very happy with these kind of numbers now...what sticks out to me, the Bills seem to be playing more late home games than they did in the good old days. The NFL doesn't seem to be doing them a lot of favors, in recent years.

 

Lets see:

 

1987 Week 11 (11/29/87) - Dolphins(5-5) @Bills (5-5) attendance: 78,055

1987 Week 14 (12/20/87) - Patriots (7-7) @Bills (7-7) attendance: 74,945

 

1988 Week 12 (11/20/88)- NY Jets (5-5-1) @Bills (10-1)- attendance: 78,380

1988 Week 15 (12/11/88)- Raiders (7-7) @Bills (11-3)- attendance: 78,348

 

1989 Week 12 (11/26/89)- Bengals (6-5) @Bills (7-4)- attendance: 80,074

1989 Week 14 (12/10/89)- Saints (6-7) @Bills (8-5)- attendance: 74,037

 

1990 Week 12 (12/2/90)- Eagles (7-4) @Bills (9-2)- attendance: 79,320

1990 Week 15 (12/23/90)- Dolphins (11-3) @Bills (12-2)- attendance: 80,235

 

1991 Week 13 (12/1/91)- Jets (7-5) @Bills (10-2)- attendance: 80,243

1991 Week 16 (12/22/91)- Lions (11-4) @Bills (13-2)- attendance: 78,059

 

1992 Week 13 (12/6/92)- Jets (3-9) @Bills (9-3)- attendance: 75,876

1992 Week 14 (12/12/92)- Broncos (7-6) @Bills (10-3) attendance: 71,740 (Saturday game)

 

1993 Week 12 (12/5/93)- Raiders (6-5) @Bills (8-3)- attendance: 79,478

1993 Week 15 (12/26/93)- Jets (8-6) @Bills (10-4)- attendance: 70,817 (day after Christmas)

 

1994 Week 14 (12/11/94)- Vikings (8-5) @Bills (7-6)- attendance: 70,358

1994 Week 15 (12/18/94)- Patriots (8-6) @Bills (7-7) attendance: 61,784

 

1995 Week 15 (12/17/95)- Dolphins (8-6) @Bills (9-5)- attendance: 79,531

1995 Week 16 (12/24/95)- Oilers (6-9) @Bills (10-5)- attendance: 45,253 (Christmas Eve)

 

1996 Week 12 (11/24/96)- Jets (1-10) @Bills (8-3)- attendance: 68,854

1996 Week 16 (12/22/96)- Chiefs (9-6) @Bills (9-6)- attendance: 73,671

Edited March 8, 2012 by Buftex

[San Jose Bills Fan]

One other variable, Buftex is the changing seating capacity of the stadium.

 

On at least two occasions the seating capacity at The Ralph has decreased.

[PromoTheRobot]

Re: playoff sellouts, only the first year games sold out by themselves. The rest needed Ralph, channel 2, or some business to buy the last couple thousand seats.

 

PTR

[Captain Hindsight]

I personally like the snow games. Sometimes they can be a little miserable but me personally I like it. Once I'm in the stadium and the game is going im not cold

[jimmy10]

I personally like the snow games. Sometimes they can be a little miserable but me personally I like it. Once I'm in the stadium and the game is going im not cold

 

 

Snow games are fun. It's the bitter cold windy days when it's too cold to snow that suck. Like that Pats/Bills game the day after Xmas in 2010. Holy crap, that was cold. Of course, it was my first winter game since moving to NC 6 years ago, so my lack of exposure to the cold for all that time probably made it worse. Oh, and getting our asses handed to us by Belicheat and the Amazing Backup from Michigan didn't help either.

[Buftex]

One other variable, Buftex is the changing seating capacity of the stadium.

 

On at least two occasions the seating capacity at The Ralph has decreased.

 

Not sure what you are implying...but the first substantial decrease in seating didn't happen unitl 1998...of course, this is from Wiki, so it's validity can always be questioned. Also, not sure if the attendance numbers are for tickets sold, or actual number in attendance.

 

Seating capacity

80,020 (1972-1983)

80,290 (1984-1994)

80,024 (1995-1998)

75,339 (1999-2000)

73,967 (2001-2007)

73,079 (2008-present)

 

Re: playoff sellouts, only the first year games sold out by themselves. The rest needed Ralph, channel 2, or some business to buy the last couple thousand seats.

 

PTR

 

 

Point taken...but still, they likely sold at least somewhere in the 75,000 seat range for thos games, I would think.

[Chandemonium]

Snow games are fun. It's the bitter cold windy days when it's too cold to snow that suck. Like that Pats/Bills game the day after Xmas in 2010. Holy crap, that was cold. Of course, it was my first winter game since moving to NC 6 years ago, so my lack of exposure to the cold for all that time probably made it worse. Oh, and getting our asses handed to us by Belicheat and the Amazing Backup from Michigan didn't help either.

I was at that game and don't remember it being all that bad. I thought the last game of the 2009 season against Indy was much worse temperature-wise, and that game it snowed like crazy.

[PromoTheRobot]

Not sure what you are implying...but the first substantial decrease in seating didn't happen unitl 1998...of course, this is from Wiki, so it's validity can always be questioned. Also, not sure if the attendance numbers are for tickets sold, or actual number in attendance.

 

Seating capacity

80,020 (1972-1983)

80,290 (1984-1994)

80,024 (1995-1998)

75,339 (1999-2000)

73,967 (2001-2007)

73,079 (2008-present)

 

 

 

 

Point taken...but still, they likely sold at least somewhere in the 75,000 seat range for thos games, I would think.

Rich/RWS was 80K capacity then so yes. The big problem was the Bills only had a week to sell 30-40K seats. Still you would think people would be lining up.

 

PTR

[nucci]

For all of you they want a roof on the stadium....have you ever attended a game inside a dome? I have been to a couple and it was the worst experience for me. I hated it. Just didn't feel right.

[Buftex]

Rich/RWS was 80K capacity then so yes. The big problem was the Bills only had a week to sell 30-40K seats. Still you would think people would be lining up.

 

PTR

 

 

As many Bills games as I have been to over the years (about 130-140 or so...nothing compared to you I am sure ) my one regret is that I have never been to a Bills playoff game. I really hope I have that chance sometime soon...starting to feel a little more optimistic about the team!

[PromoTheRobot]

For all of you they want a roof on the stadium....have you ever attended a game inside a dome? I have been to a couple and it was the worst experience for me. I hated it. Just didn't feel right.

I've been at Bills games in the middle of a driving sleet storm while they were getting pummeled by the Pats. I sincerely doubt watching a game in a dome could be any worse.

 

In fact I saw the International Bowl between UB and UCONN at Rogers Centre. It was single-digits outside while I watch the game in shirtsleeves. Hmmmmm...sleet storm or shirtsleeves?

 

PTR

[nucci]

I've been at Bills games in the middle of a driving sleet storm while they were getting pummeled by the Pats. I sincerely doubt watching a game in a dome could be any worse.

 

In fact I saw the International Bowl between UB and UCONN at Rogers Centre. It was single-digits outside while I watch the game in shirtsleeves. Hmmmmm...sleet storm or shirtsleeves?

 

PTR

I understand that. I was at the Cards game in 1990 with 45 MPH winds and sleet. It doesn't happen often. I just don't like football in a dome stadium. JMO, that's all.