Eric Wood: "Toronto series is a joke"

[May Day 10]

 

It's been brought up many times but December games struggled to sell out during the SB years. I absolutely love tailgating but if it's a choice between staying at home & away from the cold or going to the game, I'm staying at home & watching it on a giant TV with good quality beer and food at my fingertips. I'm sure a lot of people feel like this nowadays.

 

That is the thing that they love to throw in our faces... But that was 20 years ago. Times have changed, and the entertainment ticket industry is completely different now.

First of all, the Bills draw from a wider area and the NFL is more popular now than 20 years ago. They love to tout the # of Canadian ticket holders, and I dont believe they were there in the early 90s. They also were here before and not because of the Toronto series. The Camp in Rochester did help a bit there.

The Stadium is smaller.

Internet ticket sales have changed everything. People impulse buy tickets in seconds. There is also the resale market. If people are confident the team has a chance, more people would buy season tickets without the certainty they would be "eating" as many as 3 pointless games (as I currently do). Many people buy tickets for resale and it wouldnt be any different. When the Bills show promise, I have people contacting me left and right to see if I know of any extras (which I dont). The Jets game last season was cold, and I know a lot of people shut out as the cheapest ticket on the hub was $100.

 

A Division with Cleveland/Pittsburgh would have helped

[apuszczalowski]

Russ Brandon keeps saying that but I don't recall this many blackouts in the 90s. The Saints, Eagles and Oilers comeback games come to mind, but not much else.

back then, I always remember hearing about the threat of a blackout on the news during the week, then someone, either Ralph or a local company buying up whatever was left to get the game on TV

I do remember it being very rare that the game would not actually be on TV, but I do remember it as almost a weekly occurance that someone would step in at the deadline and buy up the remaining tickets back then. Now the local businesses just let it get blacked out

[26CornerBlitz]

Right on Cue:

 

http://www.thestar.com/sports/football/nfl/article/1304648--bills-in-toronto-suckers-won-t-fill-two-bills-drive-rogers-pricey-seats-perkins

[C.Biscuit97]

That is the thing that they love to throw in our faces... But that was 20 years ago. Times have changed, and the entertainment ticket industry is completely different now.

First of all, the Bills draw from a wider area and the NFL is more popular now than 20 years ago. They love to tout the # of Canadian ticket holders, and I dont believe they were there in the early 90s. They also were here before and not because of the Toronto series. The Camp in Rochester did help a bit there.

The Stadium is smaller.

Internet ticket sales have changed everything. People impulse buy tickets in seconds. There is also the resale market. If people are confident the team has a chance, more people would buy season tickets without the certainty they would be "eating" as many as 3 pointless games (as I currently do). Many people buy tickets for resale and it wouldnt be any different. When the Bills show promise, I have people contacting me left and right to see if I know of any extras (which I dont). The Jets game last season was cold, and I know a lot of people shut out as the cheapest ticket on the hub was $100.

 

A Division with Cleveland/Pittsburgh would have helped

 

There are a lot more fans from other teams coming to games as well. I would guess there were like 30% Pats fans at the NE game.

 

And it's not just a problem for Buffalo. A lot of fans would rather watch games from home or a bar than deal with all the BS that goes with going to a game (parking, leaving the game, food/ beer prices, etc.)

[RyanC883]

Is the Toronto series a joke? Sure.

Are the Bills a good team? No.

Is it lame to point blame at Toronto fans for being blown out? Yes.

 

Eric Wood, his teammates and the coaching staff, should concentrate on playing better ball.

And they should stop drafting poorly. See: Aaron Maybin.

And if they are so small market, they shouldn't hand out 96 million dollars to an adequate defensive player.

I think Eric Wood is pointing the finger in the WRONG direction. What an idiot.

 

100% agree. Deflect the blame away from the person responsible for the loss (Chan and Co.) and "blame Canada." Those who "hate" the toronto series won't let the fact that 44% of season ticket holders are from southern Ontario get in the way of their calling for it to end. Buffalo is shrinking, time to face the facts. If you want the team to stay here, playing a game in the area where 1/4 to 1/2 of your season ticket holders reside is not a terrible idea. Particularly when its a December game that generally has a hard time selling out.

 

Also, in terms of expanding the fan base, I think the Bills should play a pre-season game in the Carrier Dome. (NBA teams routinely have a pre-season game there).

Edited December 20, 2012 by RyanC883

[apuszczalowski]

This is a ridiculous statement to make after your team getting blown out. Both teams played in the same atmosphere. Does he really think the result would have been different if played in 50 degree weather (comparable to Seattle weather) in the Ralph. How about manning up and calling out your head coach. THAT would take guts. This is just a weak, looser thing to do after getting blown out.

 

 

 

You are correct. They always have trouble selling tickets in December, even in the good old 90's. And if the tickets sell, people don't show up when the wind chill is below zero. We need a retractable dome. Let the elements (snow, etc) affect the players, but have heating for the fans.

The problem is that in todays NFL, with everyone practicing indoors in most places, and a bunch of teams playing in domes, I think the weather affects both teams just as much. Decembers are becoming a little more mild around here, and its not like when they ever play in "Buffalo type weather", there has been an obvious advantage to the Bills. Also, with FA, and the draft, players are coming from all over to make up these teams, there are guys on the Bills who have never seen snow before in their lives, how is this an advantage for the Bills?

[RyanC883]

There are a lot more fans from other teams coming to games as well. I would guess there were like 30% Pats fans at the NE game.

 

And it's not just a problem for Buffalo. A lot of fans would rather watch games from home or a bar than deal with all the BS that goes with going to a game (parking, leaving the game, food/ beer prices, etc.)

 

This is true, but the population of Buffalo is in decline. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/census/profile/NY (Erie County, -3.3%). We need to spread out to other counties in NY and South Ontario.

 

The problem is that in todays NFL, with everyone practicing indoors in most places, and a bunch of teams playing in domes, I think the weather affects both teams just as much. Decembers are becoming a little more mild around here, and its not like when they ever play in "Buffalo type weather", there has been an obvious advantage to the Bills. Also, with FA, and the draft, players are coming from all over to make up these teams, there are guys on the Bills who have never seen snow before in their lives, how is this an advantage for the Bills?

 

I'm not sure that the weather is an advantage for the Bills. Then close the dome. I don't care. The problem is getting people to the game. People would come if they were not going to freeze to death.

[apuszczalowski]

That is the thing that they love to throw in our faces... But that was 20 years ago. Times have changed, and the entertainment ticket industry is completely different now.

First of all, the Bills draw from a wider area and the NFL is more popular now than 20 years ago. They love to tout the # of Canadian ticket holders, and I dont believe they were there in the early 90s. They also were here before and not because of the Toronto series. The Camp in Rochester did help a bit there.

The Stadium is smaller.

Internet ticket sales have changed everything. People impulse buy tickets in seconds. There is also the resale market. If people are confident the team has a chance, more people would buy season tickets without the certainty they would be "eating" as many as 3 pointless games (as I currently do). Many people buy tickets for resale and it wouldnt be any different. When the Bills show promise, I have people contacting me left and right to see if I know of any extras (which I dont). The Jets game last season was cold, and I know a lot of people shut out as the cheapest ticket on the hub was $100.

 

A Division with Cleveland/Pittsburgh would have helped

I think that the internet resale makes it harder for teams to actually sell out games then it did before. With the internet, more people are going out and buying tickets with the intent of re-selling them online. Its just as easy, and most times cheaper to buy the tickets off stub hub or ebay a week before the game then going through the Bills site. Back in the 90s, if I wanted to go to a game, I either had to buy it through the Bills box office, or usually a scalper. When you buy off Stub Hub/Ebay instead, it might change the number of people actually in attendance for a game, but not the number of tickets sold to the game, because the ticket you are buying is already accounted for

 

The fans in Canada were there just as much in the 90s as they are today, I doubt that number has changed that much

If the Bills would have given one home game a year to Rochester, people would view this move as Genius marketing and love it, but because its in Canada and in Toronto, people seem to feel its on another planet. Buffalonians are afraid of Toronto, because Toronto has the population and money that could support an NFL franchise if it did have one, Rochester on the other hand does not, so they wouldn't feel as threatened. They also hate teh idea of having to come to go through the hassle of crossing the border into a second class country to see the game, even though Canadians do it all the time to see the game at RWS.

 

The comment earlier about teh NFL changing since the 90s is right, back then Buffalo was still one of the smaller markets, but was still big enough to support the sport. In those 20 years, the league grew and expanded, and Buffalo did not. In todays NFL, Buffalo is not the type of area that can suport a team in a sport the size of the NFL without help. Instead of facing this and helping, the fans here would rather resist and fight any help because they still believe they are enough to support the league, or the league should change so they can stay the same.

 

I'm not sure that the weather is an advantage for the Bills. Then close the dome. I don't care. The problem is getting people to the game. People would come if they were not going to freeze to death.

Thats true, people would come out more right now if the team was leading the division, but I think thats only the start. I think that once they start winning people would flock back for a little while because they haven't experienced it in so long, but I think that after a while, just winning isn't enough to keep the fans coming out. If things were different, and the bills were in the position of the Patriots the last decade, I have a feeling by now fans would start skipping these december games in bad weather to stay home, "its just another win, why freeze out there when i can save some cash for the playoffs and watch at home"

[May Day 10]

i disagree that people hate the Toronto game due to the border...

 

they hate it because it is a bigger, nicer city who is hoping to use the series to covet an NFL franchise of their own, who would likely be the Bills.

 

That is a good point about internet tix, but I have seen it work the positive way for the Sabres.

 

I also agree about the fans becoming complacent after prolonged success. That is a problem many places, including "Hockeytown". The Bills last won a playoff game when I was a Junior in High School. Im 34 now. Im not too worried about prolonged success yet.

 

I also dont want to sell ourselves short on the ability to host an NFL team. I remember New Orleans had the same issues. They win, and magically they have perpetual sellouts and are off the radar.

 

All the Bills have to do is win. All the problems will fix themselves and gimmicks wont be needed.

[Heels20X6]

i disagree that people hate the Toronto game due to the border...

 

they hate it because it is a bigger, nicer city who is hoping to use the series to covet an NFL franchise of their own, who would likely be the Bills.

 

That is a good point about internet tix, but I have seen it work the positive way for the Sabres.

 

I also agree about the fans becoming complacent after prolonged success. That is a problem many places, including "Hockeytown". The Bills last won a playoff game when I was a Junior in High School. Im 34 now. Im not too worried about prolonged success yet.

 

I also dont want to sell ourselves short on the ability to host an NFL team. I remember New Orleans had the same issues. They win, and magically they have perpetual sellouts and are off the radar.

 

All the Bills have to do is win. All the problems will fix themselves and gimmicks wont be needed.

 

The Sabres are bad example to compare the Bills too. They have strong ownership now, seemingly, a dedication to winning and they have had a few winning seasons as of late.

 

The Bills have been an absolute joke for 13 straight years from the top down. If the Sabres had that long a series of futility, the HSBC would be empty too and they'd start playing games in Hamilton.

 

Again, this failure in TO has less to do with it being in TO and more with the Bills being a horrible, horrible football team with no national respect. If the Bills were good, the SkyDome would be filled with bandwagoning Torontonians cheering for them.

 

Instead, they're pretty much a farm team that better teams beat up on.

[Metal Man]

I didn't think his comments were trying to say that the reason they lose there is because the atmoshpere sucks.

 

I think it was more along the lines of comparing the atmosphere to the Ralph regardless of how the team is.

 

Jacksonville had a small crowd with the same terrible Bills team and still was 10x as loud. Maybe if the Bills were good the Toronto reaction would be a little bit better but it still wouldn't even be close to the noise in Ralph Wilson Stadium late December with a 10-2 Bills team fighting for a play-off spot.

[skibum]

I'm a big Eric Wood fan, but I can't get behind his statements this time.

 

He gets paid millions to do his job. Boo-hoo if it isn't always "fun". My job isn't always fun, and I make less than Eric Wood's game check for the entire year.

 

If there's a "joke" in this game, it is the Bills themselves. They have laid an egg at the Rogers Center 4 out of 5 times so far. The Toronto crowd pays to watch a team that is consistently outclassed by its competition, and they're supposed to become die-hard fans? Not necessarily the players' fault - we all know the team's problems are manifested on many levels. But what kind of support do you expect when you can't win the game?

 

The Bills FO took a chance in trying to expand the market and make the team more profitable. The intentions were good. I think Mr. Wood should be a lot more respectful of this and keep his petty frustrations to himself. Let the fans do the talking on this one.

[87168]

100% agree. Deflect the blame away from the person responsible for the loss (Chan and Co.) and "blame Canada." Those who "hate" the toronto series won't let the fact that 44% of season ticket holders are from southern Ontario get in the way of their calling for it to end. Buffalo is shrinking, time to face the facts. If you want the team to stay here, playing a game in the area where 1/4 to 1/2 of your season ticket holders reside is not a terrible idea. Particularly when its a December game that generally has a hard time selling out.

 

Also, in terms of expanding the fan base, I think the Bills should play a pre-season game in the Carrier Dome. (NBA teams routinely have a pre-season game there).

 

Actually Buffalo's decline has be minimized drastically and is showing amazing turnaround. Also, 44 percent? where did you get that number from?

 

Oh, also, he wasn't blaming Canada. I'd like to see where Wood personally said that the country of Canada is the reason for our losses at Rogers. If he did, please show me.

[ALF]

Eric, follow the Levitre conditioning routine and stay healthy. Your a great player when you are 100%. If we have playoff teams ,no need to go to Toronto, except 1 preseason game.

[BisonMan]

Woods is a moron. Somebody should stuff Fitz's jock strap in his mouth. Only a self-delusional player would see that it's the fans' fault that they don't come out and watch and cheer for his team.

 

Toronto is not Buffalo. It is a new market for the team (a.k.a. the product). Can you imagine a Coke executive saying "China is a joke" because they didn't buy a lot of bottles in the first few years the product was in their market? Buffalo Bills football is an acquired taste, especially when the team sucks as bad as it has for so many years. Woods is basically selling sour Coke and blaming the new market for not liking it. (The rest of us just keep drinking the sour Coke just because it comes in the same old bottle.)

 

How about producing a better product? How about committing to a market for a while with a good product before pronouncing that the market is the problem? How about telling your employees to shut the $@$% up about your customers unless they have something positive to say?

 

The Buffalo Bills play in the 56th largest media market and it's shrinking. Expanding to one of the largest cities on the continent that can already watch your games over the air is entirely sensible and almost mandatory.

[dwight in philly]

Woods is a moron. Somebody should stuff Fitz's jock strap in his mouth. Only a self-delusional player would see that it's the fans' fault that they don't come out and watch and cheer for his team.

 

Toronto is not Buffalo. It is a new market for the team (a.k.a. the product). Can you imagine a Coke executive saying "China is a joke" because they didn't buy a lot of bottles in the first few years the product was in their market? Buffalo Bills football is an acquired taste, especially when the team sucks as bad as it has for so many years. Woods is basically selling sour Coke and blaming the new market for not liking it. (The rest of us just keep drinking the sour Coke just because it comes in the same old bottle.)

 

How about producing a better product? How about committing to a market for a while with a good product before pronouncing that the market is the problem? How about telling your employees to shut the $@$% up about your customers unless they have something positive to say?

 

The Buffalo Bills play in the 56th largest media market and it's shrinking. Expanding to one of the largest cities on the continent that can already watch your games over the air is entirely sensible and almost mandatory.

it is about losing the competitive edge the ralph affords the team.. he doesnt give a sh-t about marketing, nor do alot of fans, myself included.. it is a money grab.. Edited December 21, 2012 by dwight in philly

[BisonMan]

it is about losing the competitive edge the ralph affords the team.. he doesnt give a sh-t about marketing, nor do alot of fans, myself included.. it is a money grab..

 

Welcome to America and the free market! It's a business. If any employees that worked for me had such an attitude toward my customers they would likely be fired. Just like owners, players negotiate contracts based on the business of the NFL, not because they play for the love of the game. A smart business owner will try to expand his business, especially if faced with a shrinking market. Fans of the "Buffalo Bills" should welcome market expansion of the team so they don't have to become fans of the "LA Bills".

Edited December 21, 2012 by BisonMan

[BuffBill]

i disagree that people hate the Toronto game due to the border...

 

they hate it because it is a bigger, nicer city who is hoping to use the series to covet an NFL franchise of their own, who would likely be the Bills.

 

That is a good point about internet tix, but I have seen it work the positive way for the Sabres.

 

I also agree about the fans becoming complacent after prolonged success. That is a problem many places, including "Hockeytown". The Bills last won a playoff game when I was a Junior in High School. Im 34 now. Im not too worried about prolonged success yet.

 

I also dont want to sell ourselves short on the ability to host an NFL team. I remember New Orleans had the same issues. They win, and magically they have perpetual sellouts and are off the radar.

 

All the Bills have to do is win. All the problems will fix themselves and gimmicks wont be needed.

I know alot of Bills fans, and probably don't like the serious because it gives away the Home Field Advantage. The Bills are the only team in the NFL that annually only have homefield advantage 7 times during the season. The organization is bad enough, but to start with a disadvantage is all this team needs.

 

I'm starting to think this guy really is the slow kid from Bad Santa, So whats the excuse for the just as Sh*ty play at home in RWS?

 

Spend the night at his house drunk and see if he keeps wanting to make you a sandwich!

[May Day 10]

Polancarz on WGR today seemed to say that they cant go >1 game a year, but it was still the Bills' choice if they wanted to play the Toronto games.

[dwight in philly]

Welcome to America and the free market! It's a business. If any employees that worked for me had such an attitude toward my customers they would likely be fired. Just like owners, players negotiate contracts based on the business of the NFL, not because they play for the love of the game. A smart business owner will try to expand his business, especially if faced with a shrinking market. Fans of the "Buffalo Bills" should welcome market expansion of the team so they don't have to become fans of the "LA Bills".

i am looking at his remarks from a fan's perspective.. not as deep as you.. i like what he said.. as a fan, i think it is important for the bills to have the ralph, could care less about the business aspect, i watch the bills as a fan, not into the global concept that you seem to espouse..