PromoTheRobot Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Fan blaming is fun. Try this one on for size: I live in NYC. It is hella expensive in December to fly to Buffalo to see a game. I am the kind of person who would come to one if they were moderately competitive and in the playoff hunt. I just can't see why it's some kind of sin to lose interest when the team has nothing to play for. In an era where the tickets and concessions didn't amount to two weeks of grocery budget, that might be different, but even the playoff teams are struggling to sell out in this market. A winner in Buffalo will be a hot ticket. Build it and we'll come. Tread water and we'll be smart enough to know it's more of the same. Conversely, I would never in a million years battle the traffic in Toronto to see football in a bad atmosphere. There hasn't ever been any good faith effort on the part of ownership to convince fans to go there. How about a "Bills tailgate train" Amtrak direct to the stadium, or a discount for season ticket holders? The PR man seriously seemed to have run out of answers for making this a success. Are we all supposed to buy in just because they are "our Bills?" Get real! Why go to all the trouble making excuses? Just say you don't want the Bills to play in Toronto but you sure as heck are not going to watch them live at RWS either. PTR
RuntheDamnBall Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Why go to all the trouble making excuses? Just say you don't want the Bills to play in Toronto but you sure as heck are not going to watch them live at RWS either. PTR ??? I'll go to RWS early in the season when travel is not a hardship and doesn't blow my budget, and later in the season when they prove they're worth that expense. Capice? Fan blaming is fun, though.
Dorkington Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 ??? I'll go to RWS early in the season when travel is not a hardship and doesn't blow my budget, and later in the season when they prove they're worth that expense. Capice? Fan blaming is fun, though. I'm in the same boat. It's not the cheapest weekend coming from DC. So if I go, I go while the weather is ok, because they haven't proven they are worth going through the trouble, late in the season.
RuntheDamnBall Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 I'm in the same boat. It's not the cheapest weekend coming from DC. So if I go, I go while the weather is ok, because they haven't proven they are worth going through the trouble, late in the season. Real fans 1) live in Buffalo and / or are wealthy so they can travel and have season tickets 2) blindly support the team 3) berate other fans for not being good enough fans Dontcha know?
GG Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Why go to all the trouble making excuses? Just say you don't want the Bills to play in Toronto but you sure as heck are not going to watch them live at RWS either. PTR I think that Jacksonville has proven that a franchise will not fold if you average 40K fans at the gate. Bills not selling 30K seats in December is irrelevant. They lose about $2.5 million in gate receipts (which coincidentally could be made up, plus some more, for selling the stadium name rights).
Dorkington Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Real fans 1) live in Buffalo and / or are wealthy so they can travel and have season tickets 2) blindly support the team 3) berate other fans for not being good enough fans Dontcha know? I bet if the Bills made a legit playoff push, or made the playoffs every 3-5 years, the attendance would be better, too. But I guess that'd just be "fair weather fans".
RuntheDamnBall Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 I bet if the Bills made a legit playoff push, or made the playoffs every 3-5 years, the attendance would be better, too. But I guess that'd just be "fair weather fans". I think the age of the fairweather fan accusation should die gracefully, especially as regards NFL where the league has put most of its eggs into the TV basket for growing fanbases. Sports events are expensive, bordering on the cost of a vacation in some situations. The notion that a team cares about growing a fanbase from cradle to grave is secondary and antiquated. They want your dollar, so it's one of many entertainment possibilities to choose from. News flash: if it ain't entertaining, you don't get the gate.
Dorkington Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 I absolutely agree. I watch every game ever week. But frankly, I hesitate to spend $300-400 on a weekend in Buffalo if I'm going to watch a team disappoint me. It's just simple economics. I can't imagine supporting a team with really expensive seats.
Bills Fan in Beantown Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 My two cents: I met a couple from Toronto over New Years so I obviously asked them what they thought of the Bills games there. It took them a minute to register what I was even talking about, then they said that they would rather make the drive to the Ralph if they wanted to see a game because you can't tailgate in Canada.
Georgia Bill Posted January 7, 2014 Posted January 7, 2014 the Greater Toronto Area has 6 million people. lets say 90% hate the bills and 10% like the NFL/Bills (600,000 people) lets say just 1% of 6 million is inclined to attend Bills games on a regular basis. thats still 60,000 fans. Problem is it seems like way less than half of the 60K "like the Bills" fans show up. Frankly it seems a good percentage of the people at the game are in the "hate the Bills" camp. They were cheering for Atlanta more than they were for Buffalo, and trust me there is no way those were actual Atlanta fans. People here stopped going to the home games en masse by the time the Falcons were 2-6. I'm guessing it's gotten to be fun for Leafs fans to show up and cheer for the opposition. It was embarassing for our entire organization and it should end.
Storm Front Posted January 7, 2014 Posted January 7, 2014 Russ is the devil. For whatever reason he's deliberately trying to ruin this team.
Buffalo Destroyers! Posted January 7, 2014 Posted January 7, 2014 Why not play the game at the new Hamilton Ti-cats stadium instead of the rogers center? Its an outdoor stadium so no more of the cold weather excuse. Its in between Toronto and Buffalo so that adds to the regionalization effort. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Hortons_Field
San Jose Bills Fan Posted January 7, 2014 Author Posted January 7, 2014 Why not play the game at the new Hamilton Ti-cats stadium instead of the rogers center? Its an outdoor stadium so no more of the cold weather excuse. Its in between Toronto and Buffalo so that adds to the regionalization effort. http://en.wikipedia....m_Hortons_Field This was brought up earlier in the thread. The place is too small. No one associated with the NFL would ever dream of hosting a game in a stadium with a capacity of less than 25,000 seats. Otherwise it would be a great location.
The Real Buffalo Joe Posted January 7, 2014 Posted January 7, 2014 Why not play the game at the new Hamilton Ti-cats stadium instead of the rogers center? Its an outdoor stadium so no more of the cold weather excuse. Its in between Toronto and Buffalo so that adds to the regionalization effort. http://en.wikipedia....m_Hortons_Field It wouldn't even hold the 56K that come to the Toronto game. Maybe some a preseason game, or some sort of inttra-squad scrimage though.
papazoid Posted January 7, 2014 Posted January 7, 2014 Russ is the devil. For whatever reason he's deliberately trying to ruin this team. you should be thanking Russ....without his regionaliztion efforts this franchise would be gone. without regionaliztion, other than the home opener, all home games would be a blackout. without regionaliztion, the recent 10 year deal (ironclad for 7) would never have happened. without regionalization, it would be a virtual certainty the next owner would relocate to a new city. buffalo alone, can no longer support an NFL franchise, embrace regionaliztion. 7 home games are better than none.
GG Posted January 7, 2014 Posted January 7, 2014 you should be thanking Russ....without his regionaliztion efforts this franchise would be gone. without regionaliztion, other than the home opener, all home games would be a blackout. without regionaliztion, the recent 10 year deal (ironclad for 7) would never have happened. without regionalization, it would be a virtual certainty the next owner would relocate to a new city. buffalo alone, can no longer support an NFL franchise, embrace regionaliztion. 7 home games are better than none. There's a world of difference in the regionalization strategy that aims to draw fans from a 100 mile radius to attend games in Orchard Park vs a strategy that sells away a home game to a bad venue.
papazoid Posted January 7, 2014 Posted January 7, 2014 There's a world of difference in the regionalization strategy that aims to draw fans from a 100 mile radius to attend games in Orchard Park vs a strategy that sells away a home game to a bad venue. from a business standpoint, it's pure genius. the amount of FREE media coverage from southern ontario newspapers, radio & TV of a game actually played in Toronto is worth tens of millions of dollars. do you think we would get the same exposure of games played at the Ralph, without the toronto series ?......no way. from a competitive standpoint, giving up home field advantage for a nuetral site is a steep price to pay. i call it a necessary evil.
GG Posted January 7, 2014 Posted January 7, 2014 from a business standpoint, it's pure genius. the amount of FREE media coverage from southern ontario newspapers, radio & TV of a game actually played in Toronto is worth tens of millions of dollars. do you think we would get the same exposure of games played at the Ralph, without the toronto series ?......no way. from a competitive standpoint, giving up home field advantage for a nuetral site is a steep price to pay. i call it a necessary evil. The Bills do not benefit financially at all from the free media coverage by the Toronto press. Bills do benefit directly by the $15-$25 million that Rogers pays Buffalo Bills Inc. though.
Canadian Bills Fan Posted January 7, 2014 Posted January 7, 2014 Bills in Toronto series sucks. It's a joke. Toronto doesn't deserve the Bills CBF
Mr. WEO Posted January 7, 2014 Posted January 7, 2014 (edited) from a business standpoint, it's pure genius. the amount of FREE media coverage from southern ontario newspapers, radio & TV of a game actually played in Toronto is worth tens of millions of dollars. do you think we would get the same exposure of games played at the Ralph, without the toronto series ?......no way. from a competitive standpoint, giving up home field advantage for a nuetral site is a steep price to pay. i call it a necessary evil. HAve you actually read the "free media coverage" of these games by the Ontario press? I have to assume you haven't. The Toronto games have absolutely nothing to do with the Bills still being in Buffalo--simply the most ridiculous statement in this entire thread. The Bills are still here because they are still generating tens of millions of dollars for the still-alive owner of the team. He doesn't care if the games sell out--he makes money anyway--in fact, as long as more expensive ticket rivals sell out--he's very happy because he gets a good taste of that. He would be happy to get beat on the road by NE, Wash, Dallas, etc, every week! Regionalization if it is happening, is going on despite the embarrassing Toronto games, not because of them. How could this not be more clear? How is any new owner going to look at those games in the skydome and say--"hey, those poorly attended, sad, losing games sure make purchasing this team more attractive and, for reasons that escape logic and fact, more finacially reasonable!" The only reason the Rogers would have paid Ralph more than 2 times for each game than what they are worth is because they are angling to bring the team to Toronto--permanently. And they're not alone--a more formidable threat is the MLSE group (and yes, Bon Jovi). One could more easily make the argument that Ralph's Toronto money grab has done far more for the chances the team moves to Toronto than it has for the chance the Bills stay in Buffalo. Edited January 7, 2014 by Mr. WEO
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