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Discussion of The Bills Fan Alliance concept

Kelly the Dog

By Kelly the Dog
in The Stadium Wall Archives

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purple haze Veteran

purple haze

Posted
Posted (edited)

$170 million doesn't seem like it would be enough to move the needle on anything, but I'd be in.

 

I agree with you that the Bills for some reason do next to nothing to cultivate Buffalo expatriates, who are among the most rabid of Bills fans. Kind of a mystery there.

 

What do you mean by "major Bills hubs"? Do you just mean fans in other major cities?

 

There are Bills Backers Bar/Clubs all over the country. The team website helps you find them. Former players or current players sometimes show up. I believe the team also sometimes send merch for raffles, etc. http://www.buffalobi...kers/index.html

 

With so many clubs and different types of numbers involved in various places, it might be difficult to any more than that. But what kind of other things would you like to see them do or see them do more of?

Edited by purple haze
TheLynchTrain RFA

TheLynchTrain

Posted
Posted

For what its worth, I have a lawyer friend I spoke with recently to get his take on the Bills Fan Alliance concept. He's not in the sports law realm but does his best to keep up (Eagles fan, if that colors people's opinion one way or the other). I told him I thought this was a novel idea that could go a long way to helping keep the Bills in Buffalo.

 

He unequivocally thinks the NFL is a better place with the Bills in Buffalo (and out of the playoff basement) but he cautioned that he could foresee the NFL having serious issues with an ownership group relying on this. His take is that the NFL is super secretive about their books and any release of them to the public, and that even though this funding source could open up new opportunities for billionaires around the league to finance their purchases on the backs of everyday fans, he feels that this may open them up to too many liabilities/legal snafus.

 

I mentioned the Bills Fan Alliance is kicking the can on a few different vehicles (non-profit, lending exemptions, ect) and that maybe those concerns could be allayed, but he was really certain the NFL would just say "no, principal owner or nothing."

 

Again, this is from one lawyer friend that doesn't know all the details and isn't in the sports law realm, but that was his take. Hope I didn't rain on anyone's parade.

 

My take, I believe the Bills Fan Alliance could probably figure out a way to structure this so everyone's happy, but if the NFL doesn't want the Bills in Buffalo long term, there's not really much we can do about it.

 

Hopefully we'll get our white knight to swoop in a la Pegula and the Sabres!

 

Cheers :beer:

BillnutinHouston All Pro

BillnutinHouston

Posted
Posted

For what its worth, I have a lawyer friend I spoke with recently to get his take on the Bills Fan Alliance concept. He's not in the sports law realm but does his best to keep up (Eagles fan, if that colors people's opinion one way or the other). I told him I thought this was a novel idea that could go a long way to helping keep the Bills in Buffalo.

 

He unequivocally thinks the NFL is a better place with the Bills in Buffalo (and out of the playoff basement) but he cautioned that he could foresee the NFL having serious issues with an ownership group relying on this. His take is that the NFL is super secretive about their books and any release of them to the public, and that even though this funding source could open up new opportunities for billionaires around the league to finance their purchases on the backs of everyday fans, he feels that this may open them up to too many liabilities/legal snafus.

 

I mentioned the Bills Fan Alliance is kicking the can on a few different vehicles (non-profit, lending exemptions, ect) and that maybe those concerns could be allayed, but he was really certain the NFL would just say "no, principal owner or nothing."

 

Again, this is from one lawyer friend that doesn't know all the details and isn't in the sports law realm, but that was his take. Hope I didn't rain on anyone's parade.

 

My take, I believe the Bills Fan Alliance could probably figure out a way to structure this so everyone's happy, but if the NFL doesn't want the Bills in Buffalo long term, there's not really much we can do about it.

 

Hopefully we'll get our white knight to swoop in a la Pegula and the Sabres!

 

Cheers :beer:

Your friend's take makes a lot of sense to me. I'm sure the NFL wants no part of having their books opened up, and I agree that they'd likely be skeptical of any group that has to rely on BFA financing to survive, given the many options they will have to choose from.

 

TheLynchTrain RFA

TheLynchTrain

Posted
Posted

Your friend's take makes a lot of sense to me. I'm sure the NFL wants no part of having their books opened up, and I agree that they'd likely be skeptical of any group that has to rely on BFA financing to survive, given the many options they will have to choose from.

 

Just saw in that BS Bon Jovi article that the NFL only allows 200 M to be financed - somebody needs to bring the rest of the cash to the table - http://www.torontosun.com/2014/04/10/bon-jovi-part-of-toronto-group-expected-to-bid-on-bills

 

The money should go towards the new stadium. That would help keep the team from moving and lower the tax burden on the city..

 

Totally agree. No reason why we couldn't make this work. I would hope the Fan Alliance folks would leverage that money to make the other parties (Bills, Erie County, NYS) pay either an equal or proportional amount.

  • 2 weeks later...
Captain Hindsight Hall of Famer

Captain Hindsight

Posted
Posted

This is what needs to be done before it is too late. Cheers to those guys and I will certainly contribute.

 

I didn't read the entire article... what happens if an owner takes the money and later bails?

We round up a posse :death:
Buftex Hall of Famer

Buftex

Posted
Posted

The ESPN article about Reed and the Fan Alliance mentions, not only Christie and Luke Russert, but former Giant, and WNYer, Phil McConkey! I think that is pretty cool. Too bad Ron Jaworski has already endorsed Bon Jovi as the new owner of the team. He did so, completely ignoring the notion that Bon Jovi is already aligned with the Toronto group.

 

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10817117/andre-reed-joins-group-trying-keep-buffalo-bills-city

  • 2 weeks later...
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