JÂy RÛßeÒ Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 Event was held in the new Operations building behind the stadium. First, Joe Frandina Director of Construction Management gave a status update and some more details on the renovations: - Back on schedule after winter delayed things a bit - over 800 workers now working 2 shifts including weekends - it's gonna be a "play at the plate" to be ready for that first home preseason game - Old team store building is being converted into a media studio for Bills.com content as well as the weekly shows done throughout the season - Another piece we hadn't heard about is the new cabling for HD broadcasts. Said that network crews used to have to come in on Wednesdays and string cables in trees and along fences to be able to supply the HD feeds. Next, Director of Player Personnel Jim Monos had a Q&A session on player additions and the just-completed OTAs: - Sammy Watkins does something to turn heads at least once per practice - Excited about how much competition will be going on - WRs, DBs, OL, RB - Ebron was the pick if we hadn't gotten Sammy. - Team looked at Jermichael Finley but injury concerns still linger about his neck. TE is a position they're still looking to bring in - Dareus should be in for minicamp next week and team is trying to help him deal with whatever is going on Assistant Director of Account Services Matt Patrone on Ticket Sales: - 87% renewals, better than last year (84% clubs, 90% seats) - over 30,000 tickets sold so far to season ticket holders for individual games, group sales opening soon. - Sales season opened late due to delays of variable pricing & delayed league schedule (draft, schedule etc) - Changes to season tickets coming (can't publicize details yet) - team has no options when tickets bought from sources other than them or ticketexchange (like StubHub, EBay, Craigslist) turn out to be fraudulent - happens quite often actually. Assistant Director of Customer Service Pat Mathews: - Every Monday after a game they gather all comment cards, emails, texts, phone calls etc from the game and review each one. Their goal is to at least contact the person with the issue within 24 hours. So if you do not get a satisfactory response to a game-day incident/complaint, please document as much as possible and contact his office. Vice President Event Operations and Guest Experience Andy Major: - You'll never hear anybody from the team saying they need a new stadium. Further updating of RWS is very much on the table in those discussions - Last year did a study of stadium entrance (wait times etc). Gave chips to people in line to measure how long it took to get through various steps (waits, security, ticket scanning). Team best in NFL as far as average security wanding time (7 seconds) and ticket scanning. When contracted company has all staff in place, very comfortable guaranteeing entry before kickoff if you arrive at gates by 12:30. Opener last season was a bit off due to short-staff and new bag procedure - security company held contractually responsible. - Team 3rd "worst" in league as far as total ejections & arrests, although numbers down from prior years when they were worst. Averaging 57 ejections, 6 arrests. Credits crews going around parking lots. I brought up that this doesn't affect anyone tailgating in private lots and they agreed they have to come up with better ways to get messages out to those folks. Many ejections smoking related. No smoking policy is NY State law, not team or NFL rules. - Request for early beer sales partly way to get people into stadium sooner to ease crush before kickoff. They are looking for other ideas - might be having bands play on-field before warm-ups (partnering with LiveNation/Darien Lake). They're moving some of the activities out of the field house and into the new open-spaces between the gates and stadium as well. I brought up what someone here had suggested about having team alumni available. - I asked if the 'RCW' jersey patches and or pins would be made available to fans, and they are working on that. As to the questions asked earlier here: 1) Adding hand rails to aisles would make them non-compliant with width regulations. Idea to remove 1 seat per row at some point to widen aisles and then add railings is out there. Said that if someone with mobility issues wants to attend but has trouble with stairs: a) when purchasing, contact team directly to get seats with minimal stair climbing b) if already purchased, contact team to see about moving seats to areas with minimal stair climbing 2) Re: first 2 rows of seats behind benches - They will be tarped but seats not removed. The current "McKelvin's Marauders" type stupid signage on the walls will be moved to those tarps. Team wouldn't really comment on the situation with the Jills due to ongoing litigation.
eball Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 Nice recap -- thanks! I had heard the cabling issue being a major reason why Sunday/Monday night football crews didn't want to do games here. Didn't help for this season, but perhaps for future years.
JÂy RÛßeÒ Posted June 13, 2014 Author Posted June 13, 2014 Nice recap -- thanks! I had heard the cabling issue being a major reason why Sunday/Monday night football crews didn't want to do games here. Didn't help for this season, but perhaps for future years. Yeah, apparently they love doing games here because of the fans, the atmosphere, the colors - we put on an amazing show and look/sound great doing it. But it's been difficult for them to do.
beerme1 Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 Great recap and thanks! Matt Patrone and Pat Mathews are both excellent guys. They go the extra mile for ticket holders and I can attest to that. The organization needs to win for employees like them as well as us fans. They are so deserving of some success. I'm not a smoker but after watching The Belmont and seeing so many people smoking in the crowd I wondered how that's possible thinking it's a NY State facility. They need to find a way to make a designated smoking area again cause it's pretty sad to get ejected for that or even cause any friction with the cops over that. They have real issues to deal with on game days. Thanks again.
CountryCletus Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 Thanks a bunch! You're doing a fantastic job!! Crap... Are these tarps going to cover up my beer holder?
CodeMonkey Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 Great recap, thanks. If fans can get to the gates at 12:30 and still be in their seats by kickoff then that would be fantastic. No one should be able to complain about that.
jimmy10 Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 "Changes to season tickets coming" I wonder what kind of changes? Pricing? Or something else?
JÂy RÛßeÒ Posted June 13, 2014 Author Posted June 13, 2014 Oh I forgot to mention what was said about training camp... More night practices than ever before. Players love them because it's generally cooler and they like the big crowds. Coach Marrone doesn't like them as much but willing to do for the fans. They did away with the team signing event where they would line everyone up at a fence for 15 minutes and fans would line up to get autographs because it was more trouble than it was worth - most popular players always had more in line than they could accommodate, players didn't like because they got all taped up and ready to practice then had to do that for 15 minutes. Coach Marrone mandates at least one position HAS to sign at fences after each practice but it's usually way more players that do it - some have to get pulled away so they don't miss meetings. "Changes to season tickets coming" I wonder what kind of changes? Pricing? Or something else? Something else. It will start with this year's tickets which obviously are already priced.
eball Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 Great recap, thanks. If fans can get to the gates at 12:30 and still be in their seats by kickoff then that would be fantastic. No one should be able to complain about that. But they will. "Changes to season tickets coming" I wonder what kind of changes? Pricing? Or something else? Electronic entry (i.e., display on smartphone)? That would be cool. One less thing to worry about forgetting.
CodeMonkey Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 Oh I forgot to mention what was said about training camp... More night practices than ever before. Players love them because it's generally cooler and they like the big crowds. Coach Marrone doesn't like them as much but willing to do for the fans. They did away with the team signing event where they would line everyone up at a fence for 15 minutes and fans would line up to get autographs because it was more trouble than it was worth - most popular players always had more in line than they could accommodate, players didn't like because they got all taped up and ready to practice then had to do that for 15 minutes. Coach Marrone mandates at least one position HAS to sign at fences after each practice but it's usually way more players that do it - some have to get pulled away so they don't miss meetings. Thanks! My kids always harassed my wife to get there early for this, now they won't have too
PromoTheRobot Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 (edited) Great recap and thanks! Matt Patrone and Pat Mathews are both excellent guys. They go the extra mile for ticket holders and I can attest to that. The organization needs to win for employees like them as well as us fans. They are so deserving of some success. I'm not a smoker but after watching The Belmont and seeing so many people smoking in the crowd I wondered how that's possible thinking it's a NY State facility. They need to find a way to make a designated smoking area again cause it's pretty sad to get ejected for that or even cause any friction with the cops over that. They have real issues to deal with on game days. Thanks again. I can second that about Pat Matthews. In fact the Bills have excellent customer service for STH'ers. I can call my rep with a special request and can usually make it happen or tell me why they can't. I also have Sabres ST's and they have a long way to go to catch up with the Bills. Edited June 13, 2014 by PromoTheRobot
plenzmd1 Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 (edited) Thanks Jay..great recap.And i think the Bills have great customer service. Only tiny bit of BS in my mind is the Stubhub piece. I have never, ever never had an issue with Stubhub to any event...have prolly used at least 7 times a year for the last 7-8 years.. Just a littel way to drive fans to the prefeered place i get it...and i can see Craigslist having issues.. But Pat just doing his job....cant wait to see the new stadium. Edited June 13, 2014 by plenzmd1
drinkTHEkoolaid Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 I liked the honesty over ebron would have been the pick if not for sammy. You dont get a candid response like that often. Gives a window into where they feel they are at the TE position as well.
JÂy RÛßeÒ Posted June 13, 2014 Author Posted June 13, 2014 Thanks Jay..great recap.And i think the Bills have great customer service. Only tiny bit of BS in my mind is the Stubhub piece. I have never, ever never had an issue with Stubhub to any event...have prolly used at least 7 times a year for the last 7-8 years.. Just a littel way to drive fans to the prefeered place i get it...and i can see Craigslist having issues.. But Pat just doing his job....cant wait to see the new stadium. They did say that StubHub now has a local presence at every major sporting event to deal with such issues but not everyone knows how to get to them. The went on to say that when they can track tickets (ticketmaster/ticketexchange) they know who to go to and find out what's up. They've revoked people's tickets for misuse.
beerme1 Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 I can second that about Pat Matthews. In fact the Bills have excellent customer service for STH'ers. I can call my rep with a special request and can usually make it happen or tell me why they can't. I also have Sabres ST's and they have a long way to go to catch up with the Bills. Very true about the Sabres for customer service but it really matters who you end up dealing with for them. Nice to see you and I on the same about something. Oh look, an asteroid! LOL
JÂy RÛßeÒ Posted June 13, 2014 Author Posted June 13, 2014 I liked the honesty over ebron would have been the pick if not for sammy. You dont get a candid response like that often. Gives a window into where they feel they are at the TE position as well. You want more honesty? Regarding the other TEs on the roster: Chandler - steady & reliable but not seen as a game-changer Lee - almost exclusively a blocker Moeaki - has had success but still recovering from injury, needs to "Prove it on the field" Gragg - wasn't even mentioned You want even more honesty? When discussing the DBs he said Graham would be the 3rd DB. When asked where that put Robey, he said "he's our slot guy and we have stuff designed around him".
Peter Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 (edited) But they will. Electronic entry (i.e., display on smartphone)? That would be cool. One less thing to worry about forgetting. I have a feeling that you are on to something. I do not know about other teams, but I know that if you are an Arsenal season ticket holder or Red Member, you get a card (size of a credit card or parking card) that serves as your "ticket" and you hold it up to a card reader when going into the stadium. It is actually pretty cool. If you have the card, you also can buy tickets on line and then use your card to get into the stadium. The card reader knows you purchased the tickets. As a back up, you print out the confirmation in case something goes wrong. As a side note: the same company that designed Emirates Stadium (the stadium Arsenal plays at in London) is the same company that designed the renovations at the Ralph. Edited June 13, 2014 by Peter
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