Jerry Jabber Posted July 20, 2014 Posted July 20, 2014 (edited) After watching "Cleveland 95" on the NFL network, I couldn't help but to think of the possibility of the Bills being bought by someone who wants to move the team. I'm hoping Terry Pegula or someone else who wants to keep the Bills in Buffalo gets approved as the new owner. After seeing "Cleveland 95," I can't imagine seeing this happen to "the Ralph" as I feel the place would get torn up worse than the "Dawg Pound" during the Browns last game there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH9gC0APaFU Edited July 20, 2014 by Jerry Jabber
boyst Posted July 20, 2014 Posted July 20, 2014 I think the Bills fans would show more restraint, especially because the name of the stadium is in our late owners honor.
Jerry Jabber Posted July 20, 2014 Author Posted July 20, 2014 I think the Bills fans would show more restraint, especially because the name of the stadium is in our late owners honor. That would be hard to say considering how rowdy fans get at the Ralph, even during preseason games.
billnutinphoenix Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 At least when Cleveland left, the NFL felt it should bring the NFL back to Cleveland....If the Bills leave, they will not come back...
Original Byrd Man Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 I felt sorry for the Browns fans when Modell moved the team, but the city of Cleveland was to blame not Modell. He had begged for a new stadium to replace the hole they played in, only to see the city build a new arena for the Cav's, a new stadium for the Tribe and of course the Rock and Roll hall of fame. So he got an offer which Cleveland was not in a position to match and left.
FluffHead Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 I think the Bills fans would show more restraint, especially because the name of the stadium is in our late owners honor. Ralph's name on the stadium won't stop liquored up Buffalonians
Augie Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 Ralph's name on the stadium won't stop liquored up Buffalonians That was my first thought. I'd like to think otherwise, but.... can't.
4merper4mer Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 If Bon Jersey moves the Bills, instead of ruining the Ralph I think Bills fans should make a pact and spray paint huge Bills logo on the outside or on the field of every one of the other NFL stadiums. And when it gets cleaned up; do it again.
Kellyto83TD Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 What gets me is just because a guy buys the team and SAYS he is keeping them here, that doesn't mean he will past 2020. He can BS the trust and get the team.
bills1960 Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 Gotta imagine the NFL will do all in its power to avoid another scenario such as this.
White Linen Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 What gets me is just because a guy buys the team and SAYS he is keeping them here, that doesn't mean he will past 2020. He can BS the trust and get the team. The trust will vet each candidate and then Mary Wilson will decide which one is the most likely to carry out her husbands wishes. You better be ready to do more than BS if you want to buy this team, best believe that.
The Wiz Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 (edited) Gotta imagine the NFL will do all in its power to avoid another scenario such as this. While I agree the NFL(Goodell) will do all in its power, I doubt any of the owners voting on moving the team give 2 schits about whether they vote to move the team or not. Some will say they need to stay but I feel like they would just do it to try and save face. My favorite part of the video, at 2:45 you can see the stadium board in the background that says "Thanks for being part of something special. Thank you very much." Edited July 21, 2014 by The Wiz
SF Bills Fan Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 If the the Bills are bought by a carpetbagger owner, and we knew they were leaving, it would be a million times worse than that destruction. It would be a riot. Nobody would buy a ticket to line that person's pockets and the fans that did would only pay in order to wreak havoc. It would be so bad, that they could not even try to wait out the lease to get to the buyout option. The NFL would probably try to invoke some option to let them leave ASAP and the state and county would sue to get the 400 million and it would be a complete crap show in the courts with out of control fans fueled by an ocean of alcohol ripping things apart on Sundays. Does the NFL want that?
May Day 10 Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 it would get pretty ugly for sure. It is very tough to pre-emptively rip teams who are well and rabidly supported. When Winnipeg, Quebec, Hartford, and Minnesota lost NHL teams, those cities were fairly lukewarm on the NHL and the teams slid out. The NHL could have torn Buffalo out in 2002 and not all that many would raise hell because only like 6K people were attending games.... Cleveland is the main applicable case.
Buftex Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 (edited) The Oilers final years in Houston were similarly ugly. I won't say that Oilers fans were as die-hard as Browns fans, but they had a great following...it really was simply a situation of an owner demanding a new, state of the art stadilum, and the city was in dire economic shape...they had just invested a healthy chunk of change in gussieng up the Astrodome... their last season in Houston, they played in front of crowds as small as 10,000. Oilers games were not shown or radio broadcast, outside of Houston..which is crazy for a football starved state like Texas... I find it interesting that in both cases (the Browns and Oilers) the city refusal to buckle to demands for a new stadium, played a large part in both teams leaving their original cities, despite a rabid fan base....interesiting too, both cities ended up with a team shortly thereafter...I am afraid, as others have noted, Buffalo won't be so lucky, should that terrible event ever occur. Edited July 21, 2014 by Buftex
Utah John Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 It was Modell's bad business decisions that led to the Browns moving to Baltimore. He got into a cash flow squeeze and the only way he could fine to fix it was to move. That took some doing, too, since the Browns fan base was as active and loyal as the Bills fan base is. But Modell screwed up, and the Cleveland fans got screwed. We can criticize Ralph Wilson for having non-football people (Littman) making football decisions based on being cheap, but Wilson's friend Modell showed what a really bad owner was like.
SF Bills Fan Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 It was Modell's bad business decisions that led to the Browns moving to Baltimore. He got into a cash flow squeeze and the only way he could fine to fix it was to move. That took some doing, too, since the Browns fan base was as active and loyal as the Bills fan base is. But Modell screwed up, and the Cleveland fans got screwed. We can criticize Ralph Wilson for having non-football people (Littman) making football decisions based on being cheap, but Wilson's friend Modell showed what a really bad owner was like. You are right, Modell was having financial problems and got a cash incentive to move as well as a stadium. He used the "they took my parking away" as reason to move and cited a number of other reasons as to why he needed to move. To be fair, that stadium was a pit. Does anyone remember how bad that playoff game with the Bills-Browns was in that the late 80's? They painted frozen mud green and then it thawed and turned into a muddy mire. But. at the end of the day, he needed money and he was offered it and decided to throw away his legacy to get it.
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