PromoTheRobot Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 i am curious as to what other events a downtown domed stadium could hold. i am not trying to be a wise guy, but i hear all this talk about "year round events".. i really cant think of any "sure things" that would justify a covered stadium.. Conventions, concerts, college bowl game, large NCAA events like the FInal Four or Frozen Four. NHL hockey games, etc. Expect any new stadium to be part of a hotel and convention complex. This is a link to events scheduled at Lucas Oil Stadium this year.
May Day 10 Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 If we had the market to support ncaa neutral site games and bowl games I'd be all for it.
Kirby Jackson Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 If we had the market to support ncaa neutral site games and bowl games I'd be all for it.Buffalo has been one of the best sites for the NCAA tournament. Most cities do not pack the place for rounds 1-2 or 3 & 4. Buffalo has consistently done that. People in Buffalo love these events. It may take a little while to get the final 4 or a bowl game but I'd imagine that it would be extremely well supported.
Wing Man Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 A new stadium is the least of our concerns with the Pelugas firmly in control. Let's concentrate on winning a Super Bowl.
boyst Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 Oh boy, move the stadium, make it nice new and unaffordable! Charge us up the ass for licenses we don't need!
Hammered a Lot Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 there is no intention of leaving the Bills in OP. The goal is to bring people to the city. Economic development will happen in the city, it never happened in OP. Nothing built up around the Ralph What do you mean no build up, there r a bunch of restrauants we got a Louie's hot dog, Tim Hortons, Jack Devines to mention a few. Car dealers and buildup of a industrial park. I see Buffalo has had a lot of development since 1973?????
Ted William's frozen head Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 (edited) As a fan, I don't need a new stadium. I spend 3 hours in a seat staring at a field. I don't need expensive microbrews (I love em but don't need em), I would never eat at a game (who the hell tries to eat chicken wings at a game or better yey what self-respecting Buffalonian would waste their money). I don't need a multimillion dollar scoreboard just dedicated to fantasy stats. I don't need my eardrums shattered at every whistle by the blaring music. I need a seat, a field, a the team I'm rooting for. Yes. I've been to other stadiums where you feel like you were watching ants on the field due to the distance of the sidelines from the field of play. (The old Giants stadium, for example) I say just build more premium seating at the present facility. Problem solved. Games remain affordable. Tailgating survives! Edited January 17, 2015 by Ted William's frozen head
dwight in philly Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 (edited) Conventions, concerts, college bowl game, large NCAA events like the FInal Four or Frozen Four. NHL hockey games, etc. Expect any new stadium to be part of a hotel and convention complex. This is a link to events scheduled at Lucas Oil Stadium this year. those events are worthy, but dont seem like permanent events.. sporadic..lots not seem worthy of a 75,000 seat stadium.. i saw a senior prom listed..if you assume there will be 10 football games and maybe a regional, a frozen four, but they happen every 5-10 yrs at best.. Edited January 17, 2015 by dwight in philly
QCity Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 i am curious as to what other events a downtown domed stadium could hold. i am not trying to be a wise guy, but i hear all this talk about "year round events".. i really cant think of any "sure things" that would justify a covered stadium.. Exactly. I think people are grossly overestimating the "year round events" phrase that I keep hearing. How many of these events would be so big that they could not fit inside First Niagara Arena? A Final Four? That's a huge longshot, and even if we landed something like that it would probably only happen once every 25 years. "Year round events" would be closer to 1 or 2 concerts over the summer with a monster truck show. We could do that now with the Ralph but we still don't (well, we did draw One Direction I guess).
Hammered a Lot Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 Conventions, concerts, college bowl game, large NCAA events like the FInal Four or Frozen Four. NHL hockey games, etc. Expect any new stadium to be part of a hotel and convention complex. This is a link to events scheduled at Lucas Oil Stadium this year. you forgot wedding hall When the Bills move out of The Ralph, does anyone want to go in and rent it as a condo? I WILL move back to Buffalo for that Hammer, bring the whole family - the the Lot just got HUGE! No pressure on Kenny, I would expect he'll move the tailgate to downtown, but maybe we can still do Saturday's at Hammer's, er, my condo's parking lot? Flag football games all year. A huge garage, for all my 1 Jeep. GIANT TV - think of the video game tourneys and movie nights? It's gonna be great, who's IN? I think when the time comes it will be converted to a large fishing/swimming pond.
May Day 10 Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 I just don't think we would draw (most dont) for a #3 sun belt vs #4 conference usa bowl matchup. Mac championship isn't leaving detroit. Ub won't draw enough. I don't see us getting the neutral site matchups jerry gets or atlanta or even indy. Yeah we would probably get a regional ncaa basketball one year. Maybe a final four someday.
purple haze Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 (edited) there is no intention of leaving the Bills in OP. The goal is to bring people to the city. Economic development will happen in the city, it never happened in OP. Nothing built up around the Ralph I agree the goal is to bring people to the city and spur economic development. And I believe that is exactly what should happen. But I wouldn't say nothing built up around the Ralph. It's nothing compared to what a downtown stadium would lead to, but Orchard Park now, compared to way back when, seems night and day. Today, OP seems like a developed suburb. I don't know if you were there back in the day, but if not, and you think there is nothing in OP now, find a Hot Tub Time Machine and go back to the late 70's. Edited January 17, 2015 by purple haze
Thrivefourfive Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 My dream: NO DOME. Build a football stadium that crams 60,000 fans into an intimate, outdoor setting. ONE level of suites (because unfortunately you have to...because money) between the two levels of seating. Not a bad seat in the house. Get ahold of the drunks who ruin the experience for entire sections. No distractions when you walk through the tunnel. Plenty of clean restrooms. NO ENTREES, just snacks and water/coke/beer. Eat in the tailgate before the game!! Go to an affordable dinner at many dowtown locations after the game to celebrate (or sulk) with your fellow brethen. Do it for the fans of the Bills. Who in turn, give their all to the players on the field Being in California, I've only been to three different NFL stadiums to watch the Bills - The Murph, Glendale, and The Coliseum (yeah I wrapped myself in a Bills blanket as a 14 year old in the nose bleeds to watch an embarrassing 20-3 defeat, and guess what..the Crips and the Bloods, and the Mexican Mafia with Raiders tattos on their tongues were cool with it ) I think I've been to 7 Bills' road games, and I've never seen them win I wouldn't say that any of those home crowds were completely invested in the game. A crowd, a stadium, and a location can do that to fanbase. I plan on going to my first game at the Ralph this season if my schedule permits. The parking lot sounds like a blast, and it will be nice to be accepted by the majority of the fans. In the future I would love to go to one game a year. Fly in and shuttle it to a downtown hotel. Walk to a downtown stadium. Sit in the open air, and root on the Bills If people around the country think they know anything about Buffalo, they talk about the weather. Sorry, but that's the selling point, and it's not a very profitable one. All 31 visiting teams recognize the weather in Buffalo. The weather is literally what puts Buffalo on the map at this point in time. The weather has to be part of a Bills game experience. "When it's too tough for them, it's just right for us" may be a nuisance to some Buffalonians, but the rest of the viewing NFL public sees it as an identifiable and indelible piece of the Buffalo Bills, and so do I. To have a dome, might be ideal for homers, but the NFL and America wouldn't give two $h!t$ about the Buffalo Bills unless they were dominating on the field. It would just be another roof. Through all the losing years of the Saints, Falcons, Lions, Vikings, Rams, the Kingdome Seahawks, nobody cared at all about those teams outside of the home city. They had no relevance. In my opinion, a dome distinguishes a major ally for the Buffalo Bills. It's the only holdover talking point for the Bills during losing years. A dome could possibly make Buffalo the least relevant city in the entire NFL.
Proteus Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 (edited) Buffalo's exspanion CFL franchise is going to play at the Ralph after the Bills move downtown. Edited January 17, 2015 by Proteus
QCity Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 I agree the goal is to bring people to the city and spur economic development. And I believe that is exactly what should happen. But I wouldn't say nothing built up around the Ralph. It's nothing compared to what a downtown stadium would lead to, but Orchard Park now, compared to way back when, seems night and day. Today, OP seems like a developed suburb. I don't know if you were there back in the day, but if not, and you think there is nothing in OP now, find a Hot Tub Time Machine and go back to the late 70's. Ok, but how much of that development is directly attributed to the stadium? Probably very, very little (a few bars/restaurants). If Rich Stadium wasn't constructed there, do you believe it would still be a vacant lot today? Of course not. There would surely be development there - probably some type of plaza/mall with an assortment of small businesses. People left the city for the suburbs in that era. Believe it or not, you could almost say the stadium hindered economic development in that area. It's certainly not a given that a downtown football stadium will spur development.
Hammered a Lot Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 Conventions, concerts, college bowl game, large NCAA events like the FInal Four or Frozen Four. NHL hockey games, etc. Expect any new stadium to be part of a hotel and convention complex. This is a link to events scheduled at Lucas Oil Stadium this year. Besides the Final 4 Moster Jam and Supercross they tried them at the Ralph. Weak attendance. DCI headquarters are in Indy (i think they got a sweet heart deal to locate there) so logically World Chamionship are held there (5 year contract). They held the Championships @ the Ralph and the turn out was very good, in think in the 40,000 area.
Keukasmallies Posted January 18, 2015 Author Posted January 18, 2015 It's a well supported case even though I disagree some. I don't feel like rehashing the math & such on here but in terms of an extra $40M I will just give a few thoughts and be really conservative with it. $10M naming rights (similar to Reliant in Houston), $10M a game in increased F&B per cap (this is WAY conservative based on the bars & restaurants with the new stadium), $5M in increased sponsorships because of new inventory (club names to sell, parking lots, increased signage, areas of the stadium, etc...), the rest comes from the increase in ticket revenue. By having your best inventory back those prices will go from $100 to $200-$250. Other areas will increase as well but on those 10,000 seats alone you have generated another another $12.5M (at $225 a ticket). If you factor in all of the other avenues and inventory to sell that a new stadium will present it isn't crazy at all. I tried to be really, really conservative above (except maybe naming rights). I'm addition, the elephant in the room is stadium funding. If the state kicks in $300M (that's been the number in my head), and they generate another $200M in PSLs we are up to $500M. The new stadium wouldn't be built without them being positive that both their shared and nonshared revenues would increase. The atmosphere will certainly take a step back as you alluded to with the Sabres. In order to compete with the in home experience and attract that wealthy clientel the amenities will have to cater to them. Whether it's good or bad, it's reality. But aren't you just cementing home zonabb's point about the sport/stadium becoming an upper crust "destination" that leaves the hewers of wood and drawers of water (from whence the hardcore Bills fan come) out in the cold (no pun intended)?
Kirby Jackson Posted January 18, 2015 Posted January 18, 2015 But aren't you just cementing home zonabb's point about the sport/stadium becoming an upper crust "destination" that leaves the hewers of wood and drawers of water (from whence the hardcore Bills fan come) out in the cold (no pun intended)?I am saying that the hardcore fans are coming whether you play inside, outside, in OP or downtown. They will be there and there will be ample opportunities for all people to attend. In addition, you are bringing in a new "upper crust" to use your words to not only grow the fanbase but the revenue.
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