JM2009 Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 You seem to think that is a bad thing. If you suck as a team, why should you expect fans to pay all that money to see you play. Lots of sold out stadiums this century by the Bills fan base. Their streak of sell out started in 1993 when Kraft bought to team...with a young Bledsoe.....Brady didn't play until 2001....Still, doesn't make them better fans.....it's easy to have full stadiums and lots of " social media " followers when you are the best team for 16 years....plus,Boston has a lot more $ than other parts of the country....they can afford expensive ticket prices.... I dislike Boston teams, for sure.
Chris66 Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 The Pats stadium was half full before Brady.Foxboro has a 100% sellout going back to 1994
CDogg20 Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 All I recall is us shutting the Pats* out and their stadium empty with 8 minutes left in a 2 score game. That told me all I needed to know about how loyal Pats* fans are
CodeMonkey Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 Lots of sold out stadiums this century by the Bills fan base. Oh absolutely! But there should be no expectation of people paying good money for a bad product. They can certainly choose to, it is their money. But defining how "good" a fan base is by how much they fill a stadium to watch a inferior product to me makes no sense.
JM2009 Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 Foxboro has a 100% sellout going back to 1994 Not before Kraft.
SlimShady'sSpaceForce Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 Foxboro has a 100% sellout going back to 1994 How about Pre Bledsoe. Drew was a gunslinger and exciting. The problem was he wasn't able to go all the way before his injury then Tubby Tommy took over.
Guest NeckBeard Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 How about Pre Bledsoe. Drew was a gunslinger and exciting. The problem was he wasn't able to go all the way before his injury then Tubby Tommy took over. It also didn't hurt that Parcells had a lot of swagger still back then. Their 1996 squad grabbed the throat of the AFC like previous Giants squads had in previous years in the NFC.
mjt328 Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 A fanbase cannot be judged until they are forced to support a bad product. Really? How hard has it been to support a team like New England or Pittsburgh, knowing they will always be in contention for a Super Bowl? The Patriots haven't been bad in 20+ years now, so how can anyone consider it impressive for them to fill out their stadium? The Browns have never won a Super Bowl. They are regularly one of the worst teams in football. The NFL even moved their team to Baltimore. Yet they continue to pack out their stadium and sell-out games. That is a great fanbase. Same thing with us. The Bills haven't made the playoffs in 15 years, but the team continually gets exceptional support.
dave mcbride Posted June 23, 2017 Posted June 23, 2017 You have to read the full article. It is done for the NFL owners. To them, the best fans means the best fans that give a return on their investment. Some of the categories used to rate the best fans. 1.) Fans most willing to buy the type of things available online and the team stores that generate the NFL royalty dollars. 2.) Teams that generate the most revenue for a team when they are a visiting team. 3.) Ticket sales and TV viewer ratings of NFL games at home. 4.) How supportive they are online over the course of the study dates. Of course the Pats have been consistent winners, so the fans are more supportive of a consistently winning team as opposed to a perpetual losing team like the Bills. This study rates a team's fans by how many dollars the NFL gets from them. It is not about true fandom, or football as a sport. It is about the economic impacts to the NFL owners. Re point 4 --measuring how supportive fans are online doesn't factor in fan team sites (non social media). The Pats' sites flat out suck (there is nothing out there even 10 percent as atrong as this site), so I imagine that the only recourse Pats fans have to resort to blathering on FB, twitter, or instagram more than the usual fan.
Rocky Landing Posted June 23, 2017 Posted June 23, 2017 Last year at the Bills @ Rams game, Bills fans were outnumbered by about 4 to 1. But, it sounded like a Bills home game. It's pretty hard to quantify that kind of enthusiasm. All I recall is us shutting the Pats* out and their stadium empty with 8 minutes left in a 2 score game. That told me all I needed to know about how loyal Pats* fans are My father-in-law is a Pats* fan. He was at my house watching the last Super Bowl, and left he house pouting before they made their comeback.
JM2009 Posted June 23, 2017 Posted June 23, 2017 Last year at the Bills @ Rams game, Bills fans were outnumbered by about 4 to 1. But, it sounded like a Bills home game. It's pretty hard to quantify that kind of enthusiasm. My father-in-law is a Pats* fan. He was at my house watching the last Super Bowl, and left he house pouting before they made their comeback. Their spoiled.
BuffAlone Posted June 23, 2017 Posted June 23, 2017 Sooo....middle of the pack? Just like our record recently would indicate. I think its bullcrap honestly. I'd say top 5 fans. Even throughout the drought.
klos63 Posted June 23, 2017 Posted June 23, 2017 Yeah totally! Before this era they were one of the worst. Bill's, Packers, Chiefs, Raiders have been well supported by their fans base even through the bad years. except when they weren't. Like 20k people showing up for a Bills/Colts game...1984???? I was there. Bills fans are the best... just ask anyone of them. Last year at the Bills @ Rams game, Bills fans were outnumbered by about 4 to 1. But, it sounded like a Bills home game. It's pretty hard to quantify that kind of enthusiasm. My father-in-law is a Pats* fan. He was at my house watching the last Super Bowl, and left he house pouting before they made their comeback. how many bills fans watched the ending of the Cowboy super bowls. I was at the Pasadena game and I left before it ended.
hondo in seattle Posted June 23, 2017 Posted June 23, 2017 A fanbase cannot be judged until they are forced to support a bad product. Really? How hard has it been to support a team like New England or Pittsburgh, knowing they will always be in contention for a Super Bowl? The Patriots haven't been bad in 20+ years now, so how can anyone consider it impressive for them to fill out their stadium? The Browns have never won a Super Bowl. They are regularly one of the worst teams in football. The NFL even moved their team to Baltimore. Yet they continue to pack out their stadium and sell-out games. That is a great fanbase. Same thing with us. The Bills haven't made the playoffs in 15 years, but the team continually gets exceptional support. This is how I tend to think, whether it's right or wrong. Of course, winning teams are going to sell out stadiums and sell lots of merchandise. But do the fans still show up when the product is bad? The answer to that question determines how I judge fans. The Steelers, for example, have had only 6 losing seasons since 1972. Their longest playoff drought since the merger was four years. It's too easy to be a Steeler fan. How loyal would those fans be if they had to endure a drought lasting the better part of a generation? How loyal and supportive would any fan base be after 17 years of futility? There's no way of knowing the answer for all 32 teams. So I take fan loyalty/support lists with a grain of salt.
Big Turk Posted June 23, 2017 Posted June 23, 2017 A fanbase cannot be judged until they are forced to support a bad product. Really? How hard has it been to support a team like New England or Pittsburgh, knowing they will always be in contention for a Super Bowl? The Patriots haven't been bad in 20+ years now, so how can anyone consider it impressive for them to fill out their stadium? The Browns have never won a Super Bowl. They are regularly one of the worst teams in football. The NFL even moved their team to Baltimore. Yet they continue to pack out their stadium and sell-out games. That is a great fanbase. Same thing with us. The Bills haven't made the playoffs in 15 years, but the team continually gets exceptional support. Exactly what I say... If teams had to go through what we have endured the last 17 years, there would only be maybe 3 or 4 that would still be in the actual cities...the others would have moved because of lack of Support... Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Green Bay and maybe Chicago and KC...that's honestly about it.
Billsmovinup Posted June 23, 2017 Posted June 23, 2017 (edited) People in large cities whose income is substaintially higher than ours get credit for buying higher price tickets. Assinine criteria. Edited June 23, 2017 by Billsmovinup
CodeMonkey Posted June 23, 2017 Posted June 23, 2017 Exactly what I say... If teams had to go through what we have endured the last 17 years, there would only be maybe 3 or 4 that would still be in the actual cities...the others would have moved because of lack of Support... Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Green Bay and maybe Chicago and KC...that's honestly about it. One could say that filling the stadium for the past 17 years for at best mediocre product shows support for the local team. But one could also argue that filling the stadium for the past 17 years for at best mediocre product is being an enabler of mediocrity, and is the reason for the past 17 years.
OldTimeAFLGuy Posted June 23, 2017 Posted June 23, 2017 (edited) For now maybe. How "good" were the Pats fans when they were cellar dwellers? ...harken back to Steve Grogan vs the '85 Bears SB......46-10....ouch..........they were never much of a force in the old AFL days as the Boston Patriots......... Edited June 23, 2017 by OldTimeAFLGuy
Bills Fan of St Augustine Posted June 23, 2017 Posted June 23, 2017 These are more like franchise rankings than fan rankings.
Maynard Posted June 24, 2017 Posted June 24, 2017 I get the economics behind it and that's all it really is. Still think it's crap though, as you have to take into account wins and playoff appearances. Bills being at 16, therefore says a lot about the true die hard win-lose fans.
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