Economic Impact of the Bills on Erie County?

[CJPearl2]

Wouldn't you think that the Buffalo Bills have a major impact on the local economy.

 

So, assuming Erie Co screws the Bills and they leave , wouldn't the economy be in worse shape? Im not an economist, but this seems to make sense to me.

[BillsGuyInMalta]

Wouldn't you think that the Buffalo Bills have a major impact on the local economy.

 

So, assuming Erie Co screws the Bills and they leave , wouldn't the economy be in worse shape? Im not an economist, but this seems to make sense to me.

274270[/snapback]

To put it nicely, if the Bills left Buffalo...Western New York would die a slow and painful death.

[BillsNYC]

There's plenty of voters out there who wouldn't mind seeing the Bills lose so the millions of $ goign to them could go to schools, parks, businesses...etc.

 

I'm not one of those...but I know many of them.

[Sound_n_Fury]

Wouldn't you think that the Buffalo Bills have a major impact on the local economy.

 

So, assuming Erie Co screws the Bills and they leave , wouldn't the economy be in worse shape? Im not an economist, but this seems to make sense to me.

274270[/snapback]

 

As much as we love the Bills, the actual dollar impact they have on the Western New York economy is quite small (last estimate was $111.5 million in 1996).

 

http://www.ftballiance.org/stadiums/impact.php

 

Most of the $$$ being spent on the Bills are just "recirculated" (disposable income already here) rather than "new" money (income from outside the area). Assuming 40,000 out-of-town fans attend 8 regular season games per season and spend $100 each, that only equals $32 million in revenue per year.

 

Factor in six months of player salaries while they're here (maybe $40 million) and all the related "spin-off" activities ($40 million) and you really don't get that big an impact in a WNY economy that's $25 billion in size (2002 Gross Metro Product).

 

The biggest impact the Bills have is psychological. If/when the team moves, the $64,000 question will be how the "quality of life" decrease will affect companies staying in Buffalo?

[MadBuffaloDisease]

As much as we love the Bills, the actual dollar impact they have on the Western New York economy is quite small (last estimate was $111.5 million in 1996). 

 

http://www.ftballiance.org/stadiums/impact.php

 

Most of the $$$ being spent on the Bills are just "recirculated" (disposable income already here) rather than "new" money (income from outside the area).  Assuming 40,000 out-of-town fans attend 8 regular season games per season and spend $100 each, that only equals $32 million in revenue per year. 

 

Factor in six months of player salaries while they're here (maybe $40 million) and all the related "spin-off" activities ($40 million) and you really don't get that big an impact in a WNY economy that's $25 billion in size (2002 Gross Metro Product).

 

The biggest impact the Bills have is psychological.  If/when the team moves, the $64,000 question will be how the "quality of life" decrease will affect companies staying in Buffalo?

So if the Bills leave, WNY will lose $111.5M in "new" money, versus saving $3.56M. Sounds like the brilliant thinking of politicians!

[eSJayDee]

To put it nicely, if the Bills left Buffalo...Western New York would die a slow and painful death.

 

I don't think it'd be that slow.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

As much as we love the Bills, the actual dollar impact they have on the Western New York economy is quite small (last estimate was $111.5 million in 1996). 

 

http://www.ftballiance.org/stadiums/impact.php

 

Most of the $$$ being spent on the Bills are just "recirculated" (disposable income already here) rather than "new" money (income from outside the area).  Assuming 40,000 out-of-town fans attend 8 regular season games per season and spend $100 each, that only equals $32 million in revenue per year. 

 

Factor in six months of player salaries while they're here (maybe $40 million) and all the related "spin-off" activities ($40 million) and you really don't get that big an impact in a WNY economy that's $25 billion in size (2002 Gross Metro Product).

 

The biggest impact the Bills have is psychological.  If/when the team moves, the $64,000 question will be how the "quality of life" decrease will affect companies staying in Buffalo?

274309[/snapback]

 

I also would hate for the Bills to leave my home county of Erie here in NY.

 

However, if they were to leave, there would be an opportunity to try to get people to confront the question that if the Bills do not bind us together as a community then what does?

 

It would be hard to get an intelligent and thoughtful conversation on this issue with all the hand-wringing, blamecasting and backbiting that undoubtedly would occur. However, eventually reality would have tio set in and folks would have to confront the loss of a major form of entertainment even though the Bills really are by any dollars and cents measure a minor part of the local economy.

 

In many ways pro football is more the equivalent of Marie Antoinette saying "Let then eat cake" rather than being a real economic engine for the region or the beginning point of a lot of productivity that betters the lives of most.

 

If the Bills left it would be a darn shae that I hope does not happen. However, if they lleft it would create an opportunity to build somrthing better on this wreckage. it is certainly what I hope happens in the face of the current governmental meltdown.

[Alaska Darin]

If the Bills left it would be a darn shae that I hope does not happen. However, if they lleft it would create an opportunity to build somrthing better on this wreckage. it is certainly what I hope happens in the face of the current governmental meltdown.

274383[/snapback]

I sincerely hope it doesn't take something quite so drastic to wake the region from these doldrums.

 

Would the last non-government employee to leave WNY please turn out the lights?

[Bill from NYC]

As much as we love the Bills, the actual dollar impact they have on the Western New York economy is quite small (last estimate was $111.5 million in 1996). 

 

http://www.ftballiance.org/stadiums/impact.php

 

Most of the $$$ being spent on the Bills are just "recirculated" (disposable income already here) rather than "new" money (income from outside the area).  Assuming 40,000 out-of-town fans attend 8 regular season games per season and spend $100 each, that only equals $32 million in revenue per year. 

 

Factor in six months of player salaries while they're here (maybe $40 million) and all the related "spin-off" activities ($40 million) and you really don't get that big an impact in a WNY economy that's $25 billion in size (2002 Gross Metro Product).

 

The biggest impact the Bills have is psychological.  If/when the team moves, the $64,000 question will be how the "quality of life" decrease will affect companies staying in Buffalo?

274309[/snapback]

 

I have been to RWS 11 consecutive years. The trip costs me approx. $600.00 per year, and I might be going light. Each time, there were four of us.

We spend money in the hotel, stadium, supermarkets, gas stations, restaurants, airport, clothes stores (Bills apparel), etc. Last season I had a wicked cold and spent money in a pharmacy. The 100.00 per person figure is unimaginable.

Also, we often go to "Jacks" in Amherst, and a couple of times we were eating across from NFL refs. Let us also remember how much money is spent by players of opposing teams, and their fans.

I am far from an economist, but I am asking you to please reconsider your figures. I make the case that with the WNY economy being one that is far from booming, the Buffalo Bills football team pumps millions into it.

I am proud to be a part of this.

[stuckincincy]

As much as we love the Bills, the actual dollar impact they have on the Western New York economy is quite small (last estimate was $111.5 million in 1996). 

 

http://www.ftballiance.org/stadiums/impact.php

 

Most of the $$$ being spent on the Bills are just "recirculated" (disposable income already here) rather than "new" money (income from outside the area).  Assuming 40,000 out-of-town fans attend 8 regular season games per season and spend $100 each, that only equals $32 million in revenue per year. 

 

Factor in six months of player salaries while they're here (maybe $40 million) and all the related "spin-off" activities ($40 million) and you really don't get that big an impact in a WNY economy that's $25 billion in size (2002 Gross Metro Product).

 

The biggest impact the Bills have is psychological.  If/when the team moves, the $64,000 question will be how the "quality of life" decrease will affect companies staying in Buffalo?

274309[/snapback]

 

The money impact sounds right. Several studies have pointed out that sports franchises are not economic boons...certainly not football. There is a bit of a case to be made for baseball, however.

 

BTW, for those who think that gambling is a salvation, here in the Cincinnati tri-state area, well over 3 BILLION dollars have left the area in the past 6 years...few people come here to bet the games, few outside people consider a Bengal's game an attraction. The Reds and the local economy picks up a few bucks primarily thanks to the long season and number of games. I doubt if people travel here because of the two teams...and their publicly funded stadiums are a drag.

[Justice]

Tickets $55

Beer $5

Hot Dog $5

A visit to RWS to see a Bills game........PRICELESS!

[Sound_n_Fury]

I have been to RWS 11 consecutive years. The trip costs me approx. $600.00 per year, and I might be going light. Each time, there were four of us.

We spend money in the hotel, stadium, supermarkets, gas stations, restaurants, airport, clothes stores (Bills apparel), etc. Last season I had a wicked cold and spent money in a pharmacy. The 100.00 per person figure is unimaginable.

Also, we often go to "Jacks" in Amherst, and a couple of times we were eating across from NFL refs. Let us also remember how much money is spent by players of opposing teams, and their fans.

I am far from an economist, but I am asking you to please reconsider your figures. I make the case that with the WNY economy being one that is far from booming, the Buffalo Bills football team pumps millions into it.

I am proud to be a part of this.

274405[/snapback]

 

You're far from being "typical" ticket holder. About half of RWS is filled by Western New Yorkers. Another 25% or so is from Rochester and Southern Ontario. While there are some long distance travelers, the hotel occupancy in Buffalo certainly does not feel much impact from 8 home games per year.

 

The impact from 100 visiting players, refs, TV crews over the weekend is also negligible. The thing most people fail to comprehend about the Buffalo economy is its size...$25 Billion (yes, billion) in total output per year. It may not be growing, but there's still a lot of economic value produced here. The Bills $111 million annual impact amounts to less the one-half of one percent of that total.

 

I am an economist, BTW.

[30dive]

For all the economic talk, please remember this IS about the SOUL of a community. I've said this before, but to lose the Bills would tear us up to lose the Bills due to some politicians shortsightedness would be....well lets just say the only scout team needed would be the one one looking for the tallest trees.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

  The thing most people fail to comprehend about the Buffalo economy is its size...$25 Billion (yes, billion) in total output per year.  It may not be growing, but there's still a lot of economic value produced here.  The Bills $111 million annual impact amounts to less the one-half of one percent of that total.

 

I am an economist, BTW.

274482[/snapback]

 

 

It is amusing to here folks describe WNY as poor. Folks who have taken the time and effort to see other countres and actually chose to go beyond the resorts have probably seen poor and believe me it is not remotely like anything in WNY and places beyond pockets of most of America.

 

WNY is in fact economically well behind the sunbelt and the boom areas of the American economy. This is significant and important.

 

However, the growing occurence of obesity in our society, particularly amomg some of the lower income parts ofthe US population is an indicator that though many in the US are less wealthy than the folks who are presented as the norm on TV and by definition 50% of Americans are in the lower half of income levels, the concepts of poor and American are total opposites on any kind of real scale.

 

Any society that spend orders of magnitudes more dollars on cosmetics rather than on public health protection has allowed a decision to be made that it is poor in its decision-making even if it isn\t poor economically.

[Bill from NYC]

You're far from being "typical" ticket holder.  About half of RWS is filled by Western New Yorkers.  Another 25% or so is from Rochester and Southern Ontario.  While there are some long distance travelers, the hotel occupancy in Buffalo certainly does not feel much impact from 8 home games per year.

 

The impact from 100 visiting players, refs, TV crews over the weekend is also negligible.  The thing most people fail to comprehend about the Buffalo economy is its size...$25 Billion (yes, billion) in total output per year.  It may not be growing, but there's still a lot of economic value produced here.  The Bills $111 million annual impact amounts to less the one-half of one percent of that total.

 

I am an economist, BTW.

274482[/snapback]

 

I am not in a true position to challenge you as an economist.

What I do wish to tell you is that the hotel we stay at (Hampton Inn Amherst) is ALWAYS full when there is a Buffalo Bills football game. We make our reservations in April. This includes hotels, and car rentals.

When we stop at rest areas, there are always people that don either Bills clothes, or that of the opposing team for that particular week.

Call me dumb, but I am having a hard time understanding how the Buffalo Bills do not contribute to the WNY economy in a major way.

The percentages are what they are, but the waitress in "Alice's" makes more money on her shift during the week that our foursome attends a Buffalo Bills football game.

[Hogboy Swine]

"Impact" is the most recent over-used buzz word that bgs the heck out of me.

 

An "impact" is a violent striking. I think the word you wanted to use was "effect"

 

I really bugs me when "impact" is used a a verb instead of affect.

 

When an asteroid strikes the earth-that is an "impact"

 

When a linebacker blindsides a quarterback-that is an "impact"

 

But, the Bills have an economic EFFECT on Erie County

[Ray]

It would start to tear apart the soul of the community. People differ on a lot of things--politics, religion, etc.... But one thing the community rallies around and supports is the Bills. It adds a huge plus to the quality of life of the region. Economic impact is probably a wash after all the tax breaks but they do bring in huge amounts of tax money. 53 wealthy players buy expensive condos and homes and pay the property taxes, plus all the sales tax revenue. I can't see the county (even as poorly as it is run) let a 500+ million business leave. It won't happen.

[FTW_BillsFan]

As much as we love the Bills, the actual dollar impact they have on the Western New York economy is quite small (last estimate was $111.5 million in 1996). 

 

http://www.ftballiance.org/stadiums/impact.php

 

Most of the $$$ being spent on the Bills are just "recirculated" (disposable income already here) rather than "new" money (income from outside the area).  Assuming 40,000 out-of-town fans attend 8 regular season games per season and spend $100 each, that only equals $32 million in revenue per year. 

 

Factor in six months of player salaries while they're here (maybe $40 million) and all the related "spin-off" activities ($40 million) and you really don't get that big an impact in a WNY economy that's $25 billion in size (2002 Gross Metro Product).

 

The biggest impact the Bills have is psychological.  If/when the team moves, the $64,000 question will be how the "quality of life" decrease will affect companies staying in Buffalo?

274309[/snapback]

 

115M back in 96'. So, nine years later we can assume that it is still 115M? I would guess it is more around 175M by now just because of increases in prices from 96 to now.

 

Also, you can NEVER put the impact of the Bills for all of WNY just as an economic indicator.

 

1) They are the heart and soul of WNY. You can't say that about the Sabres....

2) Think about all the free publicity that Buffalo gets for every highlight or just mention of Buffalo on the television. Plus, doesn't alot of Canadians come down for games? Is that figured in also?

3) Buffalo Bills fans are very close. I can't tell you how many times I would see someone with a Bills cap or shirt in KS/FL/TX and you can always start a good conversation talking about the Bills. It's a special common bond.

4) The suicide rate would probably double in WNY....did anyone take that into account.

 

Finally, someone better get those lawmakers/politicians in line. There is a very big metropolitan area in CA called LA that the NFL would love to have any reason to move a small market team (The Bills), into the #1 TV market in the US.

 

Pull your heads out of your asses politicians.....

[Sound_n_Fury]

I am not in a true position to challenge you as an economist.

What I do wish to tell you is that the hotel we stay at (Hampton Inn Amherst) is ALWAYS full when there is a Buffalo Bills football game.  We make our reservations in April. This includes hotels, and car rentals.

When we stop at rest areas, there are always people that don either Bills clothes, or that of the opposing team for that particular week.

Call me dumb, but I am having a hard time understanding how the Buffalo Bills do not contribute to the WNY economy in a major way.

The percentages are what they are, but the waitress in "Alice's" makes more money on her shift during the week that our foursome attends a Buffalo Bills football game.

274504[/snapback]

 

Give me a guess as to the total number of fans for each home game that fall into the same travel/spending category as yourself. Would you say 5,000? Maybe even 10,000?

 

Using your $600 per person spending level for these folks, that equates to just $24 million to $48 million per season in "new" revenue to the area. Again, in the grand scheme of things, that's just a drop in the bucket from an economic impact perspective.

 

For comparison sake, here's the annual economic impact of some other WNY organizations:

 

University of Buffalo--$1.4 billion annually

 

Delphi Automotive Lockport plant--$700 million

 

Chevy Tonawanda engine plant--$500 million

 

Buffalo Sabres--$60+ million

 

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/...22503report.htm

[NavyBillsFan]

To put it nicely, if the Bills left Buffalo...Western New York would die a slow and painful death.

274273[/snapback]

 

Slow? Next time you take a crap, watch how fast it goes down..... This city would do the same