PFW Article About The Bills

[Bill from NYC]

In it, they claim that "alarm bells" are ringing in the NFL front office due to lack of fan support.

 

I know about the bad economy, etc., but can nothing be done to improve marketing? College group sales with a buses? More commercials which target birthday and Christmas gifts?

 

I know I am reaching, but it is a big concern. I love WNY, but in truly does need the Buffalo Bills.

[cåblelady]

Screw that. I was at every game.

[Bill from NYC]

Screw that. I was at every game.

 

Yeah, but your transportation methods are a little shaky.

[dib]

Does having 'Sunday ticket' count as attending?

[MadBuffaloDisease]

Marketing? Who the freak DOESN'T know the Bills are where they are and how to get tix? They had no problem selling-out games BEFORE that.

 

And if the argument is that the Sabres took away their money, then it shows that maybe WNY can't support 2 pro teams. And the bad weather excuse is just outright lame.

[duey]

The league is not going to make a decision on "small market teams" based on four games at the end of one season. Should this become a three to five year trend, then we have a problem. The Bills have drawn extremely well, even during lean times, since 1986. No one can blame us for not going to games for the 10 years before that.

 

Given next years home schedule and the positive direction this team is moving, I see eight sell outs and an end to this discussion (until the next time a game doesn't sell out).

 

And BTW...what are the numbers in Miami? Isn't is a bigger problem that a franchise in a "desireable" area like Miami can't even fill half their stadium? Tickets might be sold (though I'd like to see the numbers), but I always see a lot of empty seats at those fish games.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Maybe if the Bills actually started to WIN at home, people would come see them play there.

 

Let's count the games they won at home this year:

 

Miami

Minnesota

Jacksonville

Green Bay

 

That's it. 4-4, and it was even WORSE last year.

 

That's why the fans aren't coming to games. The Bills are a TERRIBLE home team.

[nick in* england]

PFW 'alarm bells' is pure speculation... That's not journalism. It's writing down what the message boards are saying in prose and regurgitating it as wrote.

[smokinandjokin]

And the bad weather excuse is just outright lame.

 

Normally I'd agree, but this year, it may have been legit. The huge 'surprise storm' in October left hundreds of thousands of people without power for several days. Many, many WNY-ers incurred unexpected costs, including generators, replacing spoiled food, new furniture and repairs for flooded basements, tree removal, exterior home repair, etc. I've lived in Buffalo for a long time, and it was a BAD storm. One for the ages.

 

We all know that people find ways to support the Bills when they are playing well. But, when the team is 2-5 and you just shelled out $1500 or more that you weren't expecting to spend, suddenly paying $250 for your family to watch a mediocre team at the Ralph isn't a priority.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

Normally I'd agree, but this year, it may have been legit. The huge 'surprise storm' in October left hundreds of thousands of people without power for several days. Many, many WNY-ers incurred unexpected costs, including generators, replacing spoiled food, new furniture and repairs for flooded basements, tree removal, exterior home repair, etc. I've lived in Buffalo for a long time, and it was a BAD storm. One for the ages.

 

We all know that people find ways to support the Bills when they are playing well. But, when the team is 2-5 and you just shelled out $1500 or more that you weren't expecting to spend, suddenly paying $250 for your family to watch a mediocre team at the Ralph isn't a priority.

Point taken.

[zonabb]

Win. Simple as that. The Sabres are a perfect example. If the NFL and the Bills continue with their “entitlement” mentality, they get what they deserve. They’re not entitled to sellout games and we’re not required to buy tickets. After, what is it 7 or 8 seasons, without making the playoffs, what more can you expect?

 

Marketing? They do a great job. Every year they build up false hope to people through commercials and the draft and free agency and people get excited and buy tickets. Then they suck and people get annoyed. I’m surprised it took this long for people to wake up.

 

One thing I am so sick of is this “small market” label. I’ve posted it before so I won’t go to far into it but that number comes from the way the Census delineates it’s boundaries for what it calls the MSA-Metropolitan Statistical Area, basically the metro area. Our MSA is just Erie and Niagara Counties, about 1.2 million people. Atlanta’s is 28 counties covering roughly the same area as Erie, Niagara, Monroe, Genesee, Orleans, Cattaraugus, Chatauqua, Ontario and Wayne counties. Do that math and that adds at least a million more people. Throw in Niagara Falls and Hamilton, Ont. and that’s another million.

 

Start looking at the true geographically area of the market and we’re not small.

 

Then take a look at this….

 

The Sabres are going to sell out 41 games this year at 18,000 people per game or 738,000 tickets. The Ralph for a season holds roughly 600,000 tickets. If we can sell all those Sabres tickets when they win, we can sell the Ralph out when they win.

 

I know economics and not having the businesses as a NYC or LA hurts the amount they can get for tickets, but those are the realities of a lot of places.

 

I’m just so bleeping sick of the league, the national media and everyone else who wants to pile for blaming the fans and the region.

 

When does the team and management take some responsibility and accountability for not giving people a reason to come to games? It’s not enough that it’s our identity to some extent and that the game atmosphere is fun, winning matters.

 

Win and the house fills. Continue to suck and it doesn’t. And if that means leaving, fine, go lose somewhere else and cheat some other people out of their money.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Win and the house fills. Continue to suck and it doesn’t. And if that means leaving, fine, go lose somewhere else and cheat some other people out of their money.

 

Uh oh, now you did it. You crossed the line. I hope this turns out better for you than it did me.

[PromoTheRobot]

At the risk of pissing folks off, I say it's time to start laying the groundwork for a shared Bills franchise betwen Buffalo and Toronto. Face it. The economy in Buffalo is never going to allow the team to comptete with the big boys. I'd rather have the team play half their games in T.O. than lose them comepletely to L.A.

 

PTR

[nick in* england]

At the risk of pissing folks off, I say it's time to start laying the groundwork for a shared Bills franchise betwen Buffalo and Toronto. Face it. The ecobomy in Buffalo is never going to allow theteam to comptete with the big boys. I'd rather have the team play half their games in T.O. than lose them comepletely to L.A.

 

PTR

100% agree. See if Toronto would install field turf in the Skydome...

 

Or - see if the city would build a bespoke football stadium for the Bills/Argo to share.

[5 Wide]

Normally I'd agree, but this year, it may have been legit. The huge 'surprise storm' in October left hundreds of thousands of people without power for several days. Many, many WNY-ers incurred unexpected costs, including generators, replacing spoiled food, new furniture and repairs for flooded basements, tree removal, exterior home repair, etc. I've lived in Buffalo for a long time, and it was a BAD storm. One for the ages.

 

We all know that people find ways to support the Bills when they are playing well. But, when the team is 2-5 and you just shelled out $1500 or more that you weren't expecting to spend, suddenly paying $250 for your family to watch a mediocre team at the Ralph isn't a priority.

 

 

Your point is well taken and legit. But it was referring to making people sit in the cold and snow. When the Bills are winning, the cold and snow are awesome, the harder it snows the louder you cheer. When the team sucks, it's just cold and damp out.

[RkFast]

At the risk of pissing folks off, I say it's time to start laying the groundwork for a shared Bills franchise betwen Buffalo and Toronto. Face it. The ecobomy in Buffalo is never going to allow theteam to comptete with the big boys. I'd rather have the team play half their games in T.O. than lose them comepletely to L.A.

 

PTR

 

 

Over my dead !@#$ing body

 

Damn you for even MENTIONING it.

 

Id root for the COWBOYS before I'd root for a "shared" Bills team. And I !@#$ing HATE the Cowboys.

 

!@#$ that.

[PromoTheRobot]

Over my dead !@#$ing body

 

Damn you for even MENTIONING it.

 

Id root for the COWBOYS before I'd root for a "shared" Bills team. And I !@#$ing HATE the Cowboys.

 

!@#$ that.

You can be the first in line for L.A. Bills merchandise.

 

PTR

[smokinandjokin]

Your point is well taken and legit. But it was referring to making people sit in the cold and snow. When the Bills are winning, the cold and snow are awesome, the harder it snows the louder you cheer. When the team sucks, it's just cold and damp out.

 

Definitely true.

[KnightRider]

Normally I'd agree, but this year, it may have been legit. The huge 'surprise storm' in October left hundreds of thousands of people without power for several days. Many, many WNY-ers incurred unexpected costs, including generators, replacing spoiled food, new furniture and repairs for flooded basements, tree removal, exterior home repair, etc. I've lived in Buffalo for a long time, and it was a BAD storm. One for the ages.

 

 

I was absolutely stunned at the damage when I drove through over Christmas. It was hard finding any tree that didn't look like it had been through a hurricane. I know I didn't realize the magnitude of just how bad that storm was.

 

As for this year's attendance, it was a "perfect storm" (sorry) of sorts.

 

1. There undeniably was a backlash being sold a bill of goods for the previous five years. When Levy took over, the marketing ploy of raising expectations to start the season was abandoned. For the short term, that was bad for attendance, I would expect that next year the attendance will improve. The approach is similar to the one Regier and the Sabres have taken. The Sabres had terrible attendance to start the season last year even though many NHL teams' attendance was up.

 

2. The Sabres success has highlighted just how bad a product the NFL was putting in front of us, and I believe it goes beyond the lack of talent on the field. For years, Buffalo has been screwed by officiating. Even though I think Buffalo can support two major league teams, I start to wonder sometimes whether I'm watching the NFL or the WWF sometimes. Many of the rule changes in the NHL favored the smaller and faster Sabres. And go figure, the refs were even making the calls in Buffalo's favor!

 

3. The storm. If I hadn't seen some of the damage I would not have thought it much of a contributor, but it has to be.

[tennesseeboy]

I think we'll see attendance improve next season as we get better and better. Winning makes a huge difference, and I think we've gone such a long way this year toward a winning team that attendance won't be a problem. Just a question, but does our attendance "problem" take into consideration our huge stadium? Guess I'll do my part and come up for a game next year. Love Western New York in the fall.