We might get 9 home games!

[Pyrite Gal]

In light of the recent brouhaha over interpretation of Willis M's crack (or is it on crack) financial and management advice over where the Bills should play, I am actually getting quite psyched about the interpretation of his remarks that he was commenting on how the NFL should choose teams to play a particular game in Toronto.

 

I know leading intellectual lights like WGR and Jerry Sullivan are interpreting him as saying that the team should be the one to move to Toronto permanently. However, the comments I read on WGR's website are certainly open to a number of interpretations as GR does not provide a direct quote of the question WM was answering but merely provides general context about the topic he was responding to that one can choose to interpret as WM commenting on an eventuality which could only happen after Ralph's death (last i checked the date of which is uncertain) because before he dies he has already vowed the team will not move and he likely would have a veto over any invasion of an area he is marketing to under the Bills regional strategy.

 

What instead made far more sense to me that rather than the context for WMs comments being an impossible to predict when eventuality, that the most recent NFL event in the news to spur such commentary was the NFL requiring all teams to make an appearance in a foreign country with a trip to Europe.

 

These trips are important to the rest of the league as both of these teams will be playing that season under the additional penalty of an international trip with the to and fro 5 hour time zone shifts of travel. Even worse, one of these teams will be declared the home team and thus lose a home game that season.

 

I haven't read Penthouse since I became old enough to have real sex so I have no idea what he said in that article (besides I used to only read that magazine for the pictures) so perhaps in that spread he issued the crack financial advice (really only people on crack take financial and management advice from WM very seriously) that the Bills should move to Toronto.

 

However, what makes more sense to me based on what is possible and the recent news is that he was talking about the NFL requiring teams to play games in Toronto as the NFL pursues its strategy of bringing their game to potential customers in foreign countries in Europe, Mexico and yes a bunch of folks with money in Canada.

 

If this turn of events happens, I know some Bills fans seeming live in fear of sharing their team even for a one game event in Toronto. However, i think this is foolishness particularly if when Buffalo played another team in Toronto, if the other team was given this event as a home game it would be all to the Bills advantage.

 

1. Let's suppose that the game was against an opponent like AZ in a game which actually would be quite unattractive at this point and would not only likely fail to sell out if it were in Buffalo but would only sell out in AZ based on season ticket sales out there.

 

However, if this were the game transported to Toronto its virtually guaranteed that this special event would be a sellout. Even if they put Buffalo under some blacjout provisions because Toronto is closer than areas like Syracuse already in the blackout area for Bills home games, this in one that will be televised locally with the resulting advertising dollars.

 

2. The big deal for Buffaloanians is while this game would likely be a tough ticket which would likely sellout to Torontonians as a one time event, Toronto is close enough that a big chunk of Buffaloanians and Southern Ontarians who are already Bills rooters would essentially make this a Bills home game interms of crowd noise and rooting.

 

3. This game would be in our time zone and actually close enough to Buffalo our boys can easily practice and prepare at home as though this were a home game. In fact, even before real home games, many players spend the night prior to the game at a local hotel to guarantee sleep without the distractions of home and to prepare for the game. This game would be much the same. I would love it if we actually avoided a trip out west and the need for cheeseburgers on the flight out if the other team had this as a home game.

 

So mark me down as one person who votes for Buffalo to play one of its games against a bad west coast or intermountain team in Toronto. In fact, if the league declares the other team the home team (a logical financial thing to do as if the Bills have trouble already with season ticket sales reducing the package to 7 games may well make this effort even more problematic and wreak havoc with our regional marketing plans) it would be great because in essence we would get 9 home games that year!