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"The Mega Bills" article in Pro Football Outsiders


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Hmm, nah, no thanks Mr. Florida. I'm ok with one one meaninful game a year in TO but that's it.

 

Not to be too much of a downer, but unfortunately when the time comes, they're not going to need, or even ask, your permission to move the team.....

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Say hello to the "Toronto Buffalo Bills" if you can consider "Buffalo Bills" the team nickname, as in the Toronto William Cody's. Strange but it could wind up like that.

 

PTR

 

PTR<RJ

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Best line of that page was from the Lions email, in talking about Matt Millen....

 

Millen himself is in delicate negotiations with the son of a foreign prince; if he can just get the money that’s currently frozen in that Swiss bank account, he’ll be able to afford Gosder Cherilus’ signing bonuses.

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Whenever this idea has been discussed hereabouts, the reaction has been vitriolic. People aren't willing to accept the economic realities on the horizon and start thinking about what the best option is if the team simply can't remain in Buffalo full time. Its kind of like a custody fight in a divorce. Realizing that you just aren't going to be able to see the kids every day and have to learn to make the best of the time you do get is heart breakingly difficult.

 

Frankly, only if we are lucky, sharing the Bills will be a choice on the table when the dreaded day comes. Otherwise, its over. I want the whole loaf too but if the best we can get is a half a loaf, I'll deal and be glad we aren't breadless.

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Whenever this idea has been discussed hereabouts, the reaction has been vitriolic. People aren't willing to accept the economic realities on the horizon and start thinking about what the best option is if the team simply can't remain in Buffalo full time. Its kind of like a custody fight in a divorce. Realizing that you just aren't going to be able to see the kids every day and have to learn to make the best of the time you do get is heart breakingly difficult.

 

Frankly, only if we are lucky, sharing the Bills will be a choice on the table when the dreaded day comes. Otherwise, its over. I want the whole loaf too but if the best we can get is a half a loaf, I'll deal and be glad we aren't breadless.

 

I concur. Just PLEASE don't change the name! 'Bills' won't work with anything else- to say nothing of the logo.

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I'll be one of the first to say that I am not really happy about the games in Toronto, but if it increases season ticket sales, there is something good coming from it. Also, what about when Green Bay was playing half their season in Milwaukee? Granted, it was not another country BUT that helped the team survive, some GB fans will tell you it saved their team. When you are small market, you need to regionalize - even though it is scary because we have an owner that won't give a straight answer on the future... the only thing we can do is try to survive in the ever changing landscape of the NFL.

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I'll be one of the first to say that I am not really happy about the games in Toronto, but if it increases season ticket sales, there is something good coming from it. Also, what about when Green Bay was playing half their season in Milwaukee? Granted, it was not another country BUT that helped the team survive, some GB fans will tell you it saved their team. When you are small market, you need to regionalize - even though it is scary because we have an owner that won't give a straight answer on the future... the only thing we can do is try to survive in the ever changing landscape of the NFL.

the owner doesn't give a straight answer because there really is no straight answer to be given. He could come out and say he will only sell the team to local investors that will keep the team in Buffalo, but he really has no control over that after he gives them up, and would also have to find local investors that actually have the funds to buy them and afford to run them in Buffalo.

 

As for the GB/milwaukee comparision, distance wise, they are about the same distance apart as Buffalo and Toronto, only there is no border in between them.

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the owner doesn't give a straight answer because there really is no straight answer to be given. He could come out and say he will only sell the team to local investors that will keep the team in Buffalo, but he really has no control over that after he gives them up, and would also have to find local investors that actually have the funds to buy them and afford to run them in Buffalo.

 

As for the GB/milwaukee comparision, distance wise, they are about the same distance apart as Buffalo and Toronto, only there is no border in between them.

If he WANTED Ralph could set forth a plan to sell the team to people committed to keeping the team in Buffalo after he dies. He could do this by selling a small interest NOW with an option to buy the rest when he dies. For some reason he has no wish to see the team remain in Buffalo.

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As for the GB/milwaukee comparision, distance wise, they are about the same distance apart as Buffalo and Toronto, only there is no border in between them.

So what you're saying is it's not the distance between the cities, it's what it would take to get between the two. For example, to draw a comparison, take the typical male Canadian w/ stool and the rump of a Bull Moose. Trying to get between the two would be quite a challenge. :beer:

 

Am I reading this correctly? :oops:

 

j/k

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A new stadium in Niagara Falls and a name change to the Buffalo Bills of Niagara. Problem solved?

I've admittedly not done one lick of research or reading on the issue, but from the outside I don't see why this sort of a proposal is not being considered or talked about more.

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If he WANTED Ralph could set forth a plan to sell the team to people committed to keeping the team in Buffalo after he dies. He could do this by selling a small interest NOW with an option to buy the rest when he dies. For some reason he has no wish to see the team remain in Buffalo.

maybe that reason could be that he does not have a potential buyer serious enough to be able to sell the entire team to? Its not like he has a line up out of his office right now of local buyers pledging to keep the team in Buffalo right now and he just keeps yelling at them to get lost.

 

The closest thing he has had was a few months ago Jim Kelly went to the media saying he has this secret group of investors willing to purchase the team with cash. Everyone else that has ever been mentioned here (Rich, Golisano, Jacobs) are only people that fans have assumed could do it because they are wealthy and possibly have the money with connections to the city. And out of those, only Golisano said that he may be interested in looking into it.

 

The problem with this is that its not easy to unload an almost Billion dollar assett to someone in Buffalo, that is going to be willing and able to afford to continue to run the team in the area, without the help of other areas (like Toronto).

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So what you're saying is it's not the distance between the cities, it's what it would take to get between the two. For example, to draw a comparison, take the typical male Canadian w/ stool and the rump of a Bull Moose. Trying to get between the two would be quite a challenge. :beer:

 

Am I reading this correctly? :oops:

 

j/k

what I am saying is that the only difference is an international border. Milwaukee didn't steal away the Packers just because they played some games there.

 

I bet most would be all for this and see no problems (even if the team moved) if Toronto was south of Buffalo instead of North, or Toronto was part of the US and not Canada

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what I am saying is that the only difference is an international border. Milwaukee didn't steal away the Packers just because they played some games there.

 

I bet most would be all for this and see no problems (even if the team moved) if Toronto was south of Buffalo instead of North, or Toronto was part of the US and not Canada

I predict the NFL, or NY State, or Congress, or some entity will mandate that a certain number of games be played in Buffalo by any new owner...and that "Buffalo Bills" remain in their name. They will always keep a toe in Buffalo at least.

 

PTR

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I predict the NFL, or NY State, or Congress, or some entity will mandate that a certain number of games be played in Buffalo by any new owner...and that "Buffalo Bills" remain in their name. They will always keep a toe in Buffalo at least.

 

PTR

NY State or Congress might try, but I doubt the NFL would do anything. They didn't do it for the Browns when Modell moved them to Baltimore

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NY State or Congress might try, but I doubt the NFL would do anything. They didn't do it for the Browns when Modell moved them to Baltimore

Well they did guarantee that Cleveland would get a new Browns expansion team the next time the league expanded, and this was during a time the league was planning further expansions in the near future. So I would say the league did Cleveland one better by guaranteeing to right a wrong done by Modell. Also, there is a huge difference between a bus ride from TO to Buffalo and the plane trip from Cleveland to Baltimore. So, for those two reasons I would say your example isn't very comparable to the current Bills situation.

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