JÂy RÛßeÒ Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/p...ORTS03/80624012 Bills-49ers game sells out If you want to buy tickets to watch the Buffalo Bills play a regular-season game at Ralph Wilson Stadium this season, you have two options: Bundle up and buy individual seats for the New England Patriots on Dec. 28 or purchase season tickets. The Bills announced today that no more individual tickets will be sold for the San Francisco 49ers game on Nov. 30, leaving the New England game as the only contest with individual tickets available. The Seattle (Sept. 7), Oakland (Sept. 21), San Diego (Oct. 19), New York Jets (Nov. 2) and Cleveland (Nov. 17) games have already sold out. The Bills will also use one of their home dates to play the Miami Dolphins in Toronto on Dec. 1. Season tickets are still available for all home games in Orchard Park, including the Aug. 28 exhibition game against Detroit. Season tickets can be ordered at www.buffalobills.com, by calling (877) 228-4257 or at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Today’s announcement means fans who do not go to games should be able to count on seeing 15 of the Bills’ 16 regular-season games on local television. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 On top of that, season tickets are now over 53,000, however this blurb from bb.com left me a bit confused: "On Saturday, the Buffalo Bills surpassed 53,000 season tickets for the upcoming season, the highest season ticket total since 1974 (54,182). The highest season ticket total in franchise history is 57,132 in 1992." I have to assume 1974 is a typo and should read 1994 -- but it sure did make me read that paragraph a couple of times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordio Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 On top of that, season tickets are now over 53,000, however this blurb from bb.com left me a bit confused: "On Saturday, the Buffalo Bills surpassed 53,000 season tickets for the upcoming season, the highest season ticket total since 1974 (54,182). The highest season ticket total in franchise history is 57,132 in 1992." I have to assume 1974 is a typo and should read 1994 -- but it sure did make me read that paragraph a couple of times. Hey btw, I sold 6 of my extra Cleveland tickets for $125 a pop. I just thought I would let you know. I did not want you staying up at night worrying if I would get my money back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill from NYC Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/p...ORTS03/80624012 Jay, thanks for posting this. The economy is terrible, yet WNY is out there buying tickets. That is really great news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 On top of that, season tickets are now over 53,000, however this blurb from bb.com left me a bit confused: "On Saturday, the Buffalo Bills surpassed 53,000 season tickets for the upcoming season, the highest season ticket total since 1974 (54,182). The highest season ticket total in franchise history is 57,132 in 1992." I have to assume 1974 is a typo and should read 1994 -- but it sure did make me read that paragraph a couple of times. Not a typo, just a mistake. The 1974 total is correct; the year they apparently meant to use was 1993 (53,004). The other possibility is that they wanted to point out the next total this year's count could surpass, and chose a poor way of expressing it. The current top five: 1992 -- 57,132 1991 -- 54,604 1974 -- 54,182 1993 -- 53,004 1973 -- 52,474 By the way, the Bills led the league in attendance in each of those seasons. That won't happen this year, not with 91,000-seat FedEx Field raking in the dough ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zonabb Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Jay, thanks for posting this. The economy is terrible, yet WNY is out there buying tickets. That is really great news. That's bunk. Scalpers and brokers are out buying season tickets since NY passed its anti-scalping law, basically making ticket reselling a legitimate business for brokers and existing season ticket holders who are scalping. More and more people are buying seasons and single games just to sell them. Sadly, this lost revenue, the cost between ticket price and scalping price, is what the Bills could charge and more profit for them, as opposed to scalpers. The actual attendance is the true dictator of ticket sales, see how many seats get eaten by scalpers and brokers. I'd love to have the Bills own up and breakdown season ticket sales by zip code. Bet a lot of out of area zips would show up. Check Stubhub and other places now and you'll see the real story since the only people who can buy are season tikcet holders and group sales (another work around for season ticket holders limited to 6 seats per game extra). The market is flooded with tickets that were bought just to resell. The economy in WNY is stagnant at best, it certainly isn't getting better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Hey btw, I sold 6 of my extra Cleveland tickets for $125 a pop. I just thought I would let you know. I did not want you staying up at night worrying if I would get my money back Glad to hear it. I never suggested you shouldn't try to make a profit on a hot-ticket item; I simply thought it was rather poor form to come on TSW gloating and trying to squeeze the (mostly) good fans here. Sorry you didn't understand that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasoninMT Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Not living anywhere around Buffalo, I don't pay too much attention to Season Tickets... But, with 2 less games on sale, didn't the price dramatically drop? This could be a reason for legit Season Ticket holders... Can brokers buy season tickets for resale? Since the team holds the seat owner accountable for the user of the seats actions during the season, that could be dangerous... if they have the wrong ticketholder... One person screws it up, the other people you sold the tickets to wouild be SOL... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo_soul-dier Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Not living anywhere around Buffalo, I don't pay too much attention to Season Tickets... But, with 2 less games on sale, didn't the price dramatically drop? This could be a reason for legit Season Ticket holders... Can brokers buy season tickets for resale? Since the team holds the seat owner accountable for the user of the seats actions during the season, that could be dangerous... if they have the wrong ticketholder... One person screws it up, the other people you sold the tickets to wouild be SOL... ticket prices didnt change too much, in fact overall you are actually paying more for a single game now...but the fact remains....if u build a team that isnt garbage...they will come....in wagons! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Can brokers buy season tickets for resale? Since the team holds the seat owner accountable for the user of the seats actions during the season, that could be dangerous... if they have the wrong ticketholder... One person screws it up, the other people you sold the tickets to wouild be SOL... They can, and do. The four seats next to mine, I never know who's gonna show up. Some weeks it's the father and kids, other weeks it's the frat boys who don't know they can buy beer through the entire game in the clubs, so they're pounding beers during the first two quarters, unless I speak up and tell them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flbillsfan#1 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 That's bunk. Scalpers and brokers are out buying season tickets since NY passed its anti-scalping law, basically making ticket reselling a legitimate business for brokers and existing season ticket holders who are scalping. More and more people are buying seasons and single games just to sell them. Sadly, this lost revenue, the cost between ticket price and scalping price, is what the Bills could charge and more profit for them, as opposed to scalpers. The actual attendance is the true dictator of ticket sales, see how many seats get eaten by scalpers and brokers. I'd love to have the Bills own up and breakdown season ticket sales by zip code. Bet a lot of out of area zips would show up. Check Stubhub and other places now and you'll see the real story since the only people who can buy are season tikcet holders and group sales (another work around for season ticket holders limited to 6 seats per game extra). The market is flooded with tickets that were bought just to resell. The economy in WNY is stagnant at best, it certainly isn't getting better. MANY of those tickets sold to ZIP codes outside of Buffalo, are sold to Buffalo Bills fans who no longer live in Buffalo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Not a typo, just a mistake. The 1974 total is correct; the year they apparently meant to use was 1993 (53,004). The other possibility is that they wanted to point out the next total this year's count could surpass, and chose a poor way of expressing it. The current top five: 1992 -- 57,132 1991 -- 54,604 1974 -- 54,182 1993 -- 53,004 1973 -- 52,474 By the way, the Bills led the league in attendance in each of those seasons. That won't happen this year, not with 91,000-seat FedEx Field raking in the dough ... It's pretty remarkable 2008 will wind up with the 4th highest total of STHs in team history, given the Bills are currently riding an 8-year playoff drought and it's pretty easy to find justification for the previous top five -- '73 was the 1st season at the Ralph, '74 was the year following OJ's record, and the early '90s were the SB teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordio Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Glad to hear it. I never suggested you shouldn't try to make a profit on a hot-ticket item; I simply thought it was rather poor form to come on TSW gloating and trying to squeeze the (mostly) good fans here. Sorry you didn't understand that. Yeah I know, looking back it probably was in bad taste trying to scalp tickets on here. I do agree with the above poster, it is great that they are selling tickets, but it does show that the bills still have leverage to raise tickets prices dramatically & people will still come. If you look on stub hub/ebay etc... from now until the season starts there will probably be at least 2K tickets available thru these markets at any one time. I do not know if it is any different then other cities though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Flanders Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 I still have a problem with the strategy...labeling games as "sold out" when over 5000 tickets are still being held back, is a fraudulent marketing ploy. And the D and C reporting that “fans who do not go to games should be able to count on seeing 15 of the Bills’ 16 regular-season games on local television,” is poor reporting. The June announcement that the 49ers game, or any game for that matter, is “sold out” does not guarantee that the blackout will be lifted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill from NYC Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 That's bunk. Scalpers and brokers are out buying season tickets since NY passed its anti-scalping law, basically making ticket reselling a legitimate business for brokers and existing season ticket holders who are scalping. More and more people are buying seasons and single games just to sell them. Sadly, this lost revenue, the cost between ticket price and scalping price, is what the Bills could charge and more profit for them, as opposed to scalpers. The actual attendance is the true dictator of ticket sales, see how many seats get eaten by scalpers and brokers. I'd love to have the Bills own up and breakdown season ticket sales by zip code. Bet a lot of out of area zips would show up. Check Stubhub and other places now and you'll see the real story since the only people who can buy are season tikcet holders and group sales (another work around for season ticket holders limited to 6 seats per game extra). The market is flooded with tickets that were bought just to resell. The economy in WNY is stagnant at best, it certainly isn't getting better. Wow. I didn't mean to upset you. My tickets cost 100 each, and I don't even know what face value is. My point was simply that after thread after thread about the Bills leaving town, it is great to see tickets selling at RWS. One more thing....because of many people leaving Buffalo, and because NFL Teams are no longer limited to reigonal fans, I would be hesitant to downplay the importance of out of town fans. They buy tickets, eat at local restaurants, stay in hotels, etc. Imo they are very important to both the Bills, and the economy of WNY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 I still have a problem with the strategy...labeling games as "sold out" when over 5000 tickets are still being held back, is a fraudulent marketing ploy. And the D and C reporting that “fans who do not go to games should be able to count on seeing 15 of the Bills’ 16 regular-season games on local television,” is poor reporting. The June announcement that the 49ers game, or any game for that matter, is “sold out” does not guarantee that the blackout will be lifted. Not to make excuses for the practice, but you know everybody else does it. Heck, there are places where the blackout threshold is 5k below stadium capacity. (Yeah, Jacksonville, I'm looking at you.) Would it be better if they were more specific, saying only that all single-game tickets are sold out? I'm all right with the D&C using "should be able to see" in their story, because it has to be extremely rare for a previously-announced sellout to hit the blackout deadline. I'll be honest -- I can't remember any, although some have come close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Flanders Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Not to make excuses for the practice, but you know everybody else does it. Heck, there are places where the blackout threshold is 5k below stadium capacity. (Yeah, Jacksonville, I'm looking at you.) Would it be better if they were more specific, saying only that all single-game tickets are sold out? I'm all right with the D&C using "should be able to see" in their story, because it has to be extremely rare for a previously-announced sellout to hit the blackout deadline. I'll be honest -- I can't remember any, although some have come close. I truly hope the Bills sell the remaining tickets they're holding back...but I can see a scenario where they may have 2000 Seattle tickets to move in a week...and everyone's going to wonder, "I thought they told us every game was sold out?" Again, I hope I'm wrong...I hope the remaining 5000 or so tickets go before the Detroit preseason game, but I'd like to see someone from the local media call the Bills on this whole "sold out" business that seems to be the integral componant of their season ticket marketing campaign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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