Toronto fan's ???

[JinWPB]

I know it is just a preseason game, but the Rogers center appears to have an awful lot of good empty seats.With all the hipe I expected more.

 

Crowd noise was dismal.

 

The camera's showed some fans dressed in Bill's gear dancing to "Shout "after a score and everyone around them is sitting down watching with the WTF look on their faces.

 

 

And.... I believe the biggest cheer I heard was after the Steelers first TD.......also WTF.

 

 

Please keep the Bills in Buff.

 

Anybody else see it this way?

[thebug]

I know it is just a preseason game, but the Rogers center appears to have an awful lot of good empty seats.With all the hipe I expected more.

 

Crowd noise was dismal.

 

The camera's showed some fans dressed in Bill's gear dancing to "Shout "after a score and everyone around them is sitting down watching with the WTF look on their faces.

 

 

And.... I believe the biggest cheer I heard was after the Steelers first TD.......also WTF.

 

 

Please keep the Bills in Buff.

 

Anybody else see it this way?

 

 

Pre season football. Judge after the fins game.

 

GO BILLS!

[LongLiveRalph]

I know it is just a preseason game, but the Rogers center appears to have an awful lot of good empty seats.With all the hipe I expected more.

 

Crowd noise was dismal.

 

The camera's showed some fans dressed in Bill's gear dancing to "Shout "after a score and everyone around them is sitting down watching with the WTF look on their faces.

 

 

And.... I believe the biggest cheer I heard was after the Steelers first TD.......also WTF.

 

 

Please keep the Bills in Buff.

 

Anybody else see it this way?

 

They are not idiots up there, they are NFL fans, plenty of whom have made trips to the Ralph. They understand what an "exhibition" game is, and they don't feel like paying $500 for a prime seat. Would you??? Or are you not a football fan?

 

There's no question the crowd was pro-Bills. But Steelers fans have ALWAYS travelled well. It's not unheard of to have 20,000 Terrible Towels in the Ralph when Pittsburgh plays there.

[JinWPB]

They are not idiots up there, they are NFL fans, plenty of whom have made trips to the Ralph. They understand what an "exhibition" game is, and they don't feel like paying $500 for a prime seat. Would you??? Or are you not a football fan?

 

There's no question the crowd was pro-Bills. But Steelers fans have ALWAYS travelled well. It's not unheard of to have 20,000 Terrible Towels in the Ralph when Pittsburgh plays there.

 

 

Let's hope you are right. I'll bite my tongue and withhold judgement 'til the Fins game. If our northern fans can't rock a dome stadium then, I'd say the Toronto experiment is a flop.

[apuszczalowski]

i wouldn't even judge it on the fins game either, its the dolphins, who wants to pay good money to see that one? The problem is too that they aren't trying to gain an all new fan base of average fans, they are trying to attract the bigger corporate $$$'s that Toronto has that can pay more money for the luxury boxes that are bringing in the big bucks. Everyone knows the fan support is there in Buffalo, its the big money corporate deals that bring in the money needed to compete in the NFL. When your largest sponsors are a local ice cream maker, and local Car Dealerships, you can't compete with guys like Kraft and Snyder, and Jones in the league

 

Plus its probably going to take a game or 2 (not pre-season games at more then regular season prices) to bring fans in. You are marketing into an area where you have Argo fans pissed someone is moving into their territory so they are boycotting, and how many Buffalo fans are going to want to travel to Toronto because they all have the idea in there head that this is only being done to move there team from Buffalo

[rockpile]

Quotes from the Buffalo News:

 

It’s not Buffalo. It never will be. It can’t be,” said Bill Leaman, 50, an Oshawa, Ont., businessman who goes to about three games in Buffalo every year. “It doesn’t give you the same atmosphere, the chills or the goose-bumps you feel in Buffalo.”

 

The pregame atmosphere outside the Rogers Centre left Bills fans longing for the Ralph Wilson Stadium experience.

 

“I’d rather see the Bills in Buffalo,” said Jason Cousins, 32, of Stratford, Ont., wearing his Marshawn Lynch jersey. “You’ve got your tailgating, your barbecuing and your throwing the football around in the parking lot, with the music going. Here you’re in the middle of a big city.”

 

“We’re still going to go to one game a year in Buffalo, just for the experience,” added his buddy, Peter Brickman.

 

The tailgating was limited to the Budweiser-sponsored tailgate party, held in a large fenced-off city block, one block north of the Rogers Centre.

 

Bills fans panned this attempt at tailgating, with most people sitting at round tables, sipping from Budweiser cans. There were a few entertaining moments, like contestants going on stage to do push-ups with someone on their back, to win free tickets to the game.

 

“As a tailgate party, this is weak, really weak,” said Ed Nicholson, 49, a Bills season-ticket holder from Monroeville, Pa., in Steelers country. “This isn’t The Ralph. Nobody’s tailgating in the parking lot, hooting and hollering and having a good time.”

 

Kimberly Kaliszewski, 39, a teacher from Buffalo who was wearing an old Tasker jersey, also missed the Ralph Wilson Stadium atmosphere.

 

“People are dressed in suits and ties, and we had to park underground,” she said with disgust.

 

Bills fans from Ontario, who love to see their heroes on both sides of the border, were quick to defend fellow Canadian fans.

 

“I didn’t expect a great atmosphere today,” said Nathan Doherty, 28, a Bills season-ticket holder from Kingston, Ont. “When the Dolphins come in on Dec. 7, guaranteed it will be sold out and it will be electric. When there’s a game on the line that means something, they’re going to come, and they’re going to care.”

[The Big Cat]

I love that The Bills haven't played at home yet this preseason. Fans will be FROTHING when their boys come home. Seismic activity in WNY, I'm calling it now!