No wonder Wilson says he can't compete...

[stuckincincy]

So you're suggesting that the Cowboys and their zero playoffs wins this decade is the way to go? Despite all of JJ's spending and marketing, the Cowboys have had little more success than the Bills since the mid 90s. So, how is he doing so much better than Ralph at putting a winning product on the field. I'd say, dollar for dollar/win for win, Ralph is running circles around Jones as an owner. And he's doing it without bankrupting the franchise while simultaneously defending the rights of small market teams and preserving the longevity of the league. But go ahead and say Ralph suck because he didn't sell the naming rights to the stadium like Jones did. Oh wait.... I'm sorry what point are you trying to make again?

 

 

Do you think Ralph is going to pay for his own new stadium?

[MattM]

They already did "float him a loan"--the $150 million G3 fund money.

 

Mr. WEO, your reference to the G3 program shows you know of what you speak here--do you happen to know the breakdown of the costs of the $1.5b Monument to Excess in terms of what it was made up of and who's on the hook for it, as I'd be curious to see that it you have it easy to hand (or head)?

[Mr. WEO]

Mr. WEO, your reference to the G3 program shows you know of what you speak here--do you happen to know the breakdown of the costs of the $1.5b Monument to Excess in terms of what it was made up of and who's on the hook for it, as I'd be curious to see that it you have it easy to hand (or head)?

Cost of roughly $1.1 billion. $325 financed by the citizens of Arlington. The rest is on JJ--including paying back the G3.

[JohnC]

Yeah, ignoring his advice got them...the last CBA, that they tossed the first chance they could get. But hey, they were "smart enough to include an opt-out clause!"

 

And the smallest non-community owned team's market with the worst local economy needs to be "subsidized" by the rest of the NFL? Wow, major revelation there, JohnC! Nevermind that Ralph was one of the men who helped create this powerful league before any of the "new guard" owners even made their first million.

 

Let me ask you, would you favor Ralph raising prices so as to not be "subsidized" by the rest of the league? What do you think that would do to attendance figures? And why should you care if Ralph is subsidized by the other owners, as long as he doesn't pass it on to the fans?

 

The product on the field is absolutely garbage. It has been for a decade. Whatever he is charging now is rapaciously overpriced. When you rank 29 out of 32 for wins over a decade I would certainly conclude that the current pricing should be even cheaper.

 

Would I accept higher priced tickets for a better product on the field? Of course. That that is not going to happen with an aged, incompetent owner who is half a century behind the times. If higher ticket prices would generate revenue to pay for a quality front office and a GM who is knowledgeable about pro football, instead of being a marketing guru, Russ Brandon, then I would certainly be all for increased pricing. Make no mistake about what would happen to an increased amount of revenue. It would go directly into the pockets of the owner, instead of partially being invested into the losing organization. That is exactly what happened with his Toronto Windfall of $75 or 78 million dollars.

 

The Bills are the laughing stock of the league not because they don't generate enough revenue. They rank in the lower 10% for wins because the organization is hideously inept. Our clown owner fired Bill Polian. The Colts have made the playoffs 9 out of 10 years, with a SB trophy under his stewardship. The buffoon owner of the Bills fired John Butler/A.J. Smith. The Chargers are an immensely superior team to the Bills, and are serious playoff and SB contenders. While those teams have thrived, the Bills under the ownership of Ralph Wilson have been stuck in the mud.

[ThereIsNoDog]

The product on the field is absolutely garbage. It has been for a decade. Whatever he is charging now is rapaciously overpriced. When you rank 29 out of 32 for wins over a decade I would certainly conclude that the current pricing should be even cheaper.

 

Would I accept higher priced tickets for a better product on the field? Of course. That that is not going to happen with an aged, incompetent owner who is half a century behind the times. If higher ticket prices would generate revenue to pay for a quality front office and a GM who is knowledgeable about pro football, instead of being a marketing guru, Russ Brandon, then I would certainly be all for increased pricing. Make no mistake about what would happen to an increased amount of revenue. It would go directly into the pockets of the owner, instead of partially being invested into the losing organization. That is exactly what happened with his Toronto Windfall of $75 or 78 million dollars.

 

The Bills are the laughing stock of the league not because they don't generate enough revenue. They rank in the lower 10% for wins because the organization is hideously inept. Our clown owner fired Bill Polian. The Colts have made the playoffs 9 out of 10 years, with a SB trophy under his stewardship. The buffoon owner of the Bills fired John Butler/A.J. Smith. The Chargers are an immensely superior team to the Bills, and are serious playoff and SB contenders. While those teams have thrived, the Bills under the ownership of Ralph Wilson have been stuck in the mud.

The Bills aren't the laughingstock of the league, and don't rank 29th in wins over the past decade. You need to check your facts, sir. And when they did have Polian, his teams lost 4 straight SB's. Jerry Jones ran Jimmy Johnson out of Dallas?

 

Regarding ticket prices and improving the product, Mr. WEO, who seems to share your opinion, just stated that for all of the money Snyder and Jones have spent, it hasn't translated into much winning. So what makes you think that Ralph spending more money will succeed, whereas these "great NFL owners" are failing? And how much more are you willing to spend on tickets? How much do you spend right now?

[JohnC]

The Bills aren't the laughingstock of the league, and don't rank 29th in wins over the past decade. You need to check your facts, sir. And when they did have Polian, his teams lost 4 straight SB's. Jerry Jones ran Jimmy Johnson out of Dallas?

 

Regarding ticket prices and improving the product, Mr. WEO, who seems to share your opinion, just stated that for all of the money Snyder and Jones have spent, it hasn't translated into much winning. So what makes you think that Ralph spending more money will succeed, whereas these "great NFL owners" are failing? And how much more are you willing to spend on tickets? How much do you spend right now?

 

You need to pay more attention . It isn't all about the money. I have clearly stated that The Bills are a failed organization because they are laughably inept. The front office is staffed by the same people, Tom Modrak and John Guy, who have been with this organization for a decade. They were both brought in by Tom Donahoe, and both still maintain their current personnel positions.

 

You are correct that under Bill Polian the Bills lost four consecutive SBs. Doesn't that beat not getting in the playoffs for nine consecutive years? Maybe in your book it does not, but certainly in mine it does. It is ironic that many fans of the Bills state the Cowboys are failures because the don't win playoff games (at least recently) when their own western NY team doesn't even GET IN playoff games.

[ThereIsNoDog]

You need to pay more attention . It isn't all about the money. I have clearly stated that The Bills are a failed organization because they are laughably inept. The front office is staffed by the same people, Tom Modrak and John Guy, who have been with this organization for a decade. They were both brought in by Tom Donahoe, and both still maintain their current personnel positions.

 

You are correct that under Bill Polian the Bills lost four consecutive SBs. Doesn't that beat not getting in the playoffs for nine consecutive years? Maybe in your book it does not, but certainly in mine it does. It is ironic that many fans of the Bills state the Cowboys are failures because the don't win playoff games (at least recently) when their own western NY team doesn't even GET IN playoff games.

It isn't all about the money? So you think that Ralph is keeping these guys around because it's his master plan to have a team that misses the playoffs annually? Let me know when you've figured-out what argument you're trying to make here. Because the Colts and Chargers for the majority of the 90's were "laughingstocks" as well.

 

And you didn't answer my question. How much do you spend on games? How many games have you gone to in the past decade?

[MattM]

Cost of roughly $1.1 billion. $325 financed by the citizens of Arlington. The rest is on JJ--including paying back the G3.

 

 

Muchas gracias. Ouch, that's got to hurt, Jerry. Talk about bad timing--nearly $800 million in debt during the biggest credit crisis of modern times. I thought I'd read somewhere that his financing was floating and not fixed (as was Kraft's on Patriot* Place and the Jets/Giants on their new digs as per the same article). If that's the case, he must be paying 200 or 300 basis points more than he'd budgeted at the very least, to the tune of at least $15-25 million less per year (for the foreseeable future), and probably more like $40-50 million a year more. Better get selling those boxes, Jerry, and that pizza along with it--you're going to need every dime. This will be very interesting to see how the credit crisis and such imprudent spending impacts certain teams going into next year's almost certainly uncapped year. I suspect that the players may be sorely mistaken in terms of how beneficial the uncapped year is going to be to the vast majority of them....

[nucci]

Muchas gracias. Ouch, that's got to hurt, Jerry. Talk about bad timing--nearly $800 million in debt during the biggest credit crisis of modern times. I thought I'd read somewhere that his financing was floating and not fixed (as was Kraft's on Patriot* Place and the Jets/Giants on their new digs as per the same article). If that's the case, he must be paying 200 or 300 basis points more than he'd budgeted at the very least, to the tune of at least $15-25 million less per year (for the foreseeable future), and probably more like $40-50 million a year more. Better get selling those boxes, Jerry, and that pizza along with it--you're going to need every dime. This will be very interesting to see how the credit crisis and such imprudent spending impacts certain teams going into next year's almost certainly uncapped year. I suspect that the players may be sorely mistaken in terms of how beneficial the uncapped year is going to be to the vast majority of them....

Based on what I have read about the rules in an uncapped year, I think it favors the owners much more than the players.

[jwws9999]

Based on what I have read about the rules in an uncapped year, I think it favors the owners much more than the players.

 

 

unlike Ralph, Jones paid for the stadium himself. i doubt ralphs football operations are losing any money

[ThereIsNoDog]

unlike Ralph, Jones paid for the stadium himself. i doubt ralphs football operations are losing any money.

Obviously you missed this:

Cost of roughly $1.1 billion. $325 [billion] financed by the citizens of Arlington. The rest is on JJ--including paying back the G3.

And the G-3 loan is repaid with the visiting teams' share of club-seat revenue.

[Chalkie Gerzowski]

this is to compensate for Jones' 2 inches of fury.

[BLZFAN4LIFE]

this is to compensate for Jones' 2 inches of fury.

 

That is what they say about guys with huge stadiums.

[Chalkie Gerzowski]

That is what they say about guys with huge stadiums.

 

That's the word on the street.

[Dan]

Do you think Ralph is going to pay for his own new stadium?

No I don't. However, I'm not sure that he should nor am I sure that how much the owner spends on building the stadium is an indicator of his competency as an owner.

[lockerrm]

everyone knows someone who is rich and lost it jj built a stadium because the old one sucked and anyone who went there knows. The new one is awesome from the air but just went by in person last week and parking and tailgaiting is not going to happen unless he buys a lot more ground if they don't party in the stadium it does'nt seam like a good experience to me. But who can figure what a cowboy fan thinks like, some of them thing jj is good for the game.

[nucci]

unlike Ralph, Jones paid for the stadium himself. i doubt ralphs football operations are losing any money

What does that have to do with my statement?

[JohnC]

No I don't. However, I'm not sure that he should nor am I sure that how much the owner spends on building the stadium is an indicator of his competency as an owner.

The true indicator of the competency of an owner is his team's record over an extended period of time. The caliber of front office, scouting department coaching staff the owner assembles usually reflects how the team performs on the field. The Bills have been out of the playoffs for nine consecutive years. Last year the team finished with a record of 2-8 after starting off well against mediocre opponents. Against the divisional opponents the Bills went 0-6.

 

How much does the owner spend on players? I don't give a dam. How much does the owner spend for a quality front office? I don't give a dam. How much money does the owner contribute to the cost of a stadium? I don't give a dam. The measuring stick for any professional team is very simple: The team's record. The Steelers, Eagles, Pats, Giants, Titans, Panthers, Colts, Ravens consistently win because the are professionally and competently managed. Team's such as the Bills, Raiders etc consistently lose because they are poorly run.

 

What the Pittsburgh Pirtates are to MLB the Bills have become to the NFL under the stewardship of an outdated clueless owner, Ralph Wilson. Each team in their respective sport has become associated with a culture of losing and ineptitude. Each team has become an irrelevant team in their particular sport.

[RJ (not THAT RJ)]

You really need to do something about your addiction to the head-bash smiley, John. It is becoming downright unhealthy.

 

 

The true indicator of the competency of an owner is his team's record over an extended period of time. The caliber of front office, scouting department coaching staff the owner assembles usually reflects how the team performs on the field. The Bills have been out of the playoffs for nine consecutive years. Last year the team finished with a record of 2-8 after starting off well against mediocre opponents. Against the divisional opponents the Bills went 0-6.

 

How much does the owner spend on players? I don't give a dam. How much does the owner spend for a quality front office? I don't give a dam. How much money does the owner contribute to the cost of a stadium? I don't give a dam. The measuring stick for any professional team is very simple: The team's record. The Steelers, Eagles, Pats, Giants, Titans, Panthers, Colts, Ravens consistently win because the are professionally and competently managed. Team's such as the Bills, Raiders etc consistently lose because they are poorly run.

 

What the Pittsburgh Pirtates are to MLB the Bills have become to the NFL under the stewardship of an outdated clueless owner, Ralph Wilson. Each team in their respective sport has become associated with a culture of losing and ineptitude. Each team has become an irrelevant team in their particular sport.

[BLZFAN4LIFE]

The true indicator of the competency of an owner is his team's record over an extended period of time. The caliber of front office, scouting department coaching staff the owner assembles usually reflects how the team performs on the field. The Bills have been out of the playoffs for nine consecutive years. Last year the team finished with a record of 2-8 after starting off well against mediocre opponents. Against the divisional opponents the Bills went 0-6.

 

How much does the owner spend on players? I don't give a dam. How much does the owner spend for a quality front office? I don't give a dam. How much money does the owner contribute to the cost of a stadium? I don't give a dam. The measuring stick for any professional team is very simple: The team's record. The Steelers, Eagles, Pats, Giants, Titans, Panthers, Colts, Ravens consistently win because the are professionally and competently managed. Team's such as the Bills, Raiders etc consistently lose because they are poorly run.

 

What the Pittsburgh Pirtates are to MLB the Bills have become to the NFL under the stewardship of an outdated clueless owner, Ralph Wilson. Each team in their respective sport has become associated with a culture of losing and ineptitude. Each team has become an irrelevant team in their particular sport.

 

 

T.O. makes us relevant damn it! T.O. makes us relevant!