Best article on the Bills

[BillsVet]

Esmonde makes the point that a lack of quality management is what is keeping the Bills from being successful. Everyone's favorite sports radio guy, Colin Cowhered, talked about the article this morning.

 

Could not agree more on this assessment.

 

Esmonde

[BuffaloBill]

I though this article was grade schoolish when I read it yesterday. IMO it lacks any depth of thought and probably took him 5 minutes to write. His use of GM as the comparison point in the piece is absurd. Yes, GM is a mess and has become a shell of its former self but the complexity and contributors to their situation are far deeper and more numerous. A football team can be largely controlled by three people - owner, gm and hc. A far cry from the situation with a global organization like GM.

[Kettle Creek Football]

Esmonde makes the point that a lack of quality management is what is keeping the Bills from being successful. Everyone's favorite sports radio guy, Colin Cowhered, talked about the article this morning.

 

Could not agree more on this assessment.

 

Esmonde

I wish I heard the "The Herd" this morning, b/c he is my favourite radio guy. But this whole "mgm't" idea is not new.

[Chandler#81]

I though this article was grade schoolish when I read it yesterday. IMO it lacks any depth of thought and probably took him 5 minutes to write. His use of GM as the comparison point in the piece is absurd. Yes, GM is a mess and has become a shell of its former self but the complexity and contributors to their situation are far deeper and more numerous. A football team can be largely controlled by three people - owner, gm and hc. A far cry from the situation with a global organization like GM.

 

Granted, the article provided little news but this paragraph says it all: "..The faces change, the results stay the same. The chronic mediocrity is compelling evidence that the Buffalo team’s core problem is its ownership and management. The management structure, put in place by 91-year-old owner Ralph Wilson, consistently misjudges talent, fails to spend wisely on personnel and does not hire capable coaches to direct players and create innovative strategies."

In a strange way, I'm glad to see it in 'official' print. Internet junkies, whose only claim is team fandom, have been harping on it for years.

 

Grim times indeed.

[BillsVet]

I wish I heard the "The Herd" this morning, b/c he is my favourite radio guy. But this whole "mgm't" idea is not new.

 

The idea isn't new, but certain posters realize we can complain about players and coaches and nothing will change. Until management is restructured to feature people who know what they're doing, it's the same result. In Buffalo, the owner is not versed in football, yet is picking UFA's, and the GM isn't allowed to fire HC's. Talk about dysfunctional, kinda like the GM.

[NewHampshireBillsFan]

Having worked in the generally poorly run American corporate world for years, I can relate to the analogy. The only thing I would disagree about is that Ford is doing well. Chinese companies are doing well and even European companies are doing better than companies like Ford.

 

If the Bills were a corporation they would have gone bankrupt a long time ago. Because of revenue sharing and because they are a local monopoly they survive. RW doesn't understand how to turn this around. The most important thing he could do would be to hire a top-notch HC who would also be the head of all football decisions, including the draft. That HC would then bring in his people so that there would be one consistent strong organization, from top to bottom.

 

Hiring another Donahoe type would not work because strong GMs usually want a HC they can control and that rules out the best HCs.

[Dark Fan]

Esmonde makes the point that a lack of quality management is what is keeping the Bills from being successful. Everyone's favorite sports radio guy, Colin Cowhered, talked about the article this morning.

 

Could not agree more on this assessment.

 

Esmonde

 

He took most of his ideas from his sister, Marie.

[Taro T]

So he doesn't write in the Lifestyles section anymore?

[stuckincincy]

Having worked in the generally poorly run American corporate world for years, I can relate to the analogy. The only thing I would disagree about is that Ford is doing well. Chinese companies are doing well and even European companies are doing better than companies like Ford.

 

Nice try.

 

I suspect that poorly-run American corporation will sooner or later get around to getting rid your particular services. And you can always quit, right? But you won't...

[shoveldog]

I though this article was grade schoolish when I read it yesterday. IMO it lacks any depth of thought and probably took him 5 minutes to write. His use of GM as the comparison point in the piece is absurd. Yes, GM is a mess and has become a shell of its former self but the complexity and contributors to their situation are far deeper and more numerous. A football team can be largely controlled by three people - owner, gm and hc. A far cry from the situation with a global organization like GM.

 

Because he approaches the situation from a direction you are clearly unfamiliar with, he's grade schoolish and amateur? The bottom line for this organization, is that we have not had a good football person at the top since Bill Polian was allowed to walk out the door. Thus, the product you see on the field today. Our Marketing Director (er, GM) is doing an outstanding job selling tickets, but our football operations and talent evaluation is severely lacking.

[JohnC]

The idea isn't new, but certain posters realize we can complain about players and coaches and nothing will change. Until management is restructured to feature people who know what they're doing, it's the same result. In Buffalo, the owner is not versed in football, yet is picking UFA's, and the GM isn't allowed to fire HC's. Talk about dysfunctional, kinda like the GM.

 

Just think the fate of a franchise is in the hands of a 91 yr old man who is clueless about football but tenacious in extracting the last nickel out of his cash cow franchise. What do you expect from someone who would rather sell the franchise to the highest bidder when he passes rather than do the right thing and make arrangements for an orderly transfer to a local group. Ralph is Ralph. He is what he has always been. Only now more people are aware of it.

[bklnpete]

Esmonde should stick to public-interest stories about little old ladies and cats stuck in trees. He's so obviously not a sports guy.

[JohnC]

Having worked in the generally poorly run American corporate world for years, I can relate to the analogy. The only thing I would disagree about is that Ford is doing well. Chinese companies are doing well and even European companies are doing better than companies like Ford.

 

If the Bills were a corporation they would have gone bankrupt a long time ago. Because of revenue sharing and because they are a local monopoly they survive. RW doesn't understand how to turn this around. The most important thing he could do would be to hire a top-notch HC who would also be the head of all football decisions, including the draft. That HC would then bring in his people so that there would be one consistent strong organization, from top to bottom.

 

Hiring another Donahoe type would not work because strong GMs usually want a HC they can control and that rules out the best HCs.

 

NewHampshire/BillsVet, You both have it wrong. The aged owner certainly knows what he is doing. He is making a ton of money without investing much into the organization. The franchise is nothing but a cash cow for him. The team had an extraordinary level of success under Bill Polian, which included 4 consecutive SB appearances. But Polian was let go because of the constant friction between Polian and Ralph's primary accountant for the organization, Littman. Ralph sided with Littman who was a tiger in keeping costs down.

 

There is nothing novel about what Ralph is doing. The owner of the Pirates in baseball and the owner of the Clippers in the NFL have the same business model. Keep the payroll low, take the revenue sharing money from the more wealthy regions and stuff it in your pocket instead of investing back into the product. Voila, you make a hefty profit. When a talented player's first contract expires you don't sign him at the new high rate, you get rid of that costly expense. London Fletcher is one of the most productive LBs in the league. He was let go by the Bills because his contract expired and the organization was not willing to give him a "fair-maket" salary. He is better than any of our LBs by far. Jason Peters was asking for a fair market salary. He was our best O-lineman and was one of the least paid. But this organization wasn't willing to give him the fair-market rate for a LT, which comes at a premium price, so he gets traded to a winning organization which gladly takes him and quickly signs him for what he is worth.

 

Owners from wealthier franchises such as Jerry Jones and Danny Snyder take risks and invest in their franchises. They have the burden of paying off bonds for stadiums they primarily built. Then they are forced to share their revenue with hustlers such as Ralph who pocket the money instead of investing back into their small market team as they were supposed to do. They see how Ralph refused to sell the name of the stadium and have it named after him (a stadium he didn't pay a penny for) and then hear him complain that he doesn't have adequate revenue stream.

 

Don't be fooled. Ralph knows what he is doing. He has been doing it for half a century. There is nothing new about what he has done and continues to do. This is a man who stood at the podium in Toronto and ridiculed the western NY market, the same market which has enriched him for half a century. This is the man who clearly has it stated in his will that the franchise "must" be sold to the highest bidder. When it comes to money the old nasty hombre knows exactly what he is doing.

[Mr. Sparkle]

He took most of his ideas from his sister, Marie.

 

 

[BillsVet]

Esmonde should stick to public-interest stories about little old ladies and cats stuck in trees. He's so obviously not a sports guy.

 

You obviously don't understand. As with business, sports teams' success or failure rides on effective and good management. Without this, no organization can prosper. You can luck out and find good players, but management easily cancels good players.

 

NewHampshire/BillsVet, You both have it wrong. The aged owner certainly knows what he is doing.

 

I'm well aware that RW has a clear strategy. It involves gaining every dollar he can out of this franchise before he passes so that he can set up the family. Signing TO was a move he probably didn't want to make, but understood he needed to do something to make up for retaining DJ.

 

His options were to keep DJ, not sign TO, and see a huge drop-off in season ticket sales. Or, he could sign TO for 6.5M for one season, and keep the season ticket sales high with a loser HC.

 

RW chose the former, because he's willing to pay 6.5M for a name WR to not have to fire a coach he owes 8-9M.

[reginald]

NewHampshire/BillsVet, You both have it wrong. The aged owner certainly knows what he is doing. He is making a ton of money without investing much into the organization. The franchise is nothing but a cash cow for him. The team had an extraordinary level of success under Bill Polian, which included 4 consecutive SB appearances. But Polian was let go because of the constant friction between Polian and Ralph's primary accountant for the organization, Littman. Ralph sided with Littman who was a tiger in keeping costs down.

 

There is nothing novel about what Ralph is doing. The owner of the Pirates in baseball and the owner of the Clippers in the NFL have the same business model. Keep the payroll low, take the revenue sharing money from the more wealthy regions and stuff it in your pocket instead of investing back into the product. Voila, you make a hefty profit. When a talented player's first contract expires you don't sign him at the new high rate, you get rid of that costly expense. London Fletcher is one of the most productive LBs in the league. He was let go by the Bills because his contract expired and the organization was not willing to give him a "fair-maket" salary. He is better than any of our LBs by far. Jason Peters was asking for a fair market salary. He was our best O-lineman and was one of the least paid. But this organization wasn't willing to give him the fair-market rate for a LT, which comes at a premium price, so he gets traded to a winning organization which gladly takes him and quickly signs him for what he is worth.

 

Owners from wealthier franchises such as Jerry Jones and Danny Snyder take risks and invest in their franchises. They have the burden of paying off bonds for stadiums they primarily built. Then they are forced to share their revenue with hustlers such as Ralph who pocket the money instead of investing back into their small market team as they were supposed to do. They see how Ralph refused to sell the name of the stadium and have it named after him (a stadium he didn't pay a penny for) and then hear him complain that he doesn't have adequate revenue stream.

 

Don't be fooled. Ralph knows what he is doing. He has been doing it for half a century. There is nothing new about what he has done and continues to do. This is a man who stood at the podium in Toronto and ridiculed the western NY market, the same market which has enriched him for half a century. This is the man who clearly has it stated in his will that the franchise "must" be sold to the highest bidder. When it comes to money the old nasty hombre knows exactly what he is doing.

Time to walk away-should have done it a few years ago.

[bananathumb]

Esmonde makes the point that a lack of quality management is what is keeping the Bills from being successful. Everyone's favorite sports radio guy, Colin Cowhered, talked about the article this morning.

 

Could not agree more on this assessment.

 

Esmonde

 

 

Agreed. It's rotten from the top down. Nothing will change until... we all know the answer.

[Ralonzo]

His use of GM as the comparison point in the piece is absurd.

 

Not that I'm a fan of Donn Emo, but it would have worked better if he had made the title "Cash-To-Cap For Clunkers"

[crazyDingo]

He took most of his ideas from his sister, Marie.

He's a little bit Rock and Roll.

[JohnC]

Time to walk away-should have done it a few years ago.

 

Ralph has stated that he is not going to sell under any circumstances. Why should he when he is still reaping a bananza from his ownership? He made $75 or $78 million in up front payments with his Toronto deal. He made at least $8 million more by not reworking Peters's contract and letting him go and cutting Dockery and Walker in addition to what he was going to make this year. So what if he denuded the OL. It's business.

 

Ralph knows that if he sells the team while he is alive no one would pay attention to him. Tinkering with his toy franchise is all he has left. Whether the team stays in western NY is not a concern to him. It is going to the highest bidder when he leaves the scene. There have been people who have indicated an interest in buying the team. They were told in no uncertain terms by his representatives to mind their own business. When you are 90 yrs old and stubborn you become more stubborn when you are 91 yrs old.