Ralphy's ceremony is on!

[Just Jack]

I'm disappointed since this means the Punt Pass Kick won't be at halftime.

[cåblelady]

Im not Gonna cheer or Boo....Ill be in line waiting for a Beer

I'll be having a smoke.....hehe

[BEAST MODE BABY!]

I agree that booing would be classless.

 

Booing isn't classless. It's a sign your paying customers aren't a happy lot.

 

Everything is a feedback loop, so if they're booing there's good reason.

[The_Philster]

Erie County owns the stadium. Ralph Wilson has SOLE control of the lease. All the advertisements within the stadium go to RW. The owner has the ability to sell the naming rights to the stadium and receive income. For whatever reason he doesn't want to do it. When the Penguins and Sabres played at the outdoor game at the stadium he received the rent for the game. Again, my point is that he controls the lease and because of that control over the facility he is the person who won't allow the naming rights for the stadium.

and my point is...when the naming rights agreement with Rich Products ran out, he renamed the stadium Buffalo Bills Stadium...the Erie County Commissioner and the NYS governor chose to have it named after Ralph. The fact that he hasn't sold the naming rights again isn't the point...HE didn't name it....get your facts straight

[The_Philster]

Booing isn't classless. It's a sign your paying customers aren't a happy lot.

 

Everything is a feedback loop, so if they're booing there's good reason.

considering that the ceremony is to present him with his Hall of Fame ring (which he deserves without a shadow of a doubt...to suggest otherwise is beyond idiotic), booing during that ceremony would indeed be classless

[Rico]

considering that the ceremony is to present him with his Hall of Fame ring (which he deserves without a shadow of a doubt...to suggest otherwise is beyond idiotic), booing during that ceremony would indeed be classless

:w00t:

 

Ralph.

[Typical TBD Guy]

Do you have proof of your allegations? A rumor came out well over a year ago that there was already a plan in place to keep the team in Buffalo after his passing. Unless you have definitive proof that the rumor is false, you're blowing hot air.

He didn't name it after himself, genius. The governor of New York and the Erie County Commissioner chose the name

 

Proof of my allegations?! I'm just going by what Ralph Wilson himself has directly told the media about what's happening to the team while he's alive and after he passes.

 

I don't give a flying !@#$ about your internet rumor. We've seen all kinds of internet rumors over the years: Siefert at the airport, Ralph being dead, Ralph moving team to Toronto while Golisano gets an expansion franchise in Buffalo, etc... And I'm the one blowing hot air? I don't have to prove your internet rumor is false; you're the one who has to substantiate the internet rumor claim.

[MURTR]

Just because he has provided a product that the people of Buffalo have wanted in the past, and still seem to want.

 

I'm a big believer in "market place" economics. The fans buying tickets, T-shirts, hats, etc etc etc year after year are obviously satisfied with the product being presented ergo they keep buying and make the owner a profit. This provides no incentive to cut the profit margin to improve the end product. What does everyone think made Ralph open his wallet to allow the team of the 90's to be built ..... Ralph wanting a winner ..... or ..... the empty seats born of the dismal 70's and 80's?

 

The team was so bad the fans didn't worry about the the team moving enough to endure (and pay for) another bad game/season so they stayed away in droves which in turn hit Ralph in the only place he understands ... his wallet.

 

Today the people of Buffalo are so afraid the Bills will move they pack the stands each and every game ... so reap what you have sown .... be thankful Buffalo still has a team ... buy your ticket .... pay for parking ... eat a hot dog .... buy a beer ..... quit your whining and cheer for the owner

 

Problem is this isnt a "free market" per say. I think the metaphor other posters have used is the relationship between an abusive husband and his wife. Sure the wife is free to leave at anytime, but the husband usually holds something over their head which would discourage them from leaving (ie. you dont have a job, no one else would consider marrying you, etc). Well in this case, Ralph holds the threat of moving over our head, and the fact that once this team leaves this city, no one else would ever consider having a team in Buffalo. Sure, you could call this the ultimate marketing plan in a free market, but I just find it obnoxious.

[Dan]

Problem is this isnt a "free market" per say. I think the metaphor other posters have used is the relationship between an abusive husband and his wife. Sure the wife is free to leave at anytime, but the husband usually holds something over their head which would discourage them from leaving (ie. you dont have a job, no one else would consider marrying you, etc). Well in this case, Ralph holds the threat of moving over our head, and the fact that once this team leaves this city, no one else would ever consider having a team in Buffalo. Sure, you could call this the ultimate marketing plan in a free market, but I just find it obnoxious.

I'm sorry, but when has Ralph ever threatened to move the Bills?

[SAbills]

considering that the ceremony is to present him with his Hall of Fame ring (which he deserves without a shadow of a doubt...to suggest otherwise is beyond idiotic), booing during that ceremony would indeed be classless

 

Quality, you could write for the Daily Show.

[Typical TBD Guy]

I'm sorry, but when has Ralph ever threatened to move the Bills?

 

Early 70's to Seattle? Mid 90's to Los Angeles? Last year's passive aggressive threats at the Toronto press conference? Basically whenever a new stadium deal needs to be made (publicly funded, of course). Of course, this doesn't make old Ebenezer Wilson a particularly bad man; it's just business.

[MURTR]

I'm sorry, but when has Ralph ever threatened to move the Bills?

 

By auctioning off the team to the highest bidder upon his death, Ralph has left the future of the team up in the air. The highest bidder probably wont come from someone who wants to keep the team in Buffalo. He hasn't literally threatened to move, but everyone knows that the biggest reason we have the most season ticket sales since the SB years is because people are hoping that if we fill up the stadium, Ralph wont shift anymore games to Toronto and that maybe next owner might consider leaving the team here.

[GrudginglyPessimistic]

By auctioning off the team to the highest bidder upon his death, Ralph has left the future of the team up in the air. The highest bidder probably wont come from someone who wants to keep the team in Buffalo. He hasn't literally threatened to move, but everyone knows that the biggest reason we have the most season ticket sales since the SB years is because people are hoping that if we fill up the stadium, Ralph wont shift anymore games to Toronto and that maybe next owner might consider leaving the team here.

Again, simply saying that it will be sold to the highest bidder does not tell the entire story. It is clear that the rule is that all owners have agreed by contract when they bought their franchise from the NFL (AFL ownership went under NFL rules with the merger that any new owner MUST get the approval of about 70% or so of the existing owners.

 

It is a pretty good bet that the owners will generally vote where the money is. Though Mr. Ralph's estate might benefit most by selling the team to the highest bidder be it Madonna, Michael Jackson's estate, Idi Amin, or Rush Limbaugh, the NFL has the right (and Mr. Ralph has agreed contractually with the authority of the whole over the individual team owner as seen when he voted against the current CBA but his principles were overridden) to say who is qualified bidder with a pretty stiff burden to be met to get approval.

 

We just saw that with a fairly minimal effort of the NFLPA saying boo the big bucks which Limbaugh brought to the table was simply brushed aside.

 

The big money in this case is not going to be found in the 1/32 if the transfer fee each team owner is going to get from the sale and move of the team. The big $ come with the limited antitrust exemption which Congress has granted to the NFL and also the NFLPA who are majority owners of the NFL since the CBA awards them 60.5% of total revenues will have to be satisfied with any winner of an auction by Mr. Ralph's estate in order for them to win approval as an owner.

 

My guess is that the NFLPA will not care (unless part of the Jimbo organizing strategy is to put together a group which clearly is led by former players who buy he team and set a standard of groups of increasingly rich individual players who can put together bids such that the current workers employ the salary cap to generate enough wealth to allow them to eventually buy out all the current owners).

 

However, my guess is that Chuck Schumer, Gillenbrand, and a substantial part of the WNY and upstate NY House delegations will move to yank the antitrust exemption if the Bills are gonna leave NYS with no team that plays home games in the state.

 

Even, Cleveland which along with Detroit are even poorer cities than Buffalo and with similar troubled leadership forced a franchise out of the NFL with threats to antitrust and my GUESS is that the same thing can happen here.

 

The big money for owners is not gonna be found in mere transfer fees, the big money is going to be in keeping the team here most likely.

[Mr. WEO]

Again, simply saying that it will be sold to the highest bidder does not tell the entire story. It is clear that the rule is that all owners have agreed by contract when they bought their franchise from the NFL (AFL ownership went under NFL rules with the merger that any new owner MUST get the approval of about 70% or so of the existing owners.

 

It is a pretty good bet that the owners will generally vote where the money is. Though Mr. Ralph's estate might benefit most by selling the team to the highest bidder be it Madonna, Michael Jackson's estate, Idi Amin, or Rush Limbaugh, the NFL has the right (and Mr. Ralph has agreed contractually with the authority of the whole over the individual team owner as seen when he voted against the current CBA but his principles were overridden) to say who is qualified bidder with a pretty stiff burden to be met to get approval.

 

We just saw that with a fairly minimal effort of the NFLPA saying boo the big bucks which Limbaugh brought to the table was simply brushed aside.

 

The big money in this case is not going to be found in the 1/32 if the transfer fee each team owner is going to get from the sale and move of the team. The big $ come with the limited antitrust exemption which Congress has granted to the NFL and also the NFLPA who are majority owners of the NFL since the CBA awards them 60.5% of total revenues will have to be satisfied with any winner of an auction by Mr. Ralph's estate in order for them to win approval as an owner.

 

My guess is that the NFLPA will not care (unless part of the Jimbo organizing strategy is to put together a group which clearly is led by former players who buy he team and set a standard of groups of increasingly rich individual players who can put together bids such that the current workers employ the salary cap to generate enough wealth to allow them to eventually buy out all the current owners).

 

However, my guess is that Chuck Schumer, Gillenbrand, and a substantial part of the WNY and upstate NY House delegations will move to yank the antitrust exemption if the Bills are gonna leave NYS with no team that plays home games in the state.

 

Even, Cleveland which along with Detroit are even poorer cities than Buffalo and with similar troubled leadership forced a franchise out of the NFL with threats to antitrust and my GUESS is that the same thing can happen here.

 

The big money for owners is not gonna be found in mere transfer fees, the big money is going to be in keeping the team here most likely.

Oh stop with the "they will move to yank the antitrust exemption" nonsense. The NY delegation has no such power to do so. A majority vote to reverse this exemption would absolutely NEVER happen.

 

Perhaps you haven't thought about the consequences of what would occur if the NFL wasn't allowed to function as a monopoly. Here's a hint---if they were very lucky, the Bills might be able to get a TV contract with the Versus channel.

 

Bye bye small market teams.

[The_Philster]

Quality, you could write for the Daily Show.

do yourself a favor and read this

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Birth...99211510/?itm=1

 

Maybe you'll learn something...if not for the efforts of Ralph Wilson Jr, the NFL wouldn't be where it is today. Sure, maybe someone else might've stepped in and done something similar....but this isn't a might've situation...Ralph was a driving force in strengthening the AFL and helping to force the merger...that much is fact...and every NFL fan owes him a debt of gratitude for what he did.

[jester43]

Or cheered for making the effort to expand the team's market, thereby increasing profits and making the team more economically viable in a less-than-stellar-to-put-it-kindly area.

 

But go ahead and be short sighted.

yeah cause the 250million over the past 10 years wasn't enough. the bills couldn't possibly survive in buffalo without the 20000 canadian bills fans that went to the miami game last year (the rest were miami fans).

 

look, it's his right to bend us over if we're willing to take it, but i'm not going to be so naive as to believe that moving games away from buffalo is what will keep the bills in buffalo. wilson's trying to prove the team can MAKE MONEY IN TORONTO to attact a better price from a buyer there. he shovels that b.s. about "expanding the fan base" in the hopes that some suckers will believe it.

[GrudginglyPessimistic]

Oh stop with the "they will move to yank the antitrust exemption" nonsense. The NY delegation has no such power to do so. A majority vote to reverse this exemption would absolutely NEVER happen.

 

Perhaps you haven't thought about the consequences of what would occur if the NFL wasn't allowed to function as a monopoly. Here's a hint---if they were very lucky, the Bills might be able to get a TV contract with the Versus channel.

 

Bye bye small market teams.

1. What were the keys to the strategy used by Cleveland to beat the NFL?

2. What is Congress in the process of doing to the health insurance industry right now regarding antitrust?

3. What threat is idiot Maxine Waters using on the NFL right now on head trauma issues which is clearly not a reality (she is simply one lightweight constant carper in only the House) but has gotten her some national attention and is not being simply dismissed either?

 

These answers all include pulling antitrust exemption.

 

I am not arguing this certainly will happen (so no need to simply dismiss this strawman as invalidating the whole issues) I am simply stating this is a strategy which will be used in a worse case of the Bills moving and that the assumption of the worse case some foolishly make needs to at least be reined in by potential reality.

 

Simple statements that the team will be sold to the high bidder and that the high bidder must move are just incorrect when stated as a certainty.

 

It is exactly the fear of competing in a free market that a pull of the anti-trust exemption would force on the small markets and all the owners that sent them running and not walking to give the NFLPA 60.5% of the total gross receipts. This fear and the fact that the team owners make more money with stability and labor peace giving them 40.5% of the current stability than having 60%+ of the lesser money they get in the free market.

 

There will always be threats and tussling (as there is now where the team owners have exercised their right to re-open cap negotiations (which ultimately they will settle for 41.5% of the total receipts rather than the 40.5% they get now or something like that).

 

Reality is just a lot more complicated than the silly doctrine some blather on TSW, I am just offering alternative blathering which I think it would be irrational to claim is what is going to happen but also irrational to claim it is no possibility or that the threat will have no effect.

[macaroni]

Well in this case, Ralph holds the threat of moving over our head, and the fact that once this team leaves this city, no one else would ever consider having a team in Buffalo. Sure, you could call this the ultimate marketing plan in a free market, but I just find it obnoxious.

 

 

That is exactly my point ..... the fear of the team moving keeps fans buying tickets, however until the Bills fans over come that fear they have no leverage in improving the "quality" of the teams play. The threat of a move will always be there .... as a matter of fact ... IMHO ... after Ralph dies it will be just a matter of time before the "businessman" who buys the Bills gets lured to another city by the possibility of doubling or tripling his profits (even if he is a "local" business man)

[ricojes]

There will be 70,000 people at the Ralph this Sunday. Some will boo, some will clap, and some will leave the bowl area during half time. I will not boo Ralph nor do I think he should be boo'd, but I will be in the latter group and I hope most follow. A mostly empty stadium during his speech should speak volumes more than any amount of booing. So be prepared to be ashamed or embarrassed or whatever crap comments were made by some high horse posters, because I can guarantee there will be some, probably several thousand, that will indeed boo Ralph and they will be heard. Heck, if TE's had gotten hurt at home, there would have been some that cheered. Not that it's right, it's just the way it is. 70,000 people with varying degree's of ethical behavior and intoxication. Just don't lump as all together as is done all too often on this board!!! GO BILLS...

[damj]

Booing Ralph won't work ... He'll just think we're saying "B-r-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-c-e", and since Bruce went in the HOF with Ralph, he'll just get confused and look around for Bruce and think that we're really idiots, then he'll back up the Mayflower truck in the middle of the night and move the team to Toronto.