No turning back

We said it before but we have to say it again: After seeing the kind of revenue stream that comes from a Bills game in Toronto, it's hard to see the Bills ever playing a full eight-game regular-season in Orchard Park again. What do the other NFL owners think? It's obvious they would want to continue the increased shared ticket revenue that they will get for Toronto games. If a seat on the 5-yard line costs $295, a $50-yard line seat will have to be $500, maybe more. Tickets on the second level for the Grey Cup were $579, and there was no trouble selling all of those, because of all the corporate clients the CFL could hit up. The toughest tickets to sell for the Grey Cup were the upper-deck seats, for $169 and $89, which makes sense. The average fan realizes that the Grey Cup, despite its history and cultural significance in Canada, is a minor-league event compared with the Leafs and Raptors. It will be interesting to see a year or two from now if the Bills have success drawing corporate clients from the "Golden Horseshoe" to Orchard Park for suite sales.

---Mark Gaughan

Comments

[MS]

Have you gone to a bills game in OP. Half the people are Canadian already. This is a good business move but very bad for the local fans if we dont sell tix here.

[rt]

Tickets on the 50 yard line are going for $575 each. Two lower bowl 20 yard line seats are going for $4,200 for the eight game package. If they sell out at these numbers you might as well order the moving vans now...

[Texas Kid]

Unless there is a massive intervention on the part of the two U.S. senators you have (which I doubt) and the NY Governor, the team will probably be going to Toronto. You've got one U.S. senator who will be too busy planning for the presidential race in 2012 to be bothered by problems in WNY and the other senator will figure there no harm to his NYC interests (new Yankee stadium). As long as the folks in Albany still get their tax monies..well that's all they'll care about people in the Buffalo area. The owners in the NFL see big money in this as well as a higher media market for the NFL network that Dallas owner jerry Jones is heading up. You can protest all you want, but the league will act like your elected officials in Albany with an attitude of.."Who cares??"

[Jim Glinski]

Stand Up and Shout

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Time for Bills Fans to Shout. We need to promote the largest protest the NFL has ever seen. Blah,Blah,Blah, We know nothing can be done about the Toronto games right now and a lot of you weak fans think it is a good thing and don't care about losing a home game. But for the true Fans this is still a bunch of Crap. Since the NFL is so Image conscious, lets give them something to worry about. For the season opener we need to stage the largest protest we can to bring national attention about our situation here.We need to let the rest of the country and league (including the fans around the league) about our Toronto problem and about the team moving situation. Not everyone knows about the NFL 's regionalization policy and that they want this league wide. This will let fans around the country know what is going on and that this can and will happen to their team and that something must be done. Any sizable protest will attract major media attention. Especially opening weekend. It would definitely draw the attention of all the networks. Some of you will think this is lame or not worthy,but it will get the attetion of the NFL and commissioner Goodell which all we need to do. This should get Goodell and Ralph to come out in public and address this situation about moving the Bills and hopefully get a public commitment on keeping the Bills in Buffalo.
SEASON TICKET HOLDERS, TRUE FANS,AND BUFFALO DESERVE BETTER

[Don H]

If Toronto can generate for an NFL season the same per game revenue as predicted for the transferred Bills games, they deserve an NFL franchise. Period.

[Matt]

I said it before but I have to say it again: Eventually the Bills will be playing a zero-game season in Orchard Park. What do the other NFL owners think? The more money the merrier, of course. Making money is ALWAYS the league's top priority (with its public image a close second). The Toronto Bills will make a heckuva lot more money off tickets than the Buffalo Bills, and once the owners see some numbers from these upcoming games we will suddenly find them singing "O Canada." WNY will of course be incensed, but the rest of the country will not care, so it will be an easy decision for the owners to allow the move.