NFL Fan Loyalty Study

[Coach Sal]

Sorry if this was brought up back in September when it was published. But I did a search and didn't see it. And if it was I thought it was relevant to discuss again considering the "non-sellouts" and the conversations they've inspired. Also, many posters may not have seen it since it was originally discussed the same week as the first game.

Anyway, before this season began, Bizjournals rated the level of fan loyalty for all 32 National Football League teams, based on seven statistical indicators over a 10-year period.

The study’s objective was to identify the NFL’s "best" fans. Not the ones who turn out in strong numbers for a winning team, but the ones who stay loyal even if their team is losing, the weather is frightful or their local market is small.

The study covered the 10 seasons from 1996 through 2005. Twenty-eight of the NFL’s 32 teams played in the same market throughout the 10-year period. The exceptions are Tennessee (which began play in 1997), Cleveland (1999), Houston (2002) and New Orleans (which spent the 2005 season on the road in the wake of Hurricane Katrina). Statistics for the first three teams cover all seasons that they played during the decade. Attendance figures for New Orleans were limited to 1996-2004.

The Bills had a winning percentage in the bottom half of the league during the period studied. Buffalo ranked as the 2nd smallest market (behind Green Bay), had the 2nd lowest per capita income (behind New Orleans), and the 3rd worst average temperature in December (behind Green Bay and Chicago) for teams with outdoor stadiums.

All of that added up to having the 2nd hardest “difficulty to support factor” in the National Football League (behind Cleveland).

Yet, despite all of that, the Buffalo Bills ranked 6th in the NFL in fan loyalty over the past ten years by this independent and non-biased study!!

Here are the complete rankings, along with links, directly above the chart, to explanations for everything they factored into the study:

http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/pages/34.html

[PECKERWOOD]

I hope Goodell sees this. It's funny how Oakland is ranked last, yet the NFL wants to move another team to Cali. WTF?

[SABURZFAN]

It's funny how Oakland is ranked last, yet the NFL wants to move another team to Cali. WTF?


LA has the 2nd largest TV market in the States.when they can generate the money,why not move another team to california?

[PECKERWOOD]

LA has the 2nd largest TV market in the States.when they can generate the money,why not move another team to california?

Because they don't support their teams.

[SABURZFAN]

Because they don't support their teams.



HELLO!!!!!!!!!MCFLY!!!!!!!!!!!ANYBODY IN THERE??????(knocking on your your forehead)


when they can generate the MONEY,why not move another team to california?

[PECKERWOOD]

HELLO!!!!!!!!!MCFLY!!!!!!!!!!!ANYBODY IN THERE??????(knocking on your your forehead)


when they can generate the MONEY,why not move another team to california?


HELLO!!!!!!!!!MCFLY!!!!!!!!!!!ANYBODY IN THERE??????(knocking on your your forehead)

Are you roleplaying, spacemonkey? Wtf.


when they can generate the MONEY,why not move another team to california?

Does it really matter when they can? When they can't? And when they never have? I hate to break it to you, NASA space monkey but California is notorious for not supporting their football teams. The real question is this: Why move Buffalo when they already have a loyal fanbase? Furthermore, why would you move them to a place where they don't have a loyal fanbase? In the process you are making the game less enjoyable for: Miami, NY and NE fans, destroying decades of fierce rivalries and history.

[jamze132]

If the Bills do indeed stay in Buffalo, it will be in large part to the loyalty from the fans. Hopefully while the NFL is busy making billions, they can overlook our little blip on the radar and help us stay.

[YardRat]

Are you roleplaying, spacemonkey? Wtf.



Does it really matter when they can? When they can't? And when they never have? I hate to break it to you, NASA space monkey but California is notorious for not supporting their football teams. The real question is this: Why move Buffalo when they already have a loyal fanbase? Furthermore, why would you move them to a place where they don't have a loyal fanbase? In the process you are making the game less enjoyable for: Miami, NY and NE fans, destroying decades of fierce rivalries and history.

Because the NFL is about money, not emotions...fan loyalty means very little in the long run.

Ask anybody from Cleveland.

[Wraith]

Because the NFL is about money, not emotions...fan loyalty means very little in the long run.

Ask anybody from Cleveland.

The Cleveland situation is an interesting one. Sure, the team moved, in large part because of a greedy owner. But the NFL quickly replaced the team with a new franchise, "transferred" the old team history to the new team, and helped build a stadium. This was all done for a team that, according to this study, is the hardest to support in the league.

I'm not sure this helps prove the NFL is all about money. In fact, I'd say it helps prove the opposite.

[RedEyE]

Unfortunately it's not just about fan loyalty anymore and selling t-shirts and jerseys. It's about the all mighty dollar and what it can do for the NFL It's about exposing corporate rich areas and milking them for endorsements, high dollar boxes, putting a company name on the scoreboard, etc...The NFl doesn't care that the 60,000 $60 fan seats aren't full, just as long as the 25 $500,000 sky boxes are.

California has much to offer in the way of money.

It's sad the direction this league is headed, but this is a capitalist society and it's a thriving business.

I'm still trying to figure out how the NFL is not considered a monopoly.

[Inetpub]

Unfortunately it's not just about fan loyalty anymore and selling t-shirts and jerseys. It's about the all mighty dollar and what it can do for the NFL It's about exposing corporate rich areas and milking them for endorsements, high dollar boxes, putting a company name on the scoreboard, etc...The NFl doesn't care that the 60,000 $60 fan seats aren't full, just as long as the 25 $500,000 sky boxes are.

California has much to offer in the way of money.

It's sad the direction this league is headed, but this is a capitalist society and it's a thriving business.

I'm still trying to figure out how the NFL is not considered a monopoly.

I agree with you on many aspects of how the mighty dollar can EASILY influence the move.

When it comes down to it all, the mighty dollar speaks for itself. When you buy an NFL team, you come in with almost a guaranteed certainty to make money. Not many people will lose money buying an NFL team(Probably no one has EVER). Whether they buy just to sell or buy to build a dynasty, $$$ will ALWAYS be a deciding factor. Where the money is, they will follow.

Will it suck if Buffalo moved? YES. Do you have control? NO. Buffalo doesnt have as big of a market as LA. It will never generate the TV revenue(guaranteed millions more just for being in LA), Jersey sales(Bigger population = more sales), ticket sales(average dollar amount) as LA and really all we can do is hope Buffalo doesnt move.

[PECKERWOOD]

Because the NFL is about money, not emotions...fan loyalty means very little in the long run.

Ask anybody from Cleveland.

If you have a loyal fan base, your business will be more profitable in the end. What good would it be to move the Bills to LA and then have the team die 5 years later? That doesn't seem like a smart 'business' decision if you ask me.

[Inetpub]

If you have a loyal fan base, your business will be more profitable in the end. What good would it be to move the Bills to LA and then have the team die 5 years later? That doesn't seem like a smart 'business' decision if you ask me.

BuffaloFever, obviously your not into business. Easiest way to make a buck, is buy and sell quickly. With a 5 year turn around plan to buy and sell a team, owners are guaranteed to make money. Good example: real estate. Always a good investment to buy and turn around and sell for a good profit. Stock markets. IF you hit the right stock you make a crapload of money fast and sell. But stocks are a gamble. Sports teams. Buy and sell will generate you millions a year just in the team itself. Teams have grown from 40 million dollar franchises to 1.4 Billion dollars. You can buy a cheap team, move them to a large market and sell for millions more.

Companies making money on the quick buck dont care about loyalty. They care about how much revenue is generated. Loyal fans might generate revenue but large markets generate MORE revenue. Its just the basics of marketing. Target the largest audience to be more effective.

So you still wonder why they would do the 5 year plan? Because in 5 years, the team's worth will probably be 200 million dollars more in LA than in Buffalo. 40 million/year profit...ya Im sure people wont say no to that. Especially shareholders.

[SABURZFAN]

If you have a loyal fan base, your business will be more profitable in the end. What good would it be to move the Bills to LA and then have the team die 5 years later? That doesn't seem like a smart 'business' decision if you ask me.


i see McFly still doesn't get it.why am i not surprised?

[RockStar36]

HELLO!!!!!!!!!MCFLY!!!!!!!!!!!ANYBODY IN THERE??????(knocking on your your forehead)


when they can generate the MONEY,why not move another team to california?

If LA can generate so much money how did they already lose two teams?

[PECKERWOOD]

i see McFly still doesn't get it.why am i not surprised?

I guess you don't understand, space monkey. My whole point is that the Bills wouldn't be in LA long term, even if they did move there.

[L.A. Playa]

If LA can generate so much money how did they already lose two teams?


see my countless previous posts on this subject

[Mudflap1]

If LA can generate so much money how did they already lose two teams?

(sigh) Nobody on this site listens! L.A. Playa and I have covered this ad nauseum it seems once every 3 months or so.

The Rams and Raiders have absolutely downright near-criminal owners. The Coliseum is a horrible facility in an absolute dangereous area of town. Frontiere put no money into the team. She waited until she could make a move, and moved the team to the highest bidding city.

The Chargers are in a smaller city (albeit still a big city) and are doing fine. Yes, there are rumors about them threatening to move, but it's about new stadium/luxury box stuff, not fan support stuff. The 49ers do well. The Raiders don't in Oakland, but again, they have a crackpot for an owner.

If there was a Jerry Jones/Dan Snyder/John York/Glazer type (and I don't like most of those guys for the record) that owned a team in L.A., they would do fine. The Lakers do fine. The Angels have a good owner, they do fine. The Dodgers do fine. The Clippers are doing better, but their owner is a clown also. It's about the owners and the marketing, not the city. L.A./O.C. is a very expansive area where there is a lot of traffic to fight through to get to games, and there are a lot of things to do. It's pretty easy to say "I'm going to sit outside on my deck in the 75 degree weather and watch the game on t.v. instead of drive 2 hours through traffic each way to the worst area in town to watch the game with a bunch of gang members and carjackers." Again, if you are going to play ball in L.A., you have to have the high roller owner who can have a stadium in a decent location and market to everyone to come out to see the games. The teams I mentioned above do this. Frontiere and Davis did not. So get off of the "L.A. doesn't deserve a team, they can't handle it" crap.

Thank you,

Jon

[YardRat]

I understand your point about LA, BF, but lets face it...any franchise that left the city left for more money, not more loyal fans (save one, and that's the exception, not the rule).

Frontiere bolted to St Louis for a new stadium and higher ticket prices...Davis re-re-located to Oakland for a sweetheart deal. Only the original Chargers, after the first year of the AFL and without the concerns of a big-money TV contract, left for lack of fan support.

New stadiums, more expensive luxury suites, bonus parking and concession kick-ins...that's what counts in today's NFL, not fan loyalty, and the Jones', Krafts, and Snyders of the world are trying to make the situation worse.

The NFL doesn't give a **** about the fans actually at the stadium in Los Angeles, they care because it's one of the biggest TV markets in the nation. More viewers equals more revenue from advertising for the networks which in turn equals bigger TV contracts for the league.

Putting football back in Cleveland was strictly PR, as will keeping the Saints in New Orleans. They didn't push for a team for Baltimore when Irsay packed up the Mayflowers and snuck out of town in the middle of the night for Indy. They didn't push for St Louis when Bidwell scooted for Arizona, and they didn't push for Davis to move back to Oakland.

They aren't going to push for Buffalo, either, if we lose them, regardless of how loyal the fans are here.

[raphael120]

i just love it when people say "it's the fans fault if the team moves". try the politicians, the business men, the corporate execs in buffalo that have screwed this city, sucked the life out of it, and moved on without thinking another thought about it. the reason this team will move is because of the economic sterility of the western new york area, not the fans. the buffalo people have been so screwed over by taxes and money grubbing politicians and have gotten nothing in return. its sad that on this message board these days, we're talking abotu such depressing things...wish we had more cheerful things to talk about like playoffs or something, but i have faith in marv, i dont think he would come back to buffalo just to eff things up...

[PECKERWOOD]

They may be able to make a little bit of cash out of the deal, but somewhere along the way they need to start doing what the fans want. If they don't, the NFL is doomed. People are forgetting how less enjoyable the AFC East would be for: NYJ, MIA and NE fans without the Bills. That is like 50 years of rivalry down the drain. The NFL better not lose track of the people that matter the most, they may get away with it if it happens to Buffalo but the more and more they do this, the more and more fans they are going to lose and if the fans lose interest in the sport, then major cities will not pay the big money to move a team there.

[Mad Bomber]

HELLO!!!!!!!!!MCFLY!!!!!!!!!!!ANYBODY IN THERE??????(knocking on your your forehead)


when they can generate the MONEY,why not move another team to california?

Because they DON'T generate the MONEY in Cali. The Rams and Raiders both moved out of LA because of that very reason. The second largest city in the US, and they couldn't support one NFL team...

Hello.....McFly.....

[SABURZFAN]

Because they DON'T generate the MONEY in Cali. The Rams and Raiders both moved out of LA because of that very reason. The second largest city in the US, and they couldn't support one NFL team...

Hello.....McFly.....



they didn't back then because of they felt that they didn't have to do so.the Raiders were never accepted from the start and frontiere(sp?) was given an offer she couldn't refuse after the last 5 piss poor seasons.she took the money and ran while the majority of the NFL were strongly against it.LA was snubbed for houston because they had the same attitude and they assumed they were getting the expansion franchise.it was a strong statement made by the NFL too.it seems that the attitudes have changed lately.i heard on ESPN Radio today that a 53 acre lot around Anaheim is soon going to be a site for a new stadium.will it be the new home for a current NFL team?it could be a possibility.let's just hope that it isn't our Bills.

[Michael82]

Because they DON'T generate the MONEY in Cali. The Rams and Raiders both moved out of LA because of that very reason. The second largest city in the US, and they couldn't support one NFL team...

Hello.....McFly.....
Not to mention the fact that right now the LA market can put the best game on TV on each network. If they had a local team, they wouldn't be able to make that decision and would be forced to show the local team, no matter how crappy they are. And let's face it, yeah Los Angeles may support a team with a good owner and a team that spends money on talent and has a good record, but do you really think they will support a team that is rebuilding or sucks? I couldn't see them supporting a team that doesn't make the playoffs for 7 straight years. They didn't support those 3 teams that they had before. :shakeno:

[Michael82]

Truthfully, IMO if the NFL wants a team in Los Angeles....take one of the other 3 teams and move them there. Why the hell does California need 4 ****ing teams? :ill:

Move the 49ers or the Chargers. :up:

[Mad Bomber]

they didn't back then because of they felt that they didn't have to do so.the Raiders were never accepted from the start and frontiere(sp?) was given an offer she couldn't refuse after the last 5 piss poor seasons.she took the money and ran while the majority of the NFL were strongly against it.LA was snubbed for houston because they had the same attitude and they assumed they were getting the expansion franchise.it was a strong statement made by the NFL too.it seems that the attitudes have changed lately.i heard on ESPN Radio today that a 53 acre lot around Anaheim is soon going to be a site for a new stadium.will it be the new home for a current NFL team?it could be a possibility.let's just hope that it isn't our Bills.

Amen to that, brother.

[BillyT92679]

i just love it when people say "it's the fans fault if the team moves". try the politicians, the business men, the corporate execs in buffalo that have screwed this city, sucked the life out of it, and moved on without thinking another thought about it. the reason this team will move is because of the economic sterility of the western new york area, not the fans. the buffalo people have been so screwed over by taxes and money grubbing politicians and have gotten nothing in return. its sad that on this message board these days, we're talking abotu such depressing things...wish we had more cheerful things to talk about like playoffs or something, but i have faith in marv, i dont think he would come back to buffalo just to eff things up...
Who keeps voting these idiotic politicians back into office every other year?

Sure, a lot of the blame is due to the fact NYS is systematically controlled by the Big Apple, and upstate is SOL, but we're not helping ourselves when we constantly keep electing local politicians who completely lack vision.

[Bling]

They may be able to make a little bit of cash out of the deal, but somewhere along the way they need to start doing what the fans want. If they don't, the NFL is doomed. People are forgetting how less enjoyable the AFC East would be for: NYJ, MIA and NE fans without the Bills. That is like 50 years of rivalry down the drain.

I hate to be an *******, but I don't really care. If the NFL moved the Bills, I wouldn't get pissed at all. I'd know that **** happens, and be glad it wasn't my team.

[PECKERWOOD]

I hate to be an *******, but I don't really care. If the NFL moved the Bills, I wouldn't get pissed at all. I'd know that **** happens, and be glad it wasn't my team.

I honestly think you are a minority, even as a phin fan.. I've heard countless Patriot, Phin and Jets fans come here and say they would be disappointed if the Bills moved.. Come on man, you don't remember how great the Kelly vs. Marino days were? All that would be down the drain. If the Jets, Patriots or Phins moved, I would be disappointed. The AFC East has some of the best rivalries in the entire NFL.

[ublinkwescore]

Are you roleplaying, spacemonkey? Wtf.



Does it really matter when they can? When they can't? And when they never have? I hate to break it to you, NASA space monkey but California is notorious for not supporting their football teams. The real question is this: Why move Buffalo when they already have a loyal fanbase? Furthermore, why would you move them to a place where they don't have a loyal fanbase? In the process you are making the game less enjoyable for: Miami, NY and NE fans, destroying decades of fierce rivalries and history.

I take offense to that - I've been a loyal Bills fan since I was like 8 or 9, and I live in Cali.

[BILLSROCK1212]

Go Bills!!!!

[PECKERWOOD]

I take offense to that - I've been a loyal Bills fan since I was like 8 or 9, and I live in Cali.

Sorry, but you are a rare breed in Cali my friend!

[The_Philster]

Not to mention the fact that right now the LA market can put the best game on TV on each network. If they had a local team, they wouldn't be able to make that decision and would be forced to show the local team, no matter how crappy they are. only away games..they won't be airing the LA team's home games if they don't sell out

[PECKERWOOD]

If Buffalo keeps playing the way that they did today, these threads are going to go away quick!

[SABURZFAN]

If Buffalo keeps playing the way that they did today, these threads are going to go away quick!



you can't expect the defense to play like this every week.

[PECKERWOOD]

you can't expect the defense to play like this every week.
I'm not so sure.. We are going to hopefully get Whitner and McGee back in the lineup and that should provide us with a big boost. I also noticed Ellisons presence against the Jets, he should be a permanent starter on our defense, imo. I'm still befuddled on how we stopped the run, what exactly did our defense do differently?