Senator Schumer wants less TV blackouts

[BILLSROCK1212]

Bills | Senator wants less television blackouts
Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:48:43 -0800

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports New York senator Charles Schumer asked the NFL to arrange the Buffalo Bills' schedule so there will not be television blackouts because of the lack of sellouts in Buffalo

Look how much support the Bills are getting outside of the NFL....if we don't stay in Buffalo Ralph will lose all the respect he has

[Stewie]

Shumer is a moron, and so are the Bills if they dont have home games in december.

[The Spaz]

Shumer is a moron, and so are the Bills if they dont have home games in december.

Who does the scheduling the Bills or the NFL?

[Stewie]

Who does the scheduling the Bills or the NFL?

They don't need politicians publicly proclaiming that the Bills need to sell out.

He needs to be careful what he wishes for.

[X-Era]

Bills | Senator wants less television blackouts
Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:48:43 -0800

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports New York senator Charles Schumer asked the NFL to arrange the Buffalo Bills' schedule so there will not be television blackouts because of the lack of sellouts in Buffalo

Look how much support the Bills are getting outside of the NFL....if we don't stay in Buffalo Ralph will lose all the respect he has

Unfortunately, I dont see the NFL giving us special treatment.

I honestly believe Ralph and even Schumer are whining. Boost the prices or our tickets, go ahead and make upgrades like the Jumbotron, put a better product on the field through smart FA spending and the draft, and the revenue will come. Yes, standby and force Goodell to settle the revenue sharing issue. But that issue will be settled by Goodell, its already in the CBA that it will be.

Im frankly sick of the *****ing.

[Forward_Lateral]

The fact that the Bills have to sell 80,000 to sell out, and other teams have to only sell about 50,000 is stupid. A "sellout" should be the avg capacity of every NFL stadium.

[X-Era]

The fact that the Bills have to sell 80,000 to sell out, and other teams have to only sell about 50,000 is stupid. A "sellout" should be the avg capacity of every NFL stadium.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, that is food for thought and VERY true!!!!

[X-Era]

The fact that the Bills have to sell 80,000 to sell out, and other teams have to only sell about 50,000 is stupid. A "sellout" should be the avg capacity of every NFL stadium.

Ive got a better question, do the Bills make more money if more people watch them on TV?

Does a revised blackout rule help the Bills bottom line?

[YardRat]

I don't agree with Schumer trying to solve the problem by asking for special dispensation, but I do think there should be a league-wide # to determine when the blackout rule takes effect.

[Stewie]

Ive got a better question, do the Bills make more money if more people watch them on TV?

Does a revised blackout rule help the Bills bottom line?

The official answer is no. The real answer is yes.

[alohabillsfan]

Sell the dan naming rights to Topps, Wegmans, or whomever and when they need a corporate sponsor to step in and purchase the remaining 3000 tiks? hmmm, sounds simple, Ralph wake up and join the rest of us in the 21 century!

[Mitchy moo]

I had to go sit in the cold and when we make the playoffs I hope they are all at home as well. I'll Freeze my ass off to win it all and have a week to recover my voice.

[G. Host]

My response to article on WSYR 9

http://www.9wsyr.com/sports/story.aspx?content_id=e287edd5-0685-4a47-8a7c-219ee222342b
http://community.9wsyr.com/forums/1315072/ShowThread.aspx#1315072

> So Bills fans, is this really the problem?

No there were other issues which Schumer does not appear to understand:
1. Early storm which took away a lot of money from community
2. New rule about moving games in 2nd half of season which negatively impacts teams with spread out fanbases. To those who live far away like I do (400 miles) the choice is allowing for possibility of game being moved to 4 PM or even worse 8 PM meaning staying an extra day costing more time and money.
3. Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving weekend are hard sells always for Bills games.
4. Sabres games has some impact on Bills but not as some have made it.

Regarding "four of the Bills home games were late in the year against teams that "were less than optimal draws." - one of those teams was the Miami Dolphins, one of the strongest sellers even when both Bills and Dolphins are doing poorly and that was game of interest to fans of both teams.

[HHURRICANE]

Unfortunately, I dont see the NFL giving us special treatment.

I honestly believe Ralph and even Schumer are whining. Boost the prices or our tickets, go ahead and make upgrades like the Jumbotron, put a better product on the field through smart FA spending and the draft, and the revenue will come. Yes, standby and force Goodell to settle the revenue sharing issue. But that issue will be settled by Goodell, its already in the CBA that it will be.

Im frankly sick of the *****ing.

Amen.

[BillsSabresB.C.T. Fan]

Sell the dan naming rights to Topps, Wegmans, or whomever and when they need a corporate sponsor to step in and purchase the remaining 3000 tiks? hmmm, sounds simple, Ralph wake up and join the rest of us in the 21 century!

Tops is selling stores in WNY! they had the Tops family section at the stadium it's now called the Time Warner family section and Wegmans had a falling out with the Buffalo Bills.

[Michael82]

Screw You, Schumer! We don't want to lose our late season homefield advantage! :mad:


The point of playing in a city like this is so you can use the weather and December games to your advantage. I don't want to lose them. If anything, you should go to the NFL and have them change their rule about switching the gametime around. That pissed a lot of people off last year and contributed to some tickets not getting sold. Also, make sure that we dont have a game on Thanksgiving Weekend and Christmas Eve!

I like the fact that the politicians are trying to help, but there are other ways they can help. Get this ****ing revenue sharing fixed or start threatening the NFL if they dont fix it. Start making guarantees that NFL teams can not yank their team out of the city, like the Colts and Browns did. :ill:

Oh and one more...change the blackout rule and make it so the average capacity of a stadium sells out the games and puts them on tv. That would make it that 100% of our games are sold out every year because we always are selling at least 60,000 tickets to each game.

[Throne Logic]

The fact that the Bills have to sell 80,000 to sell out, and other teams have to only sell about 50,000 is stupid. A "sellout" should be the avg capacity of every NFL stadium.

The Ralph holds just under 74,000 these days. They cut down from 80 when they renovated in '98 and put in the "quality" seating.

Doesn't change the point. I agree they should base blackouts on average capacity.

[Throne Logic]

Giving up home games in December is not smart. The Ralph offers one of the most influencial home field advantages in the league.

They could solve one of the big problems by simply making the Bills "immune" to the flex schedule for any games scheduled at the Ralph after Thanksgiving.

[Michael82]

Giving up home games in December is not smart. The Ralph offers one of the most influencial home field advantages in the league.

They could solve one of the big problems by simply making the Bills "immune" to the flex schedule for any games scheduled at the Ralph after Thanksgiving.
:hi5:

[CuseJetsFan83]

in all honesty, there shouldnt be a set # like XX,000... but it should be considered in a percentage....... like if your at least 90% sold, no blackout...... that way 70k is good for buffalo, and say 60k at ford field will suffice

[Meathead]

yeah good luck with that

[Jan Reimers]

The fact that the Bills have to sell 80,000 to sell out, and other teams have to only sell about 50,000 is stupid. A "sellout" should be the avg capacity of every NFL stadium.
The Ralph now holds about 73,000, while the average capacity of all NFL stadiums is in the 68-69,000 range. So there is a disparity, but it's not as great as many people think.

[pats-were-right]

The fact that the Bills have to sell 80,000 to sell out, and other teams have to only sell about 50,000 is stupid. A "sellout" should be the avg capacity of every NFL stadium.

This would get away from the main point of the blackout rule. It's supposed to be a very simple rule - if there's a seat available then go move your a$$ to fill it.

[Forward_Lateral]

Actually, the Ralph holds 75,339. The 5th most in the NFL. The appox. avg is 67,765. That's about 8000 more seats the Bills have to sell. In some cases, they have to sell 15,000 more (The smallest stadium is the RCA dome that holds only a bit above 60,000).

[Forward_Lateral]

http://www.stadiumsofnfl.com/capacity.htm

[Michael82]

Actually, the Ralph holds 75,339. The 5th most in the NFL. The appox. avg is 67,765. That's about 8000 more seats the Bills have to sell. In some cases, they have to sell 15,000 more (The smallest stadium is the RCA dome that holds only a bit above 60,000).
and thats ****ed up because the Ralph has problem selling the average capacity. :mad:

[djjimkelly]

i think what scumer is asking for is to have more attractive games in december like a dallas or a team like that. or the game vs the patriots. LOL i wish all he asked for was not to play pats coming off their bye for the 4th year of 5 sickens me we play them coming off a bye EVERY BLOODY YEAR

[Michael82]

i think what scumer is asking for is to have more attractive games in december like a dallas or a team like that. or the game vs the patriots. LOL i wish all he asked for was not to play pats coming off their bye for the 4th year of 5 sickens me we play them coming off a bye EVERY BLOODY YEAR
That's bull****! We had a damn good set of opponents last year in the final 4 games, except for the Titans game....but it brought Vince Young here!


11/26 - Jacksonville Jaguars...not a bad team to have, plus both teams were fighting for a playoff spot.

12/3 - San Diego Chargers...another playoff caliber team and one of best teams in the league. Got to see Philip Rivers and the best RB in the league in LaDainian Tomlinson. Should have been sold out, especially when we needed that win to get into the playoffs.

12/17 - Miami Dolphins...how the **** could this game NOT sell out? It's the Dolphins in December! COME ON! We talk about it being one of the best rivalries around and we can't even sell out a Dolphins game. First time in 19 years!!! :shakeno:

12/24 - Tennesee Titans...It wasn't expected to sell out because the morons in the NFL gave us a home game on Christmas Eve! Dumb idea! But it was a game that if the Bills won, they controlled their destiny for the playoffs. Plus you had Travis Henry coming back and Vince Young in Buffalo.

[Bill Brasky]

Im frankly sick of the *****ing.

:bf1:

it's accomplishing nothing and making us look worse than we already do.

seems like a handful of people have turned not only the franchise but our fanbase into a complete mockery.

[alohabillsfan]

Here it is 4 step process,

1) Sell the dam naming rights!

2) Cover about 6K-8K seats! The Jags covered 10K, and after 1 year, no blackouts and a waiting list!

3) Have schumer buy some dam tickets and stop getting comped in a suite!

4) Put a winner on the field!

[Bert102176]

Schumer only did this cause he knows that with Ralph being so cheep and not putting a winning team together that 7 out of the 8 home games will be blacked out this year. He knows us fans are being jipped.