Anyone else bothered by this?

[Michael82]

I keep reading about how Ralph Wilson and Chuck Schumer were thrilled that the schedule was made with 4 out of the last 6 games are away, so we don't have to worry about blackouts. But IMO, that really sucks. I've always liked the cold weather advantage, yeah I know it's not a huge advantage, but it does give opponents problems, especially when they are from the southern teams. I was reading this article and I think they nailed it.....

In fact, it could be argued that limiting Buffalo's late-season home games takes away its homefield advantage which is cold, bitter weather.

Last year's four late home games -- vs. Jacksonville, San Diego, Miami and Tennessee -- featured attractive opponents and still didn't sell out.

Bottom line: the schedule doesn't sell, a winning team sells and it's up to the Bills -- who haven't made the playoffs in seven seasons -- to put a better product on the field.

Why Buffalo playing five of its last eight games on the road is a good thing from a competitive standpoint isn't being advertised. Coaches and players don't like it but this appears to be the new tradeoff when playing for a small-revenue team like the Bills.

http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/teams/report/BUF/10125985

What do you think?

[YardRat]

Re: Anyone else bothered by this?

Bottom line: the schedule doesn't sell, a winning team sells and it's up to the Bills -- who haven't made the playoffs in seven seasons -- to put a better product on the field.

Bingo.

Winners win, regardless of where or when the games are played.

We've lost to Jacksonville in our house in the first round of the playoffs, and we've beaten Miami in Florida in the championship game.

Just win, and the tickets will sell.

[G. Host]

Re: Anyone else bothered by this?

I do not think it as much as an advantage as it used to be; later season games usually end up meaning games which have more opposing fans. With change of rules allowing games to be moved at end of year this tend will only increase.

[SABURZFAN]

Re: Anyone else bothered by this?

other than miami and jacksonville,you wouldn't have to travel far to see the Bills on the road if you live in WNY.take a damn road trip or two.

[Goobylal]

Re: Anyone else bothered by this?

What's bothersome is that the Bills were still in playoff contention until the end of their 7th home game. And weather wasn't a factor in ANY of the last 4 home games. Yet none of them soldout. I'm more troubled by that than anything else.

But the reality is that it means little, except to those who stayed home/couldn't go and thus couldn't watch the game on TV (for free).

[JJamezz]

Re: Anyone else bothered by this?

Bingo.

Winners win, regardless of where or when the games are played.

We've lost to Jacksonville in our house in the first round of the playoffs, and we've beaten Miami in Florida in the championship game.

Just win, and the tickets will sell.

Agreed.

It sucks that you locals couldn't see the games on tv, but I was actually very glad to see Bills fans finally showing the organization how they feel with their pocketbooks.. Though the timing was bizarre - it should have happened at least a year or two ago, instead of after they fired TD and had really made some moves that appear to have them headed in the right direction.. but better late than never I guess.

[YardRat]

Re: Anyone else bothered by this?

Don't discount the Sabres effect on the late games...for a lot of people in WNY, it's a question of either/or.

[Michael82]

Re: Anyone else bothered by this?

What's bothersome is that the Bills were still in playoff contention until the end of their 7th home game. And weather wasn't a factor in ANY of the last 4 home games. Yet none of them soldout. I'm more troubled by that than anything else.

But the reality is that it means little, except to those who stayed home/couldn't go and thus couldn't watch the game on TV (for free).

I was very upset by that and I will keep standing by my opinion. The Sabres bandwagon killed the Bills last year. Once everyone saw that Buffalo sucked in that first half of the season and it looked like another long year, a bunch of people wrote them off. They then took all their money and started buying Sabres tickets and tons of Sabres merchandise. Look all over western NY....everyone has some kind of Sabres gear.

[Michael82]

Re: Anyone else bothered by this?

Don't discount the Sabres effect on the late games...for a lot of people in WNY, it's a question of either/or.

I totally agree.

[Scumbag College]

Re: Anyone else bothered by this?

What's bothersome is that the Bills were still in playoff contention until the end of their 7th home game. And weather wasn't a factor in ANY of the last 4 home games. Yet none of them soldout. I'm more troubled by that than anything else.

But the reality is that it means little, except to those who stayed home/couldn't go and thus couldn't watch the game on TV (for free).

I went to the Christmas Eve game vs. the Titans this year, and it was a little disheartening. The Bills could have made the playoffs if they won out and got a little help, but it looked like there were 30,000 empty seats at the Ralph.

[Michael82]

Re: Anyone else bothered by this?

I went to the Christmas Eve game vs. the Titans this year, and it was a little disheartening. The Bills could have made the playoffs if they won out and got a little help, but it looked like there were 30,000 empty seats at the Ralph.

The NFL had no one to blame but themselves for that one. Scheduling a whole set of games on Christmas eve, especially one in a place that depends on people coming from all over, like Buffalo was assinine.

[MVP]

Re: Anyone else bothered by this?

at least i won't freeze my balls off this winter.

[Scumbag College]

Re: Anyone else bothered by this?

The NFL had no one to blame but themselves for that one. Scheduling a whole set of games on Christmas eve, especially one in a place that depends on people coming from all over, like Buffalo was assinine.

I come from the Syracuse area, and I have a friend whom is a Bills fan that lives in Boston. Whenever he comes home during the fall and there's a Bills game, we always go. Anyways, on Christmas Eve we didn't get back home until almost 8 PM, he missed his family's dinner and I missed my girlfriend's family's dinner.

And I know there are "diehard" fans like me whom come from farther away than Syracuse. It was absolutely idiotic and heartless for the NFL to have Christmas Eve games this year, especially a full slate of games.