So who's going the buy the Bills that's in WNY?

[blackonyx89]

My guess would be Galisano. What's your pick?

[LtBillsFan66]

Alec Baldwin.

[DynaPaul]

Keebler

[HHURRICANE]

There is no one rich enough in Buffalo. Golisano is our only shot and I highly doubt he's going to go for it because he would have to take on an enormous amount of debt to do it.

[DraftBoy]

Whoever buys the Bills in WNY and wants to keep them there would have to likely raise ticket prices by a good bit to try and turn even more profit out. So be prepared to pay highers ticket prices if you want the Bills to stay.

[Yasgur's Farm]

Can an NFL team go public... as in stock market?

I could see Galisano doing that and retaining 51% of the shares. Jim Kelly and Jack Kemp could hold a substantial %'s as well. Each one of us could own stock.

[SABuffalo786]

Can an NFL team go public... as in stock market?

I could see Galisano doing that and retaining 51% of the shares. Jim Kelly and Jack Kemp could hold a substantial %'s as well. Each one of us could own stock.


Nope.


After Green Bay's fans pulled it off the money grubbing ****s at the NFL put a halt to any furture attempt at making NFL team's public shares.

[Devin]

Honestly I think the Bills move.

I dont believe anyone in western NY will be the highest bidder and ultimatley an invester/buyer from out of state, as much as I hate to say it, would be absolutley insane from a money standpoint to not move the team to LA, toronto.....etc.

I hope to hell someone steps up but I just think it would be very tough financially to keep them there. Maybe the state/county will step up and offer some sort of incentive package or something.

Either that or we can only hope ol' Ralph does the right thing and has something lined up.

[Mitchy moo]

Honestly I think the Bills move.

I dont believe anyone in western NY will be the highest bidder and ultimatley an invester/buyer from out of state, as much as I hate to say it, would be absolutley insane from a money standpoint to not move the team to LA, toronto.....etc.

I hope to hell someone steps up but I just think it would be very tough financially to keep them there. Maybe the state/county will step up and offer some sort of incentive package or something.

Either that or we can only hope ol' Ralph does the right thing and has something lined up.

unless RW does right by the area and changes his mind we are in big trouble.

[Earthquake Enyart]

Clip Smith

[Michael82]

Honestly I think the Bills move.

I dont believe anyone in western NY will be the highest bidder and ultimatley an invester/buyer from out of state, as much as I hate to say it, would be absolutley insane from a money standpoint to not move the team to LA, toronto.....etc.

I hope to hell someone steps up but I just think it would be very tough financially to keep them there. Maybe the state/county will step up and offer some sort of incentive package or something.

Either that or we can only hope ol' Ralph does the right thing and has something lined up.
:(


That's what sucks about this whole thing. It seems inevitable and there's nothing we can do about it. :ill:

[ajsdx]

Nope.


After Green Bay's fans pulled it off the money grubbing ****s at the NFL put a halt to any furture attempt at making NFL team's public shares.

This is from wikipedia:



The Packers are now the only publicly owned company with a board of directors in American professional sports (although other teams are directly owned by publicly traded companies, such as the Atlanta Braves (Time Warner), the Chicago Cubs (Tribune Company), New York Rangers (Cablevision), the Seattle Mariners (Nintendo of America), and the Toronto Blue Jays (Rogers Communications)). Typically, a team is owned by one person, partnership, or corporate entity; thus, a "team owner." <b>It has been speculated that this is one of the reasons the Green Bay Packers have never been moved from the city of Green Bay, a city of only 102,313 people in the 2000 census.[6]</b>

By comparison, the typical NFL football city is populated in the millions. The Packers, however, have long had a large following throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest; in fact, for decades, the Packers played four (one pre-season, three regular-season) home games each year in Milwaukee, first at the State Fair Park fairgrounds, then at Milwaukee County Stadium. The Packers did not move their entire home schedule to Green Bay until 1995.

The reason for ending the series of Milwaukee games, according to former team president Robert Harlan, was the larger capacity of Lambeau Field and the availability of luxury boxes, which were not available at Milwaukee County Stadium.[citation needed] County Stadium's replacement, Miller Park, then being planned, was always intended to be a baseball-only stadium instead of a multipurpose stadium.

Based on the original "Articles of Incorporation for the (then) Green Bay Football Corporation" put into place in 1923, if the Packers franchise was sold, after the payment of all expenses, any remaining monies would go to the Sullivan-Wallen Post of the American Legion in order to build "a proper soldier's memorial." This stipulation was enacted to ensure the club remained in Green Bay and that there could never be any financial enhancement for the shareholders. At the November 1997 annual meeting, shareholders voted to change the beneficiary from the Sullivan-Wallen Post to the Green Bay Packers Foundation.

In 1950, the Packers held a stock sale to again raise money to support the team. In 1956, area voters approved the construction of a new city owned stadium. As with its predecessor, the new field was named City Stadium, but after the death of founder Lambeau in 1965, on September 11, 1965, the stadium was renamed Lambeau Field.

Another stock sale occurred late in 1997 and early in 1998. It added 105,989 new shareholders and raised over $24 million, money used for the Lambeau Field redevelopment project. Priced at $200 per share, fans bought 120,010 shares during the 17-week sale, which ended March 16, 1998. As of June 8, 2005, 111,921 people (representing 4,749,925 shares) can lay claim to a franchise ownership interest. Shares of stock include voting rights, but the redemption price is minimal, no dividends are ever paid, the stock cannot appreciate in value, and stock ownership brings no season ticket privileges. <b>No shareholder may own over 200,000 shares, a safeguard to ensure that no individual can assume control of the club.</b> To run the corporation, a board of directors is elected by the stockholders. The board of directors in turn elect a seven-member Executive Committee (officers) of the corporation, consisting of a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary and three members-at-large. The president is the only officer to draw compensation; the balance of the committee is sitting "gratis."

The team's elected president represents the Packers in NFL owners meetings unless someone else is designated. During his time as coach, Vince Lombardi generally represented the team at league meetings in his role as general manager, except at owners-only meetings.


That is so cool. I wish we could do that.

[Michael82]

I'm guessing it will be a group of people and these are just a handful of them....

Tom Golisano
Bob Rich
Jeremy Jacobs
Danny Wegman
Jim Kelly

[mikemac2001]

I'm guessing it will be a group of people and these are just a handful of them....

Tom Golisano
Bob Rich
Jeremy Jacobs
Danny Wegman
Jim Kelly


Wegman's Field At paychex

[DraftBoy]

I'm guessing it will be a group of people and these are just a handful of them....

Tom Golisano
Bob Rich
Jeremy Jacobs
Danny Wegman
Jim Kelly


Wasnt there a guy in Rochester who had some money to burn?

[CuseJetsFan83]

Wegman's Field At paychex

hey if thats what it takes for the bills to keep them in town... then get it done!

[Michael82]

Wasnt there a guy in Rochester who had some money to burn?
two of the guys are in Rochester. They both have a lot of money to burn. Tom Golisano and Danny Wegman.

[cocamide]

Why does everyone think Kelly will do it? Does he actually have that much money?

[Michael82]

Why does everyone think Kelly will do it? Does he actually have that much money?
no, but he's already mentioned several times that he'd be interested in being in the group to buy an NFL team and would definitely be interested in helping to keep the Bills here. :up:

[cocamide]

no, but he's already mentioned several times that he'd be interested in being in the group to buy an NFL team and would definitely be interested in helping to keep the Bills here. :up:

Awesome! I wasn't aware of that.

[TigerJ]

Golisano might consider buying the Bills. The risk when Ralph Wilson dies is if the Bills go up for auction. If some guy with very deep pockets wants to buy the Bills and move them, I don't know that locals like Golisano would want to get in a bidding war.

[Devin]

I'm guessing it will be a group of people and these are just a handful of them....

Tom Golisano
Bob Rich
Jeremy Jacobs
Danny Wegman
Jim Kelly

That would be awesome if Jimbo could put together a group like that.

It would take 2-3 guys to do it but anything that keeps em in B-Lo is fine by me.

[Ebenezer]

I don't want to be pessimisstic but I can't see them staying...not only will the Bills be up for sale to the highest bidder but the county will probably want to unload the stadium too...They were value at about $700 mil last year...the stadium will be at least $200 mil?? throw in inflation and RWS living a couple of years....and....

roll this one by your tongue and see if anybody will come forth....



ONE BILLION DOLLARS



that's what it will cost with the stadium.

[Mitchy moo]

I don't want to be pessimisstic but I can't see them staying...not only will the Bills be up for sale to the highest bidder but the county will probably want to unload the stadium too...They were value at about $700 mil last year...the stadium will be at least $200 mil?? throw in inflation and RWS living a couple of years....and....

roll this one by your tongue and see if anybody will come forth....



$1 B



that's what it will cost with the stadium.

Why would someone need to buy the stadium, just start the lease over again. I would personally get NYS to help pay for a new downtown stadium as part of keeping the Bills in NYS. They are the only team that physically plays in NYS and generates revenues for the state, get er done.

[LtFinFan66]

I will buy them

[mikemac2001]

I will buy them


I HATE YOU!

GO bills!

[Ebenezer]

Why would someone need to buy the stadium, just start the lease over again. I would personally get NYS to help pay for a new downtown stadium as part of keeping the Bills in NYS. They are the only team that physically plays in NYS and generates revenues for the state, get er done.
I didn't say that the new owner would want the stadium....I said the county would want to unload the stadium on the new owner. Why would the state help out?

[Philagape]

no, but he's already mentioned several times that he'd be interested in being in the group to buy an NFL team and would definitely be interested in helping to keep the Bills here. :up:

He's also mentioned Jack Kemp

[mikemac2001]

I know who would buy the bills yep

JESUS!

[LtFinFan66]

I HATE YOU!

GO bills!Damn that's just rude. I was gonna keep them in Buffalo too. Now I may have to check with Baghdad city officials while I'm here and see if they would build a nice bomb proof stadium for me

[mikemac2001]

You may say ralph is cheap and selfish and is a greedy old man, but listen he could be all that but at the end of the night we wouldnt have a team to root for if it wasnt for him. SO mr burns ERRRRRRRRR ralph wilson dies the truth comes out we wont have a team anymore and it sucks im only 22 and ive been a bills fan every sec of it, and now i see all these post bashing ralph. the thing is why bash the man who stayed here because he wanted a championship for us. I hope we get one before he dies because he may be rich he may be cheap but in the end he stayed here for buffalo he could have went else where and loaded his pockets but ralph wanted it for us. he has fought for this us...and it bugs me because alot of you just bash him. If we won the SB this year i believe he would die months after the thing he wanted for a long long time...

[Ebenezer]

You may say ralph is cheap and selfish and is a greedy old man, but listen he could be all that but at the end of the night we wouldnt have a team to root for if it wasnt for him. SO mr burns ERRRRRRRRR ralph wilson dies the truth comes out we wont have a team anymore and it sucks im only 22 and ive been a bills fan every sec of it, and now i see all these post bashing ralph. the thing is why bash the man who stayed here because he wanted a championship for us. I hope we get one before he dies because he may be rich he may be cheap but in the end he stayed here for buffalo he could have went else where and loaded his pockets but ralph wanted it for us. he has fought for this us...and it bugs me because alot of you just bash him. If we won the SB this year i believe he would die months after the thing he wanted for a long long time...
the key...you are only 22...RW has always been the worst problem the Bills have had...yes, it is his team but he is a meddler to the nth degree...you didn't live through 68-79 and 83-87 when he almost single handedly destroyed this team and alienated fans with his attitude. Don't forget...he is the one who chased away Lou Saban and Bill Polian and then alienated John Butler, hired and fired TD.

[tampabay25690]

Can an NFL team go public... as in stock market?

I could see Galisano doing that and retaining 51% of the shares. Jim Kelly and Jack Kemp could hold a substantial %'s as well. Each one of us could own stock.

You think Jim Kelly has that much $$$ left.... I DON'T

[YardRat]

By whatever slim chance the team does stay in Buffalo, part of the package is going to be a new tax-payer financed dome stadium downtown.

[Mitchy moo]

By whatever slim chance the team does stay in Buffalo, part of the package is going to be a new tax-payer financed dome stadium downtown.

Exactly, that would keep the Bills there. The team gets to book all the venues there and keep the money from them. That will be a huge financial incentive to stay around and collect checks to offset expenses.

[BillsSabresB.C.T. Fan]

Bob Rich Jr. he always wanted to buy the BILLS he's from WNY he owns the Bisons, and he's in The Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. He would keep the Bills here.

[BillsSabresB.C.T. Fan]

You think Jim Kelly has that much $$$ left.... I DON'T

Helloooo, ever heard of Hunters Hope and the Jim Kelly football camp

[TacklingDummy]

First Name: Highest
Last Name: Bidder

It won't be Golisano.

[Michael82]

He's also mentioned Jack Kemp
Good point! :up:

[LtFinFan66]

Helloooo, ever heard of Hunters Hope and the Jim Kelly football campHelloooo....do you think those cash cows would give Jim enough money to buy the Bills?? Isn't Hunters Hope raising money for the disease he died of....not to buy the Bills. Maybe I am missing something

[feldspar]

Alec Baldwin.

You have insulted me for the last time. You don't have the brains or the decency as a human being...I don't care how old you are...you have humiliated me for the last time. I'm going to fly out to where you are for the day just to straighten you out on this issue. I'm going to let you know just how disappointed in you I am, and how angry I am with you that you've done this to me again. You've made me feel like ****, and you've made me feel like a fool OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I'm going over there and I'M GOING TO STRAIGHTEN YOUR ASS OUT. Do you understand me? I'm going to let you know what a RUDE LITTLE PIG you really are. YOU ARE A RUDE, THOUGHTLESS LITTLE PIG, O.K?

Sorry. I'm just working on my Alec Baldwin impression.

[Earthquake Enyart]

You have insulted me for the last time. You don't have the brains or the decency as a human being...I don't care how old you are...you have humiliated me for the last time. I'm going to fly out to where you are for the day just to straighten you out on this issue. I'm going to let you know just how disappointed in you I am, and how angry I am with you that you've done this to me again. You've made me feel like ****, and you've made me feel like a fool OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I'm going over there and I'M GOING TO STRAIGHTEN YOUR ASS OUT. Do you understand me? I'm going to let you know what a RUDE LITTLE PIG you really are. YOU ARE A RUDE, THOUGHTLESS LITTLE PIG, O.K?

Sorry. I'm just working on my Alec Baldwin impression.
Nice. :bf1:

I think Barry Lillis is putting a group together.

[tampabay25690]

Helloooo, ever heard of Hunters Hope and the Jim Kelly football camp

HELLOOO
What does his camp cost anyway....$300.00 a player. WOW, and his foundation.......

I bet he can buy a team now......He should 1st pay his debt for his restaurant that owned first....

My 1st choice would be Jeremy Jacobs the owner of Deleware North.

[Billsman12]

Perhaps the best bet would be if a few of these guys with big bucks can work together and buy the team...say like maybe Golisano, Jacobs, Rich Jr. :idunno:

[BillsFever21]

The Bills will be gone. Quit living in your fantasy world with these fantasy dream ideas of how the Bills will stay.

What makes you think Golisano can and would buy them? Just because of the Sabres? He paid 90 million for them. Try about 700 million for the Bills.

The only way they would stay is if multiple of the richest people in Buffalo formed a team and bought them. I don't see that happening.

[Historian]

Clip Smith

He's dead.

Maybe Commander Tom...

[User Manuel]

My guess would be Galisano. What's your pick?

Primary Investors:

Golisano
Jeremy Jacobs

Secondary:

Bob Rich
Larry Quinn
Jim Kelly
Numerous Others

[Earthquake Enyart]

He's dead.

Maybe Commander Tom...
CLIP SMITH IS DEAD???!?!?!

Why didn't anybody tell me? :mad:

[patmoran2006]

LOL
I worked with Clip Smith.

That was one "wacky" dude.