Thank you Mr. Wilson.

[HHURRICANE]

The Bills are one of my releases from the stresses of raising and paying for a family and running a business.

Ralph Wilson has gone out his way over the last 12 months to make my experience miserable.

1) Voting down the CBA and going out his way to bring the spotlight on Buffalo potentially losing the Bills.

2) Getting NY State and our local government involved so we can see how utterly useless they'll be in keeping the team in Buffalo.

3) "Cash to cap". Nice touch.

4) "Selling the team, after I die". No contigency plan to help keep the team in Buffalo.

Sorry, but I am disgusted. I went on this site for a little 5 minute break only to see the 10 threads about Toronto, "what if they move", etc. Real fun.

This is how you thank fans that have been supporting your team for 47 years?

The team doesn't have to move. Raise the ticket prices and get the team in line with the other markets. Get a new stadium and get our corrupt local and state government to get it funded. Set up a contigency plan and stop being a douche.

[shelby]

Re: Thank you Mr. Wilson.

[Michael82]

Re: Thank you Mr. Wilson.

Excellent post, man!

[TheGhostofJimKelly]

Re: Thank you Mr. Wilson.

He is "starting" to become confusing.

[Ickybaluky]

Re: Thank you Mr. Wilson.

The team doesn't have to move. Raise the ticket prices and get the team in line with the other markets. Get a new stadium and get our corrupt local and state government to get it funded. Set up a contigency plan and stop being a douche.

What is a real kick-in-the-pants is when you read an article like this:

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=623878

That article is about how the Green Bay Packers made a $22M profit last year.

Now I realize the Western NY economy isn't in the best of shape, but Green Bay isn't exactly the world's biggest market. Yet, through clever planning that included a big upgrade to Lambeau Field and development of some ancillary revenue streams (like a mall, restaurant and Packer's HOF), the team is finanically viable long-term and no threat to move to a bigger market.

I ask, why can't Buffalo do this? Why can't Wilson and the Bills use what Green Bay has done over the last decade (at a time when their financial health was threatened by the growth of the NFL) as a guideline? The Bills also have a rabid, college-style fanbase with a history they cherish. They have a regional appeal.

I just don't by the "poor us" excuse. The Bills should be viewed as a under-developed asset, not a no-longer-viable enterprise.

[OpIv37]

Re: Thank you Mr. Wilson.

I just don't by the "poor us" excuse. The Bills should be viewed as a under-developed asset, not a no-longer-viable enterprise.

and that's the whole problem with Ralph. Don't get me wrong- the guy's done great things for the team and the city in the past, but the league has changed and he hasn't changed with it. So he can either sit there pissing and moaning about how it's not like the good ole' days or he can modernize and take advantage of some of the new opportunities. So far, he's chosen to piss and moan.

[patmoran2006]

Re: Thank you Mr. Wilson.

What is a real kick-in-the-pants is when you read an article like this:

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=623878

That article is about how the Green Bay Packers made a $22M profit last year.

Now I realize the Western NY economy isn't in the best of shape, but Green Bay isn't exactly the world's biggest market. Yet, through clever planning that included a big upgrade to Lambeau Field and development of some ancillary revenue streams (like a mall, restaurant and Packer's HOF), the team is finanically viable long-term and no threat to move to a bigger market.

I ask, why can't Buffalo do this? Why can't Wilson and the Bills use what Green Bay has done over the last decade (at a time when their financial health was threatened by the growth of the NFL) as a guideline? The Bills also have a rabid, college-style fanbase with a history they cherish. They have a regional appeal.

I just don't by the "poor us" excuse. The Bills should be viewed as a under-developed asset, not a no-longer-viable enterprise.

I read that this morning and I feel the exact same way.

I think it comes from having an owner too old and to stubborn and set in his ways. It's why I've said Wilson is a horrible owner in today's NFL for the last several years.

He'd rather whine to the national media at every opportunity rather than further develop the assets, as you state.

He's just a flat-out horrible NFL owner and this team will go nowhere with him at the helm unless they get lucky one year and everything comes together.

Even if that happens it will be short-term as long as Wilson signs the checks. As pay raises rise, so will cuts, trades and letting the FA's walk. This will always be a young, inexperienced and cheap team (in regards to the entire NFL cap) for the duration of Wilson's ownership

[patmoran2006]

Re: Thank you Mr. Wilson.

and that's the whole problem with Ralph. Don't get me wrong- the guy's done great things for the team and the city in the past, but the league has changed and he hasn't changed with it. So he can either sit there pissing and moaning about how it's not like the good ole' days or he can modernize and take advantage of some of the new opportunities. So far, he's chosen to piss and moan.

I get a little tired of the Ralph has done so much for us and he could've moved the team elsewhere cop-outs.

WIlson's been here and he didnt move the team for one main reason; because The Bills have made him a ****load of money. The 70.000 fans who fill the stadium year after year and the merchandising and other things- we're the ones who's been doing him the favor.

He held us hostage in the 90's over the suite boxes and the Bills fans responded by selling enough- thanks in large part to Flutie bringing excitement.. If we didnt reach the numbers he wanted he was moving.

Im tired of hearing that **** about Wilson.. We've done a hell of a lot more for him than he's done for us.

[venis2k1]

Re: Thank you Mr. Wilson.

heres a thought, raise ticket prices 25 bucks a peice. you guys happy now? take it from a long time whalers fan, having a franchise in a small market is a privalige, not a right.

[Typ0]

Re: Thank you Mr. Wilson.

why do so many people think the ticket prices are the core of the problem because they aren't...it's as much merchandising and television revenues.

[OpIv37]

Re: Thank you Mr. Wilson.

why do so many people think the ticket prices are the core of the problem because they aren't...it's as much merchandising and television revenues.

it's symbolic to the league.

There are revenue streams that Ralph is failing to exploit- most obviously ticket prices and stadium naming rights.

If Ralph is going to ***** to the league about how hard it is for small market teams to produce revenue, he damn well better maximize revenue to prove it first. Otherwise, the other owners just see him as a crotchety old man who refuses to change. Conversely, if he made a good faith effort to bring in as much money as possible and was still struggling, the league and the other owners will be more receptive to his concerns.

[TacklingDummy]

Re: Thank you Mr. Wilson.

THE SKY IS FALLING...THE SKY IS FALLING...THE SKY IS FALLING...

[Saratoga Slim]

Re: Thank you Mr. Wilson.

I just don't by the "poor us" excuse. The Bills should be viewed as a under-developed asset, not a no-longer-viable enterprise.

I agree. That's why I'd be interested in seeing some new ownership with vision and some energy. I'm not particularly for or against Ralph, but I think there is more money to be made if someone got in here and really went after it.

[Wys Guy]

Re: Thank you Mr. Wilson.

The Bills are one of my releases from the stresses of raising and paying for a family and running a business.

Ralph Wilson has gone out his way over the last 12 months to make my experience miserable.

1) Voting down the CBA and going out his way to bring the spotlight on Buffalo potentially losing the Bills.

2) Getting NY State and our local government involved so we can see how utterly useless they'll be in keeping the team in Buffalo.

3) "Cash to cap". Nice touch.

4) "Selling the team, after I die". No contigency plan to help keep the team in Buffalo.

Sorry, but I am disgusted. I went on this site for a little 5 minute break only to see the 10 threads about Toronto, "what if they move", etc. Real fun.

This is how you thank fans that have been supporting your team for 47 years?

The team doesn't have to move. Raise the ticket prices and get the team in line with the other markets. Get a new stadium and get our corrupt local and state government to get it funded. Set up a contigency plan and stop being a douche.

It does have to move. It's a market thing. This economy does not support an NFL team. People, at least in the prime demographics for this kind of thing, are leaving the region and state in droves. Taxes have driven business after business out of the state and continue to do so. As a business owner, presumably, you should realize that. Hell, you should move too. It would certainly save you a ton if in fact you're biz is making anythig significant.

This market would no longer even make the short list of considerations anymore given the international potential now (Canada) and the growing South, Southeastern, and now even Western markets not to mention some others.

I've never understood what Ralph has done for the fans and began saying so a decade ago while everyone was singing his praises. He lost all credibility with me when he fired Polian. Short of some sort of violent crime I see no reason why he was let go. I realize that the rumor is that he got into a four-letter tirade with Wilson's daughter, but TFB for her. What's she ever done for the organization. If she couldn't stand the heat, she shouldn't have been in the kitchen.

In hindsight, it should be brutally clear by now that Ralph has never thought about anyone but Ralph directly. He's made hiring decistions that were utterly devoid of good solid decision making in favor of his own personal likes and dislikes of the people he's hired.

He should be on his knees before Polian for making this team anything other than an also-ran since he's owned it in the NFL. for half a decade Polian put this team on the opposite end of the spectrum that it would have been on otherwise had he not done that. It was crap when he became GM and quickly turned back to crap after he left with only a few single decent seasons scattered in there and only one playoff win that has absolutely nothing to do with Polian's influence on it.

Wilson did not even hire Polian to be the GM. Polian got the job for one reason and one reason only, because Terry Bledsoe, the then GM, had a heart attack. Otherwise this team likely never would have heard of Polian and he may have even gone to another team to do what he did here.

Anyway, I have no idea why fans thank Wilson for anything. His own team has been among the worst in the NFL outside of what essentially amounts to a happenstance accident.

I mean has anyone heard Wilson say anything about putting a winning product on the field recently! No.

All he cares about is his little circle of friends and his family. Which is fine generally speaking. But then don't pretend to be the best buddy of the fans, which clearly he's not. Either that or he assumes that everyone just "wants a team in Buffalo," any team apparently.

Then again, y'all are the ones that keep buying tickets to this crap fest of performance. So hey, it's just like the politics. NYS-ers vote liberals into power and then complain when they A, raise taxes, and B, cause economic climates like the one driving the team from the region as a result of those drastic tax increases.

Ditto here. Many here support Wilson but then complain about the things that happen as a result of Wilson being the owner.

Can't have it both ways. Wilson, quite frankly, blew it years ago when the stadium underwent its first renovation. That was the perfect time to try to build a new stadium towards the rest of the market for this team, namely points eastward. Having built a stadium midway, or thereabouts, between Rochester may have been what was needed to expand the market to include Rochester more and make it much more attractive for those in the midstate region to attend. Yet, apparently the thought never crossed his mind. What, fans from Buffalo weren't going to games if they were Darian Lakes or the Batavia area? BS. If so, then what kind of fans would they be and the team deserves to move. Batavia/DL is only minutes further than OP for most people in Buffalo.

It's all moot now. Wilson dies, the team gets sold to the highest bidder, and the sale will only be approved by the other owners if the new owner wants to move it b/c most owners want it out of Buffalo. So really, the other owners have more to say about where the Bills end up than Wilson does.

Wilson's a nice guy by all accounts, but he's either dumber than a bag of rocks, which I don't buy, or he doesn't give a crap about the fans when push comes to shove. If he did then he'd both be looking for an ownership group to sell to to keep the team around town and also he wouldn't have hired failures and morons to run his team since Polian left.

I see no reason to thank him for anything. Buffalo would have likely had a team anyway something prior to the '80s anyway. They at least used to be one of the biggest markets in this country.

[Michael82]

Re: Thank you Mr. Wilson.

What is a real kick-in-the-pants is when you read an article like this:

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=623878

That article is about how the Green Bay Packers made a $22M profit last year.

Now I realize the Western NY economy isn't in the best of shape, but Green Bay isn't exactly the world's biggest market. Yet, through clever planning that included a big upgrade to Lambeau Field and development of some ancillary revenue streams (like a mall, restaurant and Packer's HOF), the team is finanically viable long-term and no threat to move to a bigger market.

I ask, why can't Buffalo do this? Why can't Wilson and the Bills use what Green Bay has done over the last decade (at a time when their financial health was threatened by the growth of the NFL) as a guideline? The Bills also have a rabid, college-style fanbase with a history they cherish. They have a regional appeal.

I just don't by the "poor us" excuse. The Bills should be viewed as a under-developed asset, not a no-longer-viable enterprise.

The sad thing is that as much as we all hate Donahoe...he actually was a pretty savvy business man and was working on things like this to help make more money for the team. Before he was fired, they were actually talking about how they enjoyed the HOF in Green Bay and were both very interested in trying to get one started here. Plus, don't forget about the remodeling of the Bills fieldhouse/admin building. Plus the brand new Bills store in Buffalo and that sweet one inside Eastview Mall. But now it appears that Ralph isn't interested in this stuff anymore. He'd rather whine about what he doesn't have, instead of trying to do more. The truth is...we need another President of the Buffalo Bills because Ralph is losing it and can't try to do all this stuff on his own. That's part of the reason Donahoe was hired...until he became Psycho.