Why Have the Bills Virtually Sold Out the Entire Season? Let's Speculate

[Meathead]

ok, crappy team, again, longest running playoff drought, looking extremely unlikely thats going to end this year, yada yada

why is the season virtually sold out?

id like to say its great marketing, which i suppose is a part of that

but mostly i say its fear of losing the team. 'enjoy the team while you can' says ralph. ok we listened. i think

what do you think?

[raphael120]

That's a crap reason to buy tickets.

Go because you want to, not out of fear.

I'm going to the Steelers game because I can have fun there even if the Bills lose, I'll know that at least my second favorite team knows how to run a football organization.

[BlackMetalNinja]

That's a crap reason to buy tickets.

Go because you want to, not out of fear.

I'm going to the Steelers game because I can have fun there even if the Bills lose, I'll know that at least my second favorite team knows how to run a football organization.

Clearly it's because there is nothing else to do in the area... I usually just sit in the hotel and play video games... :oops:

[FlyingDutchman]

I dont know if marketing really has that much to do with it. How do you market a team that lost most of its big name players? IMO there is a lot of people who see the product on the field as a work in progress and are excited to see this team blossom into the team that many people think it can be in the near future. Exciting young players that people think will be something special is the draw IMO. That has to do more with the intelligence of the WNY football community to see the potential of this team, and not anything a marketing team is doing.

[Mahdi]

Marshawn Lynch and Paul Posluszny.

[SABURZFAN]

ok, crappy team, again, longest running playoff drought, looking extremely unlikely thats going to end this year, yada yada

why is the season virtually sold out?

id like to say its great marketing, which i suppose is a part of that

but mostly i say its fear of losing the team. 'enjoy the team while you can' says ralph. ok we listened. i think

what do you think?



gluttons for punishment?? :idunno:

[Mahdi]

That 23 yard run by Lynch probably sold thousands of tickets alone.

[Earthquake Enyart]

There's nothing else to do and tickets aren't all that expensive.

[Al the Bills Fan]

Not quite sure, but I am going to the Ravens game to see Lynch and Poz. I live 5 hours away from the stadium or I would be at every game.
Maybe there are many others just as excited about #23 and #51 as I am.

[RockStar36]

It's a good time and most of the fans are loyal to the team. Believe it or not, but some of the constant Bills bashers on the site don't represent the entire fan base.

[Typ0]

because this is a viable market for an NFL team. that doesn't mean it's the best market the team can be in though.

[hydro]

That 23 yard run by Lynch probably sold thousands of tickets alone.

I wouldn't be suprised if it helped, that was a pretty impressive run that people like to see.

[don137]

There's nothing else to do and tickets aren't all that expensive.
I agree...Its a great value for the money and lets face it RWS is one of the best places to tailgate. Add it up and its a great way to spend a day without totally breaking the bank.

[HAMMER]

It's a good time and most of the fans are loyal to the team. Believe it or not, but some of the constant Bills bashers on the site don't represent the entire fan base.

I was going to say the exact same thing!

[raphael120]

It's a good time and most of the fans are loyal to the team. Believe it or not, but some of the constant Bills bashers on the site don't represent the entire fan base.

It represents more than you think. 50/50 is a fair assessment. I know plenty of older people who lived and died in the Super Bowl years and just barely pay attention to the Bills anymore, but they sure love their Sabres.

BTW, just because youre a "basher" doesn't mean youre not loyal. If they weren't loyal they wouldn't waste their time posting on here or caring about it at all.

[Philagape]

I think the Sabres may have something to do with it, raising the sports excitement in general.
Also, there may have been an impression the Bills had upside and were heading in the right direction.

[RockStar36]

It represents more than you think. 50/50 is a fair assessment. I know plenty of older people who lived and died in the Super Bowl years and just barely pay attention to the Bills anymore, but they sure love their Sabres.

BTW, just because youre a "basher" doesn't mean youre not loyal. If they weren't loyal they wouldn't waste their time posting on here or caring about it at all.

50/50?

9,448 members.

73,000 attendance.

The majority of the fans aren't that negative. But they aren't any fun. The negative ones are the ones WGR will put on the whiner line to give us something to talk about. If only the positive or non-negative called in and spoke about the team it would get boring. So we need something to talk about. Let's stir up Trent Edwards talk, etc etc...

Trust me man. I was at the game last weekend and just about everyone I saw was having fun and looking forward to the game. They weren't sitting in the parking lot disecting JP's yardage in losses last year and *****ing about RW being cheap.

[justasportsfan]

50/50?

9,448 members.

73,000 attendance.



He probably thinks half of that were broncos fans.

[Scumbag College]

The games are fun to go to. There's only eight a year in Buffalo so you have to enjoy each and every one of them that you can get to. The Bills are a young team and showed improvement last year, that's why all the games were almost sold out before the start of the regular season. Even going late in the year and they've been out of playoff contention, it's been alot of fun to go to. There's several other reasons, but most everyone on here hit on them already in previous posts.

[gr8slayer]

Or maybe because they are by far the cheapest seats in the entire NFL.

Mikey and all you other weird local Yankee's, would you pay $20 more a ticket if it meant keeping the team around?

[Night Train]

We drink far too much beer and then buy tickets.. Just say no, kids..

[Ingtar33]

season tix are cheep

[DynaPaul]

The Bills are the only major league sports team in town, aside from the Sabres, and they've cleverly marketed certain draft picks and free agents as the missing piece that will get us into the playoffs.

[Nighthawk]

Clearly it's because there is nothing else to do in the area... I usually just sit in the hotel and play video games... :oops:

That is such a load of crap. Just to let you know, I am a recruiter and many people who have moved from Buffalo to Carolina have tried to come back. You know what the reason was they tell me for wanting to come back? Well, it's because they say North Carolina is boring...yes, boring and I have heard this from more than one person. This whole crap about Buffalo not having anything to do is getting old. Sorry about getting on a soap box, but it just bothers me when people constantly use the same old s**t to bring Buffalo down.

[eyedog]

Because Buffalo is a football town first. Always has been and always will be. Miss play-offs for seven years and counting and they still have sold nearly every ticket.
I guarantee if the Sabres start missing the play-offs that arena will be half filled again like it was a few years ago. There are currently alot of bandwagon Sabre fans around from the last couple of years.

[Elminster]

Because they billieve. Seriously, I should hope our team is more resilient than its fans. Oh, and I've never heard anyone say we were play-off bound. Not anyone who wasn't just a fan. The FO didn't hype anything, we did...

[doomsdayvirus]

because spitzer took away the scalping laws, so they're buying up season tickets and hoping to cash in...

[RockStar36]

Or maybe because they are by far the cheapest seats in the entire NFL.

Mikey and all you other weird local Yankee's, would you pay $20 more a ticket if it meant keeping the team around?

Absolutely not. $20? THAT IS COMPLETELY OUT OF THE QUESTION!!!

/sarcasm

[Wys Guy]

Trust me man. I was at the game last weekend and just about everyone I saw was having fun and looking forward to the game. They weren't sitting in the parking lot disecting JP's yardage in losses last year and *****ing about RW being cheap.

You guys are probably right. Those that do go are going to have fun one way or the other.

But what I can remember years ago during Polian's reign, was that the fun was in the game itself. Tailgating was good b/c the team and game were good, almost always.

Today for me it's the seeing what kind of tix I can get out front because there's always better seats available there than from the team who "hides" tickets so that when you buy them the choices suck but then two weeks later miraculously there's 2,000 tix, some with very good seats available. It's so good to be able to trust your own ticketing office. /sarcasm

I went out to a sports bar to watch the game last week and honestly, I, we in fact, both Bills fans, a guy that I've seen occasionally at the bar, both sat there and watched the futililty. Thinking that with Lynch and an "improved" OL I'd ask him at the beginning of every drive or when we were in Denver territory, "d'you think we're gonna score?" Every time he just shook his head and said no. I thought he was joking after a while. He wasn't.

Please someone tell me that of the 75K or so in the stadium, that most, please, the vast majority of which, did not actually enjoy what they saw? Please, someone tell me that.

All that I can analogize with in explaining what watching that game was like, is watching a thug nearly beat a person to death. Then having something distract them. The person's lying there half dead. Then the thug comes over and does it again, again, being distracted just before shoving a spike into the person's head.

Rinse, repeat.

That's what it was like. Hoping "to preserve" the win was kind of like hoping that the thug would slip on a banana peel on the next jaunt over to further bludgeon the victim, fall, get knocked unconscious, and have the "boxing ring ref" jump in and call a TKO in favor of the "left for dead" person, then going on to call it an "win."

I would seriously have to call into question the sincerity of anyone that actually says that they sat there and enjoyed that game.

Pittsburgh is going to dismantle us from top to bottom this week. I'm glad the game's on local TV down here in VA so that I only have to waste as little time and money as possible watching the game.

Most of you know that my opinion of how this team will finish this year was low, very, very low. But after last week, I for one cannot believe how low it might actually be. I may have to claim to have been a homer if this continues as such.

[Wys Guy]

The games are fun to go to.

Are they?

Let me ask you Scumbag, if you knew now that every one of our games would be similar to last week's, where we got less than 200 total net yards, and allowed 400 or so or even more, barely hung in there with little reason for it otherwise, and always lost, would you still support the notion that the games are fun to go to, in Buffalo, as a Bills fan?

What about it would be fun? I can understand going and tailgating, and frankly, I've thought about just going up to do that and watching the game on TV from the back of my truck in a comfy chair instead of actually going in. But in terms of the game, is it really fun watching what the Bills deliver, or rather perhaps don't deliver depending upon your, or each person's, perspective?

Just watching that game last week to me was not fun. I kept awaiting (not eagerly, just awaiting) the inevitable scores from Denver that never came as they logged more offensive yards than any other team last week. I sat their in utter disbelief that we couldn't move the ball at all really, and not against a great defense or one that should have caused us so much trouble running the ball, at home, at the home opener, with tremendous fan energy, with a revamped OL and promises of a better O, better blocking, a better RB (even by default if nothing else), etc.

Not to be the one to rain on the parade of the few remaining fans that actually have much hope for this season, but Denver is not among the better Ds that we will face this season. It just isn't. Adams is washed up and that was clear. They have maybe two players, kind of like us, in their front 7 that even command a glance of respect. Oh sure, their secondary is tops, but in the underneath passing game and running game we should have excelled and did not. In fact, just about all of Losman's incompletions were in the shorter, supposedly higher percentage, passing game. If you look at the game book, most were not even to players covered by members of their secondary. So that excuse vaporizes.

I don't know, I guess that I just don't see this team as enjoyable. It bothers me as a fan for reasons that I won't go into in this post but have been expressed ad nauseum for years now. (All those thanking me for not expounding are welcome.) ;)

So the question stands; if you knew ahead of time that our offense would put up offensive play that would result in near worst (or worst) league status by the end of the season, ditto for defense, and we'd lose most of our games, whether by 1 in last-second fashion, or by 30, and you had the proverbial "perfect information," would you still consider the games "fun to go to?"

[Dozerdog]

Cheap seats (But they were cheap last year)

Excellent schedule this year - not a lot of crap teams coming in late November/December.

Home games vs the Pats, Fins, Giants, Cowboys- to name a few- they also bring in a lot of their own fans.

[RockStar36]

So the question stands; if you knew ahead of time that our offense would put up offensive play that would result in near worst (or worst) league status by the end of the season, ditto for defense, and we'd lose most of our games, whether by 1 in last-second fashion, or by 30, and you had the proverbial "perfect information," would you still consider the games "fun to go to?"

I only read this part of your post because it seems more important.

I went last week.

That should answer your question.

[RockStar36]

You guys are probably right. Those that do go are going to have fun one way or the other.

But what I can remember years ago during Polian's reign, was that the fun was in the game itself. Tailgating was good b/c the team and game were good, almost always.

Today for me it's the seeing what kind of tix I can get out front because there's always better seats available there than from the team who "hides" tickets so that when you buy them the choices suck but then two weeks later miraculously there's 2,000 tix, some with very good seats available. It's so good to be able to trust your own ticketing office. /sarcasm

I went out to a sports bar to watch the game last week and honestly, I, we in fact, both Bills fans, a guy that I've seen occasionally at the bar, both sat there and watched the futililty. Thinking that with Lynch and an "improved" OL I'd ask him at the beginning of every drive or when we were in Denver territory, "d'you think we're gonna score?" Every time he just shook his head and said no. I thought he was joking after a while. He wasn't.

Please someone tell me that of the 75K or so in the stadium, that most, please, the vast majority of which, did not actually enjoy what they saw? Please, someone tell me that.

All that I can analogize with in explaining what watching that game was like, is watching a thug nearly beat a person to death. Then having something distract them. The person's lying there half dead. Then the thug comes over and does it again, again, being distracted just before shoving a spike into the person's head.

Rinse, repeat.

That's what it was like. Hoping "to preserve" the win was kind of like hoping that the thug would slip on a banana peel on the next jaunt over to further bludgeon the victim, fall, get knocked unconscious, and have the "boxing ring ref" jump in and call a TKO in favor of the "left for dead" person, then going on to call it an "win."

I would seriously have to call into question the sincerity of anyone that actually says that they sat there and enjoyed that game.

Pittsburgh is going to dismantle us from top to bottom this week. I'm glad the game's on local TV down here in VA so that I only have to waste as little time and money as possible watching the game.

Most of you know that my opinion of how this team will finish this year was low, very, very low. But after last week, I for one cannot believe how low it might actually be. I may have to claim to have been a homer if this continues as such.

Up until the final drive I enjoyed myself.

They don't have to play the perfect game for me to have fun. If I get to see a win, I have fun.

I only went to 2 games during the SB years but I've always had fun. I enjoy football and the Bills. That's why I still go. I can only remember one game in recent history that I didn't have much fun, but that due to the weather more than anything.

Just like this weekend. I have a pretty good feeling Pittsburgh will win. The game is on local tv. I live in a Steelers town. It's literally like a little Pittsburgh. But I'll still go to the bar to watch the game.

[Dozerdog]

That is such a load of crap. Just to let you know, I am a recruiter and many people who have moved from Buffalo to Carolina have tried to come back. You know what the reason was they tell me for wanting to come back? Well, it's because they say North Carolina is boring...yes, boring and I have heard this from more than one person. This whole crap about Buffalo not having anything to do is getting old. Sorry about getting on a soap box, but it just bothers me when people constantly use the same old s**t to bring Buffalo down.Dont tell JFreeman this!!!

[Billscusey]

That's a crap reason to buy tickets.

Go because you want to, not out of fear.

I'm going to the Steelers game because I can have fun there even if the Bills lose, I'll know that at least my second favorite team knows how to run a football organization.

Second favorite team? What the hell is that?!

[Wys Guy]

That is such a load of crap. Just to let you know, I am a recruiter and many people who have moved from Buffalo to Carolina have tried to come back. You know what the reason was they tell me for wanting to come back? Well, it's because they say North Carolina is boring...yes, boring and I have heard this from more than one person. This whole crap about Buffalo not having anything to do is getting old. Sorry about getting on a soap box, but it just bothers me when people constantly use the same old s**t to bring Buffalo down.

Interesting indeed. I know many that have moved to Carolina that absolutely love it. There's quite a bit to do down there and the Outer Banks are very nice. I've been there on business and also find it very appealing.

It may depend upon a person's perspective. If you look at WNY demographics, particularly Buffalo, you'll notice that the 18-35 crowd is shrinking drastically. In fact, the only demo group agewise that is growing, is the 45-54 group or whatever that one was.

It suggests to me that some people move back as parents age or to otherwise go back to their roots. But let's be real, and unless you live in the styx in Carolina, it's a little bit of a reach to suggest that Charlotte and the Research Triangle area have nothing to offer. I would suggest that people bored down there are merely "longing for home." That's reasonable, but to say that North Carolina is boring is even more of a reach.

I've always maintained that Rochester is a great place for married people with families, but not for single people. I'm sure that the same applies to Buffalo. And it's impossible not to notice all the added closings of businesses around town when you only go back sporadically. Ditto for Rochester. And in fact, downtown Rochester, or the city generally speaking in Roch, has turned twice the s-hole that it was 15 years ago. Yet the suburbs get nicer.

Is Buffalo the same?

Anyway, perhaps the people wanting to get back are those with families that long for home. I will say this, that the air coming down from Canada is five times fresher than that down here in VA. It's noticeable. The water also tastes better from the tap.

I recently had a good buddy move from Boston to Carolina, and he said that he loves Carolina much, much more that it's not even a comparison. I'm pretty sure that Boston has a little bit more going on than Buffalo. LOL

Anyway, curious as to what the demos are on the people that told you that.

[Wys Guy]

BTW, NYS IMO is one of the nation's best kept secrets in terms of options for doing things. Finger Lakes, Adirondacks, Canada not far away, Letchworth, Watkins Glen, Great Lakes, proximity to NYC, good people, etc.

Taxes are just so blazing high that they're literally driving people out of the state.

[RockStar36]

Second favorite team? What the hell is that?!

That is the 2nd time I've seen that in the last few days.

When did it become acceptable to pick a second favorite team?

[don137]

BTW, NYS IMO is one of the nation's best kept secrets in terms of options for doing things. Finger Lakes, Adirondacks, Canada not far away, Letchworth, Watkins Glen, Great Lakes, proximity to NYC, good people, etc.

Taxes are just so blazing high that they're literally driving people out of the state.
Plus their are not that many jobs due to many companies leaving due to the high taxes.

[Scumbag College]

Are they?

Let me ask you Scumbag, if you knew now that every one of our games would be similar to last week's, where we got less than 200 total net yards, and allowed 400 or so or even more, barely hung in there with little reason for it otherwise, and always lost, would you still support the notion that the games are fun to go to, in Buffalo, as a Bills fan?

What about it would be fun? I can understand going and tailgating, and frankly, I've thought about just going up to do that and watching the game on TV from the back of my truck in a comfy chair instead of actually going in. But in terms of the game, is it really fun watching what the Bills deliver, or rather perhaps don't deliver depending upon your, or each person's, perspective?

Just watching that game last week to me was not fun. I kept awaiting (not eagerly, just awaiting) the inevitable scores from Denver that never came as they logged more offensive yards than any other team last week. I sat their in utter disbelief that we couldn't move the ball at all really, and not against a great defense or one that should have caused us so much trouble running the ball, at home, at the home opener, with tremendous fan energy, with a revamped OL and promises of a better O, better blocking, a better RB (even by default if nothing else), etc.

Not to be the one to rain on the parade of the few remaining fans that actually have much hope for this season, but Denver is not among the better Ds that we will face this season. It just isn't. Adams is washed up and that was clear. They have maybe two players, kind of like us, in their front 7 that even command a glance of respect. Oh sure, their secondary is tops, but in the underneath passing game and running game we should have excelled and did not. In fact, just about all of Losman's incompletions were in the shorter, supposedly higher percentage, passing game. If you look at the game book, most were not even to players covered by members of their secondary. So that excuse vaporizes.

I don't know, I guess that I just don't see this team as enjoyable. It bothers me as a fan for reasons that I won't go into in this post but have been expressed ad nauseum for years now. (All those thanking me for not expounding are welcome.) ;)

So the question stands; if you knew ahead of time that our offense would put up offensive play that would result in near worst (or worst) league status by the end of the season, ditto for defense, and we'd lose most of our games, whether by 1 in last-second fashion, or by 30, and you had the proverbial "perfect information," would you still consider the games "fun to go to?"

Well, I could piss and moan about the team being ****ty. The offense sucks, the defense is putrid, blah blah blah. But, I like the Bills. I'll root for them this year like I rooted for them during the early 90's. I'm happy when they win, I'm bummed out when they lose. Honestly, the Broncos loss last week was heartwrenching, even though I had an ominous feeling during the fourth quarter that the team would **** the bed in the closing seconds.

However, it was an exciting game. I have tickets to the Giants game in Week 16, if the Bills are 2-12 I'll go to the game. If they're 12-2 (I know it's not likely) I'll go to the game. If they're 7-7 and have an outside shot at the playoffs, I'll go to the game. I'll yell when the Giants have a third down, I'll cheer when the Bills score a TD. If the Bills are out of the playoff hunt, they have the league's worst offense and defense, should I not go to the games or watch them on TV? Should I only watch the games if the Bills are winning and have a shot at the playoffs? That would make me a bandwagon fan.

The bottom line is that the games are fun to go to. The tailgating with family and friends, being around other fans rowdier than myself, watching the players and the game in person, and all the other things that go along with it make the games fun to go to. Are we supposed to boycott the team if it does suck? You can, others can, but it's my money and my Sunday, so I'll watch the Bills and go to the game and probably have a good time in doing so.

[JD]

I'm going cause of that sweet new board they got up :D

lol

[Michael82]

Or maybe because they are by far the cheapest seats in the entire NFL.

Mikey and all you other weird local Yankee's, would you pay $20 more a ticket if it meant keeping the team around?
yup. I love going to the Bills games and will pay whatever I have to, so I can go. I am currently paying about $500 for about 8 Sabres games. I have no problem doing that for the Bills. Hell, I paid over $1000 for playoff tickets last year.

[BillsSabresB.C.T. Fan]

It's because the NFL didn't schedule us to play at home on holidays/near holidays where people usually travel out of town to visit relatives or take vacations. If you go back to last season schedule there was a game close to Thanksgiving 11/26, one before Christmas 12/24 also NY Sen. Charles Shumer had something to do with it also.

[Typ0]

yup. I love going to the Bills games and will pay whatever I have to, so I can go. I am currently paying about $500 for about 8 Sabres games. I have no problem doing that for the Bills. Hell, I paid over $1000 for playoff tickets last year.


no wonder you can't afford to tip.