My scencario on why a Bills Home game in Toronto works...and MUST be done!

[Ebenezer]

I haven't been around much so I don't know if this has been discussed but as I told Clump at the game Sunday there is perfect reason for the Bills to have a "home game" in Toronto....potential luxury boxes.

The "new revenue" stream really shouldn't be about fans buying tickets. The stadium is full and those monies get split in the big league wide revenue pot. What this teams needs is to build more luxury boxes in which the Bills derive all the money.

The luxury boxes at the new Jets/Giants stadium will have a $1mil per year price tag on them. The boxes at the Ralph cost $95,000 a year. That is an incredible difference that will make it hard for the Bills to compete.

Solution? Build more boxes and increase the prices. This could easily be done. All you need to do is put another row or two of boxes near the scoreboard and put some more over at the tunnel end of the stadium. The next question is who do you get to buy those boxes? And that is where Toronto comes into play. There are more companies there than in the whole WNY area combined. Give them game in Toronto so that these companies can schmooze clients or reward employees and entice them to buy the new boxes here at RWS.

Seems like an interesting trade-off to me to help keep the Bills competitive and here in Buffalo.

Thoughts?

[M]

I like it! Businesses are always trying to schmooze potential clients and kiss up to existing clients. I know law firms in CT have seasons to New England and firms in Tampa have seasons to Miami. That's how I'm getting to the game in Miami on November 11th!

[Meathead]

those numbers in ny are just shocking. never thot theyd be that high

hell i dont see how the bills stay in wny any more. its entertainment and the dollar will win out in the long run. i hate it but thats just life in the real capitalistic world

i guess your logic is correct that the ONLY way they can dream to compete with the nys of the world is to lure torontos big dollars but frankly i dont see it being enough. thats just too big a gap

hope im wrong

[Ebenezer]

those numbers in ny are just shocking. never thot theyd be that high

hell i dont see how the bills stay in wny any more. its entertainment and the dollar will win out in the long run. i hate it but thats just life in the real capitalistic world

i guess your logic is correct that the ONLY way they can dream to compete with the nys of the world is to lure torontos big dollars but frankly i dont see it being enough. thats just too big a gap

hope im wrong
btw...that is $1mil/team...you don't get the box for both teams unless you pay twice.

[G. Host]

The key is getting the governments to finish what they claimed they were going to do - Fast Pass for the airports so more Canadians can fly to Buffalo and the new bridge so more can drive to Buffalo.

If Rochester had not messed up on the ferry I could see the ferry going to an express bus to the game.

[Mitchy moo]

If they bring more events to the stadium and let the companies use the boxes during them they can sell them as a big package as well. Have some big concerts there and all kinds of stuff and load the boxes with our newly on par / cash happy neighbors.

[YardRat]

I'm all for it. Bring the regional bucks in, keep the team local. Wilson and his management team should be a given some credit for being creative relative to the market they're dealing with.

[Turf]

Let's be serious and wake up gentlemen.

Toronto gets a couple regular season games.

Ralph passes.

No one is WNY ponies up the bucks to buy the team.

Gee, they're already playing in Toronto.....

[Johnny Bugmenot]

Well, did the Packers ever suffer when they started playing a game or two per season in Milwaukee? No.

We have little to fear of one Toronto game.

[Forward_Lateral]

The key is getting the governments to finish what they claimed they were going to do - Fast Pass for the airports so more Canadians can fly to Buffalo and the new bridge so more can drive to Buffalo.

If Rochester had not messed up on the ferry I could see the ferry going to an express bus to the game.

I agree 100%. The fact that a Canadian/American will soon need a passport to cross into each other's country is ridiculous.

[MikeInRoch]

You make it sound like the move isn't inevitable. Toronto would be, by far, the lesser of evils.

[netsan]

Since the Bills will be sold one day, the new owners should build a new retractable dome stadium in Niagara Falls NY. It will keep the core fans and make it easier to bring in new fans from Canada. No one should have any problems getting to the game from either side of the border. From this location there should be no problem with selling corporate boxes since there is plenty of other things to do before and after the game....

[OpIv37]

Great thought- until the Toronto businessmen go "this is great- let's buy the team so we don't have to travel to Buffalo 7 times a year!"

[Wys Guy]

I haven't been around much so I don't know if this has been discussed but as I told Clump at the game Sunday there is perfect reason for the Bills to have a "home game" in Toronto....potential luxury boxes.

The "new revenue" stream really shouldn't be about fans buying tickets. The stadium is full and those monies get split in the big league wide revenue pot. What this teams needs is to build more luxury boxes in which the Bills derive all the money.

The luxury boxes at the new Jets/Giants stadium will have a $1mil per year price tag on them. The boxes at the Ralph cost $95,000 a year. That is an incredible difference that will make it hard for the Bills to compete.

Solution? Build more boxes and increase the prices. This could easily be done. All you need to do is put another row or two of boxes near the scoreboard and put some more over at the tunnel end of the stadium. The next question is who do you get to buy those boxes? And that is where Toronto comes into play. There are more companies there than in the whole WNY area combined. Give them game in Toronto so that these companies can schmooze clients or reward employees and entice them to buy the new boxes here at RWS.

Seems like an interesting trade-off to me to help keep the Bills competitive and here in Buffalo.

Thoughts?

Why aren't they buying them now? They're certainly available and the last statement the team made is that they didn't even sell them out for this year. So unless something's changed.

IMO a game or two in Toronto isn't going to sell more "boxes" here. It's only going to increase the demand for them up there. In fact I can see them pre-selling them there. All of them, and quickly.

Also, how would a game or two, or three even, play for "box" purchasers here? I know that if I lived in the region I wouldn't want to have to drive to Toronto for a RS game or two every year. What happens the first time that they get the "best" game?

I see problems. As one door closes another opens. The bottom line is that we're reaching out to Toronto to save us, and since they can have the whole shebang, why wouldn't they want it eventually?

[Wys Guy]

The key is getting the governments to finish what they claimed they were going to do - Fast Pass for the airports so more Canadians can fly to Buffalo and the new bridge so more can drive to Buffalo.

If Rochester had not messed up on the ferry I could see the ferry going to an express bus to the game.

You're joking, right Glen?

First of all, the City of Rochester messes everything up. Every time I go back up there I cannot believe how much of a Sh&%hole the city itself has become since I moved away in '93, not even 15 years ago.

Second of all, even a ferry to Niagara Falls would take several hours longer than merely driving to Buffalo. A ferry saves what, a 45 minute drive to I-190? It's not far from Toronto to NF. The Ferry wouldn't land in Lockport or down on Lake Erie. From Rochester it would take 6 hours including Customs, loading, unloading, driving to OP.

Waiting for the government to do anything is shameful anyway. The government is the reason why this team is leaving the region. NY State liberal politics are chasing everyone out. Businesses too, businesses that would otherwise buy boxes.

[Wys Guy]

I agree 100%. The fact that a Canadian/American will soon need a passport to cross into each other's country is ridiculous.

There are plans for open borders and a North American Union (NAU) brought on by the Security and Prosperity Partnership signed by Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. by 2010 that would ease border crossing issues/times. Of course the loss in American sovereignty is another matter altogether.

So you'll be able to go see the team play in Toronto with minimal ado. :D

[G. Host]

Great thought- until the Toronto businessmen go "this is great- let's buy the team so we don't have to travel to Buffalo 7 times a year!"
The Toronto businessmen will hardly go every week but give it to politicans, clients and partners like other businesses do elsewhere. And if they are going in a game they can talk business is a long limo ride or on plane.

[Wys Guy]

Great thought- until the Toronto businessmen go "this is great- let's buy the team so we don't have to travel to Buffalo 7 times a year!"

Exactly.

Which brings up the primary point. Wilson and the Bills can do whatever they want until Wilson sells the team. I just don't think that's going to be more than five or six more years.

When it sells, the chances are all but zero that it's staying here. Everyone that understands the business aspect to this fully realizes that the odds of the team staying are slim to nil.

It's those talking about extra expressways, more boxes, nicer upholstery, cheaper parking and concessions, Goodell's involvement (as if he's relevant in this as anything other than a mouthpiece), enticing people from other countries and regions to come here when that's like asking people to go to Poughkeepsie from NYC, that seem to believe that there are good reasons as to why new owners will keep the team here.

There might be some hope if in the past Wilson hadn't expressed deep rooted concerns over this. But he's simply not speaking out offering fans in the region any hope. He knows the deal. IMO if Wilson weren't the owner the team wouldn't even be in Buffalo now.

This recent news is merely to soften the blow, and frankly, it's nice to have that period unlike the Browns moving. Fans like me can back off and just enjoy the sport w/o taking the team seriously at all anymore. Others can prepare for it in their own way.

This is a developing thing that will culimate with a move to the far more financially viable Toronto when either A., Wilson passes, or B., Wilson's health fails to the extent that he no longer wants to have anything to do with the team.

So the question really is how long will the 89-year old owner live?

After that the team will be sold and it's not going to find an investor foolish enough to keep the team here. I speak financially strictly.

[netsan]

Great thought- until the Toronto businessmen go "this is great- let's buy the team so we don't have to travel to Buffalo 7 times a year!"
Since games are mostly on Sundays it would be more attractive to travel to Niagara Falls for a weekend of Football and Casinos and Entertainment (Fallsview) than to just go to Toronto for an afternoon. If I owned the team I'd build a hotel as well to keep the visitors happy...

I went to my first game this year from Toronto and I woke up at 6:00 and and got home at 9:30 pm! What a long day that was. I was physically and mentally exhausted. The worst part was crossing the border coming back to Canada. If I could walk across the border to Niagara Falls NY, then I'd be a happy camper!

[Wys Guy]

I went to my first game this year from Toronto and I woke up at 6:00 and and got home at 9:30 pm! What a long day that was. I was physically and mentally exhausted. The worst part was crossing the border. If I could walk across the border to Niagara Falls NY, then I'd be a happy camper!

IMO the Bills will lose season ticket holders and box customers from NY once the team starts having games over there.

[netsan]

IMO the Bills will lose season ticket holders and box customers from NY once the team starts having games over there.

Sure you'd lose some, but you'd get more than enough new season ticket holders to replace them.

[Ebenezer]

Why aren't they buying them now? They're certainly available and the last statement the team made is that they didn't even sell them out for this year. So unless something's changed.

IMO a game or two in Toronto isn't going to sell more "boxes" here. It's only going to increase the demand for them up there. In fact I can see them pre-selling them there. All of them, and quickly.

Also, how would a game or two, or three even, play for "box" purchasers here? I know that if I lived in the region I wouldn't want to have to drive to Toronto for a RS game or two every year. What happens the first time that they get the "best" game?

I see problems. As one door closes another opens. The bottom line is that we're reaching out to Toronto to save us, and since they can have the whole shebang, why wouldn't they want it eventually?

From what I heard there is one (1) box available...there are tens of dozens of companies in Toronto...that's a whole lot of boxes that could be built and sold.

shouldn't we at least TRY or should we do nothing and be defeatists?

[Ebenezer]

Exactly.

Which brings up the primary point. Wilson and the Bills can do whatever they want until Wilson sells the team. I just don't think that's going to be more than five or six more years.

When it sells, the chances are all but zero that it's staying here. Everyone that understands the business aspect to this fully realizes that the odds of the team staying are slim to nil.

It's those talking about extra expressways, more boxes, nicer upholstery, cheaper parking and concessions, Goodell's involvement (as if he's relevant in this as anything other than a mouthpiece), enticing people from other countries and regions to come here when that's like asking people to go to Poughkeepsie from NYC, that seem to believe that there are good reasons as to why new owners will keep the team here.

There might be some hope if in the past Wilson hadn't expressed deep rooted concerns over this. But he's simply not speaking out offering fans in the region any hope. He knows the deal. IMO if Wilson weren't the owner the team wouldn't even be in Buffalo now.

This recent news is merely to soften the blow, and frankly, it's nice to have that period unlike the Browns moving. Fans like me can back off and just enjoy the sport w/o taking the team seriously at all anymore. Others can prepare for it in their own way.

This is a developing thing that will culimate with a move to the far more financially viable Toronto when either A., Wilson passes, or B., Wilson's health fails to the extent that he no longer wants to have anything to do with the team.

So the question really is how long will the 89-year old owner live?

After that the team will be sold and it's not going to find an investor foolish enough to keep the team here. I speak financially strictly.


Then why don't we just quit being fans right now and let them move the team tomorrow? With all do respect one can be rational and realize that the team will probably move but that doesn't mean we have to do nothing and see if it will stay. I think your nihilistic attitude is terrible and if more fans feel that way then there is no way of keeping the team here.

[Night Train]

Since the Bills will be sold one day, the new owners should build a new retractable dome stadium in Niagara Falls NY. It will keep the core fans and make it easier to bring in new fans from Canada. No one should have any problems getting to the game from either side of the border. From this location there should be no problem with selling corporate boxes since there is plenty of other things to do before and after the game....

We have now identified the next Bills owners.

The Seneca Indians !

[Michael82]

Then why don't we just quit being fans right now and let them move the team tomorrow? With all do respect one can be rational and realize that the team will probably move but that doesn't mean we have to do nothing and see if it will stay. I think your nihilistic attitude is terrible and if more fans feel that way then there is no way of keeping the team here.
Excellent post! :bf1: