Bills battle to stay profitable in changing NFL

[YardRat]

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/349452.html

Buffalo Bills fans sitting 20 rows up in midfield seats at Ralph Wilson Stadium will pay $70 a ticket this year.

When the Dallas Cowboys move into their new stadium in 2009, fans sitting in the same 50-yard-line location will pay $50,000 just for a license to buy the ticket and then $340 a game for the seat. The $50,000 buys a fan the right to own the seat for 30 years. And that’s not even the most expensive ticket in the house at Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones’ new Dallas stadium.

This is the latest, greatest example of the changing economics of pro football. It’s also the latest shock wave for Bills fans who worry about the long-term viability of the team in Buffalo.

The Bills are not idly sitting by and watching the National Football League landscape change.

Some nice info in this article.

[YardRat]

Dallas’ new stadium will generate way more than $40 million a year in new revenue. It’s expected the naming rights alone in Dallas will fetch $20 million a year. The players will get $12 million a year. So that deal alone will increase the salary cap costs for each team by $375,000 a year.

It’s easy to see how this escalation is giving small-market teams the jitters.
A team like Buffalo watches its costs increase, but its local revenue has stayed relatively flat. The Bills have increased ticket prices roughly 9 percent each of the past two years but still rank last in the league in average ticket cost.

This is why Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. fought so hard for an enhanced revenue-sharing plan, approved in 2007, that funnels money from the 15 highest revenue producers to the 15 lowest revenue teams. There is no way the NFL owners would have approved it if the lower-revenue teams did not deserve some cash-flow support.

Under the plan, the details of which are not public, the bottom 15 teams get an average of about $7 million each a year if they qualify for support. So a team near the bottom of that group might be eligible for $10 million a year or a bit more.

“Without this agreement, I’m not sure we could survive,” said Wilson after the sharing deal was passed last year.

(The league has imposed a gag order this year on club officials talking about the collective bargaining agreement and revenue sharing.)

The Bills do not actually qualify for the full amount of support because one of the qualifiers is a team’s ticket revenues must equal 90 percent of the league average. There’s no way Buffalo could ever meet that amount with a current average ticket price of $51.24 a game. Presumably, however, the Bills qualify for most of the subsidy.

[Jan Reimers]

Very good article full of factual information. It should help us all understand the Bills' situation and the challenges that the small market teams are facing.

[Mitchy moo]

The challenge is Buffalo needs industries that actually pay a great wage to it's employees and have a corporate presence. If NYS had half a brain, they would give a 20 year tax break at a state level (for taxes and monies earned in NY at a corporate level), if the companies agree to be there for 30 years.

I have no idea with how little our dollar is worth that we cannot attract major foreign money to buy up alot of downtown Buffalo and make the waterfront a dream spot to be in.

[ddaryl]

I just do not see how the league in general is going to be able to keep up with Dallas.

50k for a liscense to buy be able to buy tickets ... I could have a couple 100 million in the bank and I wouldn't pay it. I believe there is a lot more intelligent things to do with ones money then to spend rediculous amounts on a sport.

At this point I have to say the people of Dallas are a bunch of extremely stupid muther ****ers.

[Jan Reimers]

I just do not see how the league in general is going to be able to keep up with Dallas.

50k for a liscense to buy be able to buy tickets ... I could have a couple 100 million in the bank and I wouldn't pay it. I believe there is a lot more intelligent things to do with ones money then to spend rediculous amounts on a sport.

At this point I have to say the people of Dallas are a bunch of extremely stupid muther ****ers.
I agree. If the Dallas model becomes the norm, only a handful of teams will survive.

[HHURRICANE]

The Bills do not actually qualify for the full amount of support because one of the qualifiers is a team’s ticket revenues must equal 90 percent of the league average. There’s no way Buffalo could ever meet that amount with a current average ticket price of $51.24 a game. Presumably, however, the Bills qualify for most of the subsidy.

I think the Bills should stay in Buffalo. With that said the ticket prices need to represent 90% of the league average.

If Buffalo can't support this than the team needs to go. I don't think it's fair to have a team charge so much less than the rest of the league.

Why should a person in Buffalo watch the same product that they see in another City for half the price?

[Historian]

I just do not see how the league in general is going to be able to keep up with Dallas.

My feelings exactly.

At that rate, the rest of the league becomes small market, with the exception of New York, Philly and Washington.

Maybe Chicago.

[TacklingDummy]

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/349452.html

Buffalo Bills fans sitting 20 rows up in midfield seats at Ralph Wilson Stadium will pay $70 a ticket this year.

When the Dallas Cowboys move into their new stadium in 2009, fans sitting in the same 50-yard-line location will pay $50,000 just for a license to buy the ticket and then $340 a game for the seat. The $50,000 buys a fan the right to own the seat for 30 years. And that’s not even the most expensive ticket in the house at Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones’ new Dallas stadium.

This is the latest, greatest example of the changing economics of pro football. It’s also the latest shock wave for Bills fans who worry about the long-term viability of the team in Buffalo.

The Bills are not idly sitting by and watching the National Football League landscape change.

Some nice info in this article.

How many teams in the NFL could afford to do this?

[Patrick76777]

I agree. If the Dallas model becomes the norm, only a handful of teams will survive.


All I know is that there is one handsome guy in that picture of the fans!

[gr8slayer]

I just do not see how the league in general is going to be able to keep up with Dallas.

50k for a liscense to buy be able to buy tickets ... I could have a couple 100 million in the bank and I wouldn't pay it. I believe there is a lot more intelligent things to do with ones money then to spend rediculous amounts on a sport.

At this point I have to say the people of Dallas are a bunch of extremely stupid muther ****ers.
No, they just have far too much money to spend. The prices are a bit out of whack but no one is forcing you to buy them.

I'll be getting my tickets in '09 either way :up:

[ddaryl]

I agree nobody is forcing anyone to buy the tickets

but I believe fully that anyone who does lay down 50K for a license to buy tickets at 300 per seat is a dumb ass muther ****er.

seriously the stupiditiy is off the charts. and I will forever brand dallasonians as the dumbest of the dumb for doing so.

there in not a single intelligent reason for spending that much money on a sport. None .. notta zippo.

[gr8slayer]

I agree nobody is forcing anyone to buy the tickets

but I believe fully that anyone who does lay down 50K for a license to buy tickets at 300 per seat is a dumb ass muther ****er.

seriously the stupiditiy is off the charts. and I will forever brand dallasonians as the dumbest of the dumb for doing so.

there in not a single intelligent reason for spending that much money on a sport. None .. notta zippo.
Easy to say if you're someone who can't afford it :up:

I'd be chirping the same tune. It's an inferiority complex, human nature.