NFL Sellouts Have Become Easier, but not for Bills

[Romes]

Unfortunately, this is something that most of us are aware of...its interesting though the stastical break down of how much more difficult it is for RW Jr. compared to other owners.


Now compare that with Buffalo’s situation. The Bills stadium officially seats 73,967. Their market penetration needs increased by 3.1%, a total that is 143% higher than the current average market penetration. And that doesn’t even include the fact that Buffalo already started this analysis at a 3.4% market penetration. To put this another way, it is literally nearly twice as hard to achieve a sellout in Buffalo today than it was forty years ago based on the population/stadium density percentage. And that doesn’t even take into account how much easier it is for the Bills’ NFL competitors to sell their stadiums out.

Looking at this from Ralph Wilson’s perspective, his organization in some ways has to work more than twice as hard as they used to in order to bring in the Forbes estimate of $40 million in annual gate revenue. If it was a matter of the team being non-competitive, it would come down to on-field improvements, but the Bills have been O.K. in that area. They have averaged seven wins a year and are typically in the playoff hunt for a significant majority of the season. It’s a better overall on-field situation than the Lions and some other teams that are generally doing worse on the field but better at the box office than Buffalo is.

It is also not a matter of fan ambivalence. Bills backers are among the most rabid out there. Their showing at the recent Bills-heavy Hall of Fame induction ceremony proved this as well as anything. These fans have also arrived in large numbers for games over the years in some of the worst weather, so passion isn’t an issue.

http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/nfl-sellouts-have-become-easier-but-not-for-bills/#more-14607

[mackey789]

They fail to mention the fact that we are a regional team. I find this article flawed in many ways.

[Romes]

I don't think its that flawed...this article shows the reasons why we have to be a regional team.

[Michael82]

I'm sorry, but I don't understand why they are calling the Bills out in the article. It's harder for many other teams to sell out, compared to the Bills. The Bills have been packing the stadium for the last 5 years and that is even with the team sucking.

[ParanoidAndroid]

The Bills need a marketing overhaul and a new stadium. They're still clinging to the late 80's early 90's....sad.

[Tbuffalobills]

I live in San Diego- The Chargers have not sold out one game yet this year! A first place team with a southern Ca market- No games sold out!

Our local paper just had an article about for the first time in years games will be blacked out! Buffalo is a great town..great fans...oh my if they ever can win!!

[Michael82]

I live in San Diego- The Chargers have not sold out one game yet this year! A first place team with a southern Ca market- No games sold out!

Our local paper just had an article about for the first time in years games will be blacked out! Buffalo is a great town..great fans...oh my if they ever can win!!
IMO, the Chargers are the first team that should be brought up for relocation to Los Angeles. It makes the most sense.

[jamze132]

That article is horrible. The author mentions that the Bills have been good in recent years and have been alive for the playoffs. Not really. I'm not really sure how hard it is to sell our RWS, but I can guarantee you if the Bills actually have a chance to go to the playoffs, every seat will sell. And there are a lot of "fans" who have chosen not to go to the stadium since the losing streak began. Those fairweather fans will be back once the Bills start winning again.

There are very few places in all of sports where even one of the biggest losing teams still sell out most games.

[Romes]

I guess I am reading the article differently than some of you guys...I don't see him really picking on us just pointing out the facts and statistics behind our situation.

I see it as saying that practically every other team, for the most part, has a growing population compared to stadium size...Buffalo does not. Hence, the need to regionalize the team (training camp in Rochester, games in TO).

I do not see him as saying we aren't or can't sell out games just that it requires much more effort for the Bills to sell them out.

Jamze...and he does not say that the Bills were good...just ok...at least better than the Lions. (which i wouldn't rate as "ok" either but thats just arguing semantics)

[Nighthawk]

The article is kind of bull**** and another shot at Buffalo. Totally takes out of the equation the total population of the entire area and the surrounding areas. Sorry, but I'd just throw that one in the garbage.

[don137]

There are a couple reasons why other NFL cities have a better chance of selling out than the Bills and IMO I would want either scenerio to happen to Buffalo.

One, is corporate dollars. New England has a lot of corporate dollars that buy season tickets. They also jack up the price that the common fan can not afford the game. You end up with a quiet wine and cheese crowd that cares more about being seen at the game than getting into the game and a very non-passionate fan base at the games.

Two, many fans have migrated from the north to the south so the teams in the south have many opposition fans at the game. I have season tickets to the Panthers and the opponents fans come to the games in large numbers. Miami is another example of this scenerio.

[SABURZFAN]

just great... this is where the Old Fart holds out his tin cup and cries poverty again. i wonder how many more games go to Toronto now.

[ChristopherWalken]

Start winning games...give fans something to grab on to, and tickets will be going for $200 a pop on E-Bay for all the games will be sold out.

[Jan Reimers]

If these statistics are so important, why did the Los Angeles Rams disappear from the tables between 1970 and 2007? It is the loyalty of the fan base, not the stadium capacity relative to the MSA population, that ultimately determines how a team draws.

Granted, ticket prices, regionalization and marketing efforts help. But none of this works without a rabid fan base. LA is a perfect example.

[THATHURMANATOR]

Yet it is still simple for us to achieve sellouts because we love football.

[HHURRICANE]

This is such BS. Did we sell out all are home games last year?

[THATHURMANATOR]

Yes we did HH.

[Romes]

Yet it is still simple for us to achieve sellouts because we love football.

The passion cannot be measured :up:

[HHURRICANE]

Yes we did HH.


Yeah, so the article is *****ing about a problem we don't have. Just out of curiosity, how many teams didn't sell out all of their games last year?

7-9 for the last 3 years and we sell out all of our games. Yeah, it's Buffalo's fault.

[billsfanone]

Poor Romes. No one is listening to you. Obviously no one read the article before reacting. The article explains what the Bills have to overcome to sell out.

[Romes]

Poor Romes. No one is listening to you. Obviously no one read the article before reacting. The article explains what the Bills have to overcome to sell out.

Thank you.

[MassEffect218435]

Yet it is still simple for us to achieve sellouts because we love football.And the tickets cost about as much as dinner for two.

[HHURRICANE]

Poor Romes. No one is listening to you. Obviously no one read the article before reacting. The article explains what the Bills have to overcome to sell out.

I've taught econometrics. This article is so flawed I'm not sure where I'd begin. So not to bore the **** out of everyone let's say that if the Bills built a new stadium on par with the rest of the league, let's say 60,000 fans, than this guy would have nothing to right about.

[trapezeus]

this article is pathetic. to claim the bills at 7-9 are playing adequate level football is pathetic. We all know that. but how many teams are profitable by missing hte playoffs? Where is that stat?

The bills have no issue selling out the stadium. People from other NFL cities come here because they are priced out of their own stadiums.

We still come to all the games. True, we don't have the season ticket numbers of other teams, but of those teams with waiting lists, how many are sold to corporations that automatically renew. i doubt they have 50,000 individual season tickets from fans.

Also the bills operate in the black, a novelty for most NFL franchises.

What makse me sad is that the NFL really is just trying to seperate themselves from buffalo. everything you here from them is, "we'll try to keep them here." but they just want to get out. and what makes it so pathetic is that they are making money here. when a new owner buys at $700MM and then funds his new stadium, the team will look at the nfl for some loans, and with the pricse of the new seats and a struggling econmy, they won't break even for year.s add in the work stoppage of 2011, and i'm sure the nfl doesn't want to be servicing debt while no revenues come in.

[sdbillsfan2]

IMO, the Chargers are the first team that should be brought up for relocation to Los Angeles. It makes the most sense.

That won't happen Mikey. The team and county here have been trying to work a deal on several locations. The team ownership wants to stay in SD . It's just like every other part of the country these days , the economy sucks and money is tighter then usual. I'm not a huge charger Fan , but I still hate the thought of any team leaving an area they've been in since the sixties. (there were originally in LA one or two years I believe).

Even Non Bills fans I've talked to hope the Bills always stay in Western New York. I think the regional aspect can work in the Bills favor. BUT..ALL GAMES MUST BE PLAYED IN WESTERN NY. The Jets ,the Giants , Pats to name a few are REGIONAL teams.

[DraftBoy]

Unfortunately, this is something that most of us are aware of...its interesting though the stastical break down of how much more difficult it is for RW Jr. compared to other owners.



http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/nfl-sellouts-have-become-easier-but-not-for-bills/#more-14607


Good read, and typical response from most posters.

[ddaryl]

this is a testament to Bills fans IMO

yes it harder to do yet we still do it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JD]

If we weren't a joke year in and year out since 1999 I'd be buying season tickets. I'm a broke college student and I'm forced to spend the small amount of money I have, wisely. Win more than 8 games, I'll buy tickets, old man.

[SABuffalo786]

The Bills need a marketing overhaul and a new stadium. They're still clinging to the late 80's early 90's....sad.


:wtf: