why the succession plan now?

[trapezeus]

the team has pretty much been mum on this for years letting panic pretty much take over the fan base....why change now?

i'm not doubting the stories truth as Sal has a solid rep, but i just find it odd that 10 years into mediocrity, they've decided to throw us a bone.

[casdhf]

Well, i think the rumor came from the Cowher camp. I'm sure he would have asked given Ralph's age.

[ddaryl]

me too...


I don't understand how we have gone from up in the air to contingency plan at the same time we are talking big splash and committed to building a winner


Maybe just maybe the huge mess that the organization has become has finaly chipped away at the old man and he wants to right his wrongs.. otherwise Peter might not let him pass those pearly gates

[Dicknoze69]

Logically, I think it's probably been in place for a while. It would take a group of people with no common sense or business acumen to NOT have something in place for when Ralph dies.

I don't think they NEED or have a duty to tell us anything about it, but it is probably good business to let your fans know information like this. Then again, announcing the Bills will stay here could be a useful marketing tool when the time comes.

[Prov401]

I think Ralph has really trusted people this decade. What I mean by that is, he trusted Tom Donahoe. He trusted his pick in Gregg Williams, which didn't turn out great. He trusted Donahoe's next hire in Mike Mularky. Then he trusted the greatest coach in this franchise, Mrav Levy to right the ship. He's now realized, he has to stop trusting all of these people with no resume's (Williams, Mularky, GM Levy), and bad resume's (Jauron), and get his hands on a proven winner. This, coupled in with he is really f****** old, is motivating him to get whatever needs to get done in order for us to firstly get back into the playoffs, and then make a run at a Superbowl. Just my opinion.

[Historian]

With the overhaul the team is going to receive, the issue has fially reached a point of critical mass, that's all.

In order to attract any kind of respectable coach, you would have to lay your cards on the table.

[Buddo]

With the overhaul the team is going to receive, the issue has fially reached a point of critical mass, that's all.

In order to attract any kind of respectable coach, you would have to lay your cards on the table.

This is probably as likely as anything. The 'plan' has been in place for some time, at a guess, (after all, that has been said by various people over the last few years, but no detail has ever been released) but it is only becoming 'known' due to the circumstances of needing to 'clean house' to get a known 'winner' in.
Successful HCs are all pretty good at 'planning', so any contacts would inevitably bring, the questions of 'what happens in the event of Mr. Wilson passing'.
In all honesty, I get the impression that the 'plan' has remained 'secret' as much because Ralph (fairly enough), considers it his own personal business, and has felt under no actual obligation to make any of it public.

[YardRat]

I was under the impression that both stories came from the same source. If that's the case, then there has been no 'change in strategy' from the organization or Ralph as they still haven't said anything yet.

[bob86]

I won’t claim to be an estate planning expert, but I know enough to believe that it never made sense that Ralph’s plan was to just sell the team after he passed away. The would create at least $250 million in estate taxes, much of which could be avoided with just simple preparation.

Of course, the most straightforward approach would be just to leave the team to his wife, that avoids the estate tax completely. This technique, until most recently, also resulted in a stepped-up basis to Mary Wilson so that when she sold the team, she would avoid a huge capital gains tax bill that Ralph would have paid had he sold the team before he passed on. Recent legislation has limited the amount that the basis can be stepped-up, so this estate planning method may not be as attractive as it once was. This may be a factor in what is going on.

Also, in the irrational world of tax law, the year 2010 has for purely political purposes no federal estate tax, but the estate tax kicks back in 2011. So that if Ralph dies next year, estate tax will not be a major factor in what happens with the team, but if dies after 2010 the estate tax will without a doubt be a driving force in who owns the Bills going forward.

[trapezeus]

when i made the original post, i did not hear Sal's show. i had only read the post on the bullet points. So i was not aware that these two points came from the "cowher side" of things.

So that makes sense to me as to why this would come out now.

If the Bills pull the cowher hire off, this will change my outlook from "worst 5-11 team on the face of the earth" to "greatest 5-11 season on the face of the earth". Just like that.