Buffalo 10th in league attendance

[northernbillfan]

I started a thread about how great the fans in Buffalo are and how no matter the product, you still came out in droves to support the team. Well it's official now. Buffalo is 10th over all in league attendance even though the region is the 3rd smallest in the league.

The Buffalo Bills, as our favorite sports columnists keep reminding us, have just wrapped up a miserable decade. Dick Jauron and his predecessors led the team to an unhappy record of 66 wins and 94 losses from 2000 through 2009.

But enough with the bad news.

The Bills remain highly competitive at the box office. The National Football League’s final attendance rankings for the 2009 season, as compiled by ESPN, put Buffalo in 10th place out of 32 teams, even though it’s the league’s third-smallest market.

Full article (http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/blog/the_score/2010/01/buffalo_bills_rank_10th_in_nfl_attendance.html)

[ddaryl]

ticket prices must be raised

this team needs more revenue and the fans have to provide it. Otherwise more cash to cap and no top FA pickups.... and more of letting some of our top players walk

[ZAZusmc03]

ticket prices must be raised

this team needs more revenue and the fans have to provide it. Otherwise more cash to cap and no top FA pickups.... and more of letting some of our top players walk

Couldn't agree more with this statement. Although that is the great thing about the Bills is the cheap cost for the experience, I think everyone could make do with a 10-15 dollar raise in ticket prices. With the amount of people that attend games, that could be huge for our team.

[Nighthawk]

ticket prices must be raised

this team needs more revenue and the fans have to provide it. Otherwise more cash to cap and no top FA pickups.... and more of letting some of our top players walk

100% agreed...

[trapezeus]

And Toronto, the largest canadian market, has a stadium with 25,000 less seats and about almost 35,000 less people.

Dear NFL, every city doesn't want to spend money on your product. the ones you are currently in (minus JAX) are key and vital to your bottom line. New teams either need to come from expansion or understood to be failures.

[Cntrygal]

10th in the league with a joke of a team.... :sigh: Just imagine if the Bills had even gotten a sniff or two of the playoffs....

[ddaryl]

10th in the league with a joke of a team.... :sigh: Just imagine if the Bills had even gotten a sniff or two of the playoffs....


no change :rain:

we've pretty much sold out every game. We maxed our attendance.. Unless we build a bigger stadium we're probably not going to move up that chart but a spot or 3 at the very best.

I would be more interested in knowing where we rank in regards to revenues.. that' sthe story line, not so much attendance but bottom line

according to Forbes 2008 we are 23rd in revenue (206 million) , and 27th in value (875 million)

[ddaryl]

the cheap cost for the experience, .


Cheap cost for the experience = 10 years of missed playoffs and the most pathetic inept football operations one can witness

[Ebenezer]

considering we can't crack the top 6 because of the size of the stadium I would have to say we did pretty damn well.

[ddaryl]

considering we can't crack the top 6 because of the size of the stadium I would have to say we did pretty damn well.

we kick ass on attendance, but that means little. Revenues is what really counts

[Cleve]

ticket prices must be raised

this team needs more revenue and the fans have to provide it. Otherwise more cash to cap and no top FA pickups.... and more of letting some of our top players walk


The Bills are not immune from the basic laws of supply and demand. This team dare not raise prices until the quality of the on field product increases substantially. Yeah, a championship caliber team can charge a premium, but what do the Bills offer at this point to make it worth that much money? Even the facility isn't as good as the Colts or Vikings - their fans enjoy an enclosed, climate controlled environs.

If Ralph Wilson hadn't spent a decade cheap-chiseling on the staff and the coaching, there might be a product on the field that could command additional revenue and profit. The current team does not.

[T-Long]

Got a question for you locals, what was up with the 92 wildcard game and why didn't it sell out?

[more cowbell]

this stat wil dramatically drop in the next three years. Especially if a joke of a coach is hired...which is looking more and more like the case every day.

[Cleve]

Got a question for you locals, what was up with the 92 wildcard game and why didn't it sell out?

Didn't Rich Stadium have a heckuva lot more seats then, one of the largest seating capacities in the NFL? And it was an outdoor game in January - that tends to suppress attendance a bit.

[SABURZFAN]

Got a question for you locals, what was up with the 92 wildcard game and why didn't it sell out?


i think they had 83,000 seats back then.

[Tiburon1724]

Rich Stadium had one of the highest capacities of any stadium in it's day, it lost 10-15,000 seats to make room for more boxes/suites. I was at that game. The weather was absolutely brutal, making it literally impossible for many to even attend.

[mrbojanglezs]

doesnt most of the players salary come from the tv contracts anyway? so why would you need to raise ticket prices

[YardRat]

I think 80,020 was max seating capacity for the stadium at it's peak.

Ticket prices are a drop in the bucket and isn't going to help the bottom line a whole helluva lot, especially considering the split with the visiting team.

$20 each increase would probably bring the team around 7mil dollars...big deal. The real money is in luxury suites and PSL's. What is Jones making in Dallas? 30k per seat before the ticket is even sold?

[clumping platelets]

Ticket prices DO need to be raised. The naming rights to the stadium need to be sold. The Bills cannot squeeze any more from the suites and club seating because the demand just isn't there.

[Michael82]

Wow! That's impressive, especially when you consider how much this team sucked!

[northernbillfan]

doesnt most of the players salary come from the tv contracts anyway? so why would you need to raise ticket pricesExactly. Every team in the league is already in the black before any seat is sold in the stadium due to the lucrative tv contracts. Raising the ticket price by $10 only adds 5.6 million to the coffers.

[clumping platelets]

I looked into the possibility of a suite for Billszone. It was $52,000 for the suite PLUS tickets, parking, food/drink. I figured the total was approx. $75,000/yr........when I win the lottery, Billszone will have a suite :up:

[Ebenezer]

Exactly. Every team in the league is already in the black before any seat is sold in the stadium due to the lucrative tv contracts. Raising the ticket price by $10 only adds 5.6 million to the coffers.
I think you have to include the 60/40 split between the home and visiting team. That's only a little more than $3 then, no?

[Griff]

this stat wil dramatically drop in the next three years. Especially if a joke of a coach is hired...which is looking more and more like the case every day.

you do realize that Marv Levy was a joke of a coach too until the '88 season.

[YardRat]

Marv was pretty successful in the CFL, actually, and while his stint with KC wasn't overly impressive the team did improve every season under him, until the strike year.

[Ebenezer]

you do realize that Marv Levy was a joke of a coach too until the '88 season.
incorrect.

[Throne Logic]

Ticket prices DO need to be raised. The naming rights to the stadium need to be sold. The Bills cannot squeeze any more from the suites and club seating because the demand just isn't there.

Ticket prices and naming rights are a financial drop in the bucket. Money comes from TV and merchandising.