Could the bills be selling part of the team?

[buffalobillsfan95]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/08/12/30-percent-of-an-nfl-team-will-be-for-sale-in-september/

[better days]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/08/12/30-percent-of-an-nfl-team-will-be-for-sale-in-september/

I would not be surprised if it is the Bucs. Malcom Glazer has been in poor health & the team is cash poor.

[Johnny Bugmenot]

I can already point out a potential buyer: Edward Roski (http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_15596010).

[tampabay25690]

I would not be surprised if it is the Bucs. Malcom Glazer has been in poor health & the team is cash poor.

That may be 1 of the places

[X-Era]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/08/12/30-percent-of-an-nfl-team-will-be-for-sale-in-september/

I'm thinking Jax, they are in dire straights.

[raphael120]

We already sold off our part to Toronto.

[YardRat]

More teams mentioned as possibilities in the comments than I would've thought...Chargers, Vikings, etc.

[Jeff1220]

There are many realistic possibilities as to who it could be, but the Bills are certainly near the top of the list.

[more cowbell]

It has to be jacksonville...that franchise is a complete joke

[BertSquirtgum]

there's no way ralph is selling any part of his baby.

[trapezeus]

ralph has the country that pays him for the stadium, he has a team way under the cap, he sells out the stadium and have a lot of the boxes full. if he is cash poor now, all of a sudden, he truly is the worst businessman on the face of the earth.

[Johnny Bugmenot]

Ralph, I suspect, is doing fine as far as money goes. He may not be rolling in the dough, but considering how old the stadium is, he's got to be turning a profit.

[DraftBoy]

Why would Ralph sell?

[BillyT92679]

I would not be surprised if it is the Bucs. Malcom Glazer has been in poor health & the team is cash poor.
That team has ALWAYS been cash-poor... they nearly went under when Culverhouse owned them. Glazer should be rolling in it, I don't know if buying Man U was a good investment or not.

It might be us, but I doubt it... I'd love Jimbo and his group to get a piece now.

I think it's Jacksonville or Minnesota. The Jags might literally dissolve in front of our eyes, and the Vikes are close to being gone.

[X-Era]

That team has ALWAYS been cash-poor... they nearly went under when Culverhouse owned them. Glazer should be rolling in it, I don't know if buying Man U was a good investment or not.

It might be us, but I doubt it... I'd love Jimbo and his group to get a piece now.

I think it's Jacksonville or Minnesota. The Jags might literally dissolve in front of our eyes, and the Vikes are close to being gone.

Didnt Wilf buy the Vikes just a few years ago? How can they be that desperate already?

[OpIv37]

ralph has the country that pays him for the stadium, he has a team way under the cap, he sells out the stadium and have a lot of the boxes full. if he is cash poor now, all of a sudden, he truly is the worst businessman on the face of the earth.

Don't forget the legions of fans who buy tix and merch, get kicked in the teeth by a terrible product on the filed, then like a bunch of battered women, line up to do it again the following year.

[DraftBoy]

Don't forget the legions of fans who buy tix and merch, get kicked in the teeth by a terrible product on the filed, then like a bunch of battered women, line up to do it again the following year.

Did you buy NFL Sunday Ticket again this year?

[trapezeus]

after thinking about it some more, it would be so cool of him if he did sell 30% because it'll be hard for a new owner to scoop in and buy the team outright and move. they'd have to buy the other piece from the group.

hopefully it is the bills and the buyer is local and already lined up.

[Demon]

Ralph may be dumb and old, but he's not that stupid. He can make a lot more $$$ when he sells the whole thing to a Los Angeles or Las Vegas guy....

[trapezeus]

and the biggest piece that i forgot about is that ralph gets two big checks each year (in theory, probably more than 1 check but alas, i'm trying to make a point).

1. TV contract piece of the pie.....huge money that makes the nfl greedy enough to not care about full stadiums
2. being a small market team, he gets a revenue sharing check to even the playing field....don't say redistribute the wealth for the good of the whole. some people will tell you the nfl is run by a bunch of socialists...or worse, communists.

[BertSquirtgum]

Ralph may be dumb and old, but he's not that stupid. He can make a lot more $$$ when he sells the whole thing to a Los Angeles or Las Vegas guy....

there will never be a team in las vegas. you can get that idea out of your head right now.

[Akhippo]

Jacksonville is piss poor in the first commodity that counts. Fans. That would be my first choice for a team to move.

Maybe SD to LA

But after the LA market fills up, where would a team move. OKC?

After the LA market fills I think no teams will move. So Ralph better stay with us until some shoe finally drops.

[trapezeus]

to me the LA situation is just a disaster in the making. They had two teams that left...the fans of LA aren't like bluecollar towns. there is a ton of other things to do in LA than go to over priced football games.

in a bad economy, it just seems foolish to redo this mistake again. people watch football for their teams. buffalo people in la aren't going to becoming La whatever fans. they in fact are more likely to leave the sport disgruntled.

it may make more money initially, but it will wear off, and it'll skew the image of the sport.

but the owners think everything keeps going up, so they'll push this. when it doesn't work, i don't want to read the articles that say, "who knew that football could lose its popularity"

[BuffaloBeliever]

To me, there are three realistic teams that could be doing this:

1) Jacksonville Jaguars (Wayne Weaver isn't making much money at all from owning the Jags, as they have some of the worst fans in the NFL and thereby least average attendance per game when one considers the size of the stadium)

2) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (The Glazers are in deep trouble economically, as they clearly overestimated their fortune when they bought both Manchester United and the Bucs; they're easily the team in the league that spends least on the roster which is an indication that the Glazers are trying to make money anyway they can)

3) Minnesota Vikings (Owner, Zygi Wilf, has long been rumored to be interested in selling the Vikings; an indication of this is also that he doesn't he want to build a new stadium in Minnesota, but tried to get the taxpayers to pay for a new stadium which they denied promptly)

A lot of Bills-fans might be worried that it's Ralph, who's trying to sell 30 % of the team, but all the vibes I've gotten from him and his comments about potentially selling the team is that he isn't selling any part of the team, until he dies. This is his baby and has been for 50 years and he sure as heck isn't giving it away now when his life is on the verge of ending.

[BillyT92679]

Didnt Wilf buy the Vikes just a few years ago? How can they be that desperate already?
I should say gone from Minneapolis
But I do think they lose revenue with that lease deal they have.

[Mr. Pink]

I don't get why people still have this ill-conceived notion that fan support matters when it comes to professional sports teams. It doesn't.

If it did there are several teams that would have moved already and a few teams that did move would never have moved to begin with.

[better days]

To me, there are three realistic teams that could be doing this:

1) Jacksonville Jaguars (Wayne Weaver isn't making much money at all from owning the Jags, as they have some of the worst fans in the NFL and thereby least average attendance per game when one considers the size of the stadium)

2) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (The Glazers are in deep trouble economically, as they clearly overestimated their fortune when they bought both Manchester United and the Bucs; they're easily the team in the league that spends least on the roster which is an indication that the Glazers are trying to make money anyway they can)

3) Minnesota Vikings (Owner, Zygi Wilf, has long been rumored to be interested in selling the Vikings; an indication of this is also that he doesn't he want to build a new stadium in Minnesota, but tried to get the taxpayers to pay for a new stadium which they denied promptly)

A lot of Bills-fans might be worried that it's Ralph, who's trying to sell 30 % of the team, but all the vibes I've gotten from him and his comments about potentially selling the team is that he isn't selling any part of the team, until he dies. This is his baby and has been for 50 years and he sure as heck isn't giving it away now when his life is on the verge of ending.

2) While it is true the Bucs are cash poor, the Bucs are supported in Tampa unlike the Jags in Jax. If the Glazers ever sell the Bucs, the person that buys them will keep them in Tampa.