Is the blackout official yet?

[Forward_Lateral]

Vs Miami?

[PromoTheRobot]

Will be at 1pm today'

PTR

[Cleve]

Still 13,000 tickets left unsold. It's about as certain as the sun setting this afternoon the tickets will not be sold in the next 30 minutes. LOL

Who would pay anyways to see two teams as poor as these, with ZERO post-season prospects, play? There's nothing at stake.

[Historian]

I'm picturing Ralph at his home in Detroit telling Littman and his wife:

"Maybe I'll buy 'em out and give 'em to the kiddies for Christmas. I'll bet OJ gets 200 yards in this one. Maybe this is the year we'll break the streak!"

[imbondz]

just got a text that it will be blacked out. and once i read it, it made me furious. A HOME GAME AGAINST MIAMI doesn't sell out after the start we had. THAT IS A DISGRACE and it's solely on Ralph Wilson and the Bills organization.

[PromoTheRobot]

just got a text that it will be blacked out. and once i read it, it made me furious. A HOME GAME AGAINST MIAMI doesn't sell out after the start we had. THAT IS A DISGRACE and it's solely on Ralph Wilson and the Bills organization.
Huh? How is it Ralph's fault fans didn't buy tickets when the Bills were 5-2? Greatest fans in the NFL, remember?

By the way Ralph donated a couple thousand tickets to military personnel, the cheap bastard!

PTR

[imbondz]

Huh? How is it Ralph's fault fans didn't buy tickets when the Bills were 5-2? Greatest fans in the NFL, remember?

By the way Ralph donated a couple thousand tickets to military personnel, the cheap bastard!

PTR

Because 12 years of crap will screw over any fan base's heart and desire to shell out $50 bucks for a ticket to watch mediocrity. He should donate a couple thousand tickets (that didnt sell) to military personnel, every owner should be doing that.

[DolfanTom]

just got a text that it will be blacked out. and once i read it, it made me furious. A HOME GAME AGAINST MIAMI doesn't sell out after the start we had. THAT IS A DISGRACE and it's solely on Ralph Wilson and the Bills organization.
After having attended college in Rochester in the early 90s, the thought that a Bills home game against Miami could ever be blacked out is beyond an understanding that I am capable of.

Says a lot about BOTH teams!

[BLeonard]

By the way Ralph donated a couple thousand tickets to military personnel, the cheap bastard!

Come on, it didn't cost him anything to donate the tix. If nothing else, it's a PR move and they'll get cash from parking, concessions, etc that they wouldn't have before.

Why didn't they do that for the Tennessee game, a game that actually had meaning?

Also makes me wonder what the military people did wrong to be punished with Bills/Dolphins tickets. :lol:

-Bill

[PromoTheRobot]

Come on, it didn't cost him anything to donate the tix. If nothing else, it's a PR move and they'll get cash from parking, concessions, etc that they wouldn't have before.

Why didn't they do that for the Tennessee game, a game that actually had meaning?

Also makes me wonder what the military people did wrong to be punished with Bills/Dolphins tickets. :lol:

-Bill

Actually it costs a team 40% of face value to donate tickets because they still have to pay the visiting team their share of the gate. If you're gonna rant, get your facts straight.

PTR

[Cleve]

Huh? How is it Ralph's fault fans didn't buy tickets when the Bills were 5-2? Greatest fans in the NFL, remember?

By the way Ralph donated a couple thousand tickets to military personnel, the cheap bastard!

PTR

Terrible example - that was months ago that the team was 5-2. Many don't buy tickets that far in advance. Plus, we saw this exact same scenario in 2008. Fool me once, Wilson shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on ME!

Ultimately Ralph Wilson Jr. has lead this team into the gutter with his mismanagement, meddling, and poor personnel decisions. That is undeniable - look at the way this team has been run over the last 15 years.

If NYS provides money to fund and subsidize Wilson's highly lucrative business venture make even MORE money, then the taxpayers of our state are entitled to a degree of oversight over the way that Wilson mis-manages this team. He's clearly too old and incapable of making high level decisions for this team. And what negatively impacts the Buffalo Bills, also negatively impacts local businesses and others in the community. Therefore if taxpayer funds are spent, taxpayers are completely entitled to oversight.

[PromoTheRobot]

Terrible example - that was months ago that the team was 5-2. Many don't buy tickets that far in advance.

Buying tickets in advance? Why that's silly! Who buys tickets in advance for anything?

PTR

[BLeonard]

Actually it costs a team 40% of face value to donate tickets because they still have to pay the visiting team their share of the gate. If you're gonna rant, get your facts straight.

PTR

I'd be willing to bet that they can also be used as a tax write off, when bought in that capacity.

Also, since you wanted to talk about facts, they can buy them at 34 cents on the dollar, so it's 34%, not 40%.

Finally, as I stated before, the people that get the tickets will most likley spend money in the form of parking, concessions and souvenirs. I'm again willing to bet that the people that got the free tix will end up forking over more money by the end of the day than Ralph did to buy the tix at a discounted rate. Which means a profit.

Ask yourself: Why would he only buy some of the tickets as the game is still going to be blacked out?

My answer: They are still hoping to get some walk up sales (at a higher price than the 34% they paid for the donated tix) and Ralph likley has a guy in the front office that said "Hey, we can buy up a portion of the tix, donate them, create good PR while still turning a profit, as those fans receiving the tix will buy stuff (which of course, won't be discounted)." I'd about guarantee that they have numbers on how much on average each fan in the stands spends during the course of the game.

Again, if it was all just out of the goodness of Ralph's heart, why didn't they do something similar for the Tennessee game, because that game actually still meant something at the time?

Hell, Russ Brandon said that buying up tix would "devalue the product." If it devalues it so much, why do it now?

-Bill

[better days]

Actually it costs a team 40% of face value to donate tickets because they still have to pay the visiting team their share of the gate. If you're gonna rant, get your facts straight.

PTR

Actually it is .34 cents on the dollar.

[SABURZFAN]

with the billions that the NFL makes, there shouldn't be any blackouts anywhere.

[Historian]

Hell, Russ Brandon said that buying up tix would "devalue the product." If it devalues it so much, why do it now?

-Bill

Perfect example of how pathetically ignorant Brandon is.

The advertising dollars that are made from a local blackout lifting make up for the ticket sales and then some.

Not to mention, you can't buy that type of PR.

What a tool.

Stick to managing the gift shop Brandon, because you clearly don't know much about football.

[Cleve]

Good post!

Doesn't Brandon comprehend how the horrible product he's put on the field during his tenure "devalues" the Bills more than any purchase of unsold tickets would?

Moreover, doesn't he grok that 3 consecutive home blackouts in December is also kind of bad for the Bills and their value?

Dumbdon is just a glorified bean-counter - and a bean-counter with a very narrow view of the profit and loss picture. He can't see the forest for the trees. He's not the big-picture visionary leader that the Bills need to lead them out of the quagmire of failure and mediocrity that the team has been mired in for years. Rather, Dumbdon exemplifies the sort of Yes Man, non-football guy that an increasingly mentally enfeebled Ralph Wilson Jr. has padded the offices at One Bills Drive with over the last decade.