"Scheduling Conflict," eh Toronto?

[BLeonard]

So, back in February, a good 2 months before the Preseason Schedule was even released, the Bills and the Rogers group announced that they would be moving the Preseason game that was supposed to be played in Toronto this year back to Buffalo due to a "Scheduling conflict." If you need your memory refreshed, you can read about it here: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...his-preseason/

The NFL preseason schedule was released on April 4th... As we all now know, the Bills' home games are as follows:

August 9: vs Washington, 7PM
August 25th: vs Pittsburgh, 7PM

So, let's just check out the schedule for the SkyDome: http://events.rogerscentre.com/

August 9th: Empty
August 25th: Empty

August 9th: The only thing that has taken place st SkyDome this week was an Argonauts game, that took place this past Monday. So, the stadium was already set up for football, albeit Canadian Football... I'm also pretty sure that it doesn't take too God-auful long to convert the stadium from football to baseball. From what I've read, it takes about 12 hours, leaving plenty of time between the end of the Bills game and tomorrow's Yankees/Blue Jays game, which is set to start at 7:05.

August 25th: The night before, on the 24th, Bruce Springsteen will be at SkyDome. The start time is 7:30, which means they'll likely be done by 11ish. I don't know how long it takes to convert the SkyDome from a concert to football, but I would think it's probably less time than a baseball/football conversion, since the main floor has some chairs and a General Admission area with no seating. The Bills/Steelers game is scheduled for a 7PM start and I'm sure could have been moved to 8PM if need be... So, unless it takes over 20 hours, the 25th shouldn't have been a problem, either. Also, keep in mind that the Bills like to have their final home game as their "Kids Day" game, meaning that this game likely would have taken place in Buffalo anyway.

So, after researching all of this, I find it hard to believe that there was any "scheduling conflict" at all. My guess is that Rogers crunched some numbers and realized that it would actually cost them more money to host the preseason game (by paying stadium employees, parking lot attendants, security, etc, etc) than if they didn't host it.

Need more proof? Try buying tickets for the Bills/Seahawks game. I just went to their site and was able to get 8 seats (max allowed) IN A ROW in section 110 (midfield) in row 15, right behind the Bills' bench. That's for a regular season game in December...

RWS had 20,000 unsold tickets for tonight's game... If tonight's game was in Toronto, that Dome would have been a ghost town (even moreso than it is for regular season games) and again, would have cost Rogers more in paying workers than they would have gotten in return from the few fans attending, IMO.

-Bill

[BertSquirtgum]

Who cares?

[BLeonard]

Who cares?

It's a tell-tale sign that they (Rogers) are not making money on this deal... In fact, they'd rather cut their losses and lose a game out of the deal than have to host the game...

Ask yourself: What's the only LOGICAL reason for them to NOT host a game that they have already bought and paid for?

The obvious answer: They'll lose more money (or more accurately, not make enough profit) by hosting the game than simply not hosting it.

But, if you pay Erie County or NYS taxes, you should care... After all, where do you think the money comes from to pay for all of the employees that work the games?

Don't forget, the Bills are looking for $200-$220 million MORE in the next lease agreement. Last I heard, they plan to continue to sell games off to Toronto...

Think about this... In April, the season ticket number was over 41,000... Brandon's "goal" for season tickets is 50,000... SkyDome only seats 54,000 so, unless the Bills are going to profit from a new deal in Toronto, why would it make sense for them to continue it?

Also, if I can still get 8 seats on the 50 yard line, 15 rows behind the bench for a regular season game, what does that say about how people feel about the product? In all likelihood, Rogers' group will lose more money than they already have in this deal. What that means is, when it's time for a new deal, Rogers is going to want to pay significantly less...

But, there comes a point where it makes more sense financially for the Bills to simply keep the games at RWS than to sell them to Toronto. SkyDome has 20,000 less seats than RWS does, so their ticket prices almost have to be higher to turn a similar profit. Hell, for this year's game, they've already cut the original price of the tickets, in some cases, they've cut them over 50%: http://www.wivb.com/dpp/sports/bills_and_nfl/toronto-game-ticket-prices-slashed

The article states that tickets have been adjusted (meaning been lowered) every year since the start of the series. So, Rogers has likey been losing money for 5 years now... That means, when and if it comes time to discuss a new deal, less money that they're going to be willing to pay for the games.

-Bill

[The King]

8/24 they're hosting Springsteen. Maybe the breakdown was too tight?

[chernobylwraiths]

haven't they extended the contract?

[Skooby]

Maybe Bon Jovi was supposed to be there but needed a haircut & changed his mind.

[OpIv37]

haven't they extended the contract?

Yes.

Rogers did get baked on the original deal, but they must be getting something from it because they did extend it for five more years, albeit for less money.

Here's the thing: no one wants to pay full price for preseason games in Buffalo (or any other city around the league for that matter). And people certainly aren't willing to pay for the higher-priced Toronto tickets to see a rent-a-team play a preseason game.

This isn't really proof of anything other than that preseason sucks.

[OpIv37]

Maybe Bon Jovi was supposed to be there but needed a haircut & changed his mind.

Nah, his hair is fine. He had to stay home acid-washing his own jeans since no one sells them acid-washed anymore.