Russ Brandon is Openly Wondering Whether the Bills Can Remain Viable in Buffalo

[SpikedLemonade]

"It's also about being viable. That's one of the things that we've talked about for many years here. Look at it from the standpoint from where we've been on the ticket side. We've taken a game out of the market that has essentially taken 70,000 seats out of our market, and we've truly only sold out two of our home games," Brandon said. "We've manufactured sellouts in the other four or five. We're trying to find ways to obviously keep this team viable and we've done a very good job, and this [Toronto] series has obviously contributed to that."

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10077465/buffalo-bills-review-toronto-game-future


To me that is the more interesting part of that article.

By the way, in the NFL seat sales revenue along with TV revenue and some other revenue is shared among the teams.

Luxury box revenue is not shared and how poorly Buffalo performs relative to other NFL cities in that area is something a potential new Bills owner will look at very carefully.

[Mahdi]

Scare tactic? Better buy up those tickets,,,,

[Thurmal]

Maybe if the team didn't completely suck EVERY SINGLE YEAR, people would buy tickets. What do I know, though, I'm not the marketing master Brandon is.

It's like a guy running a restaurant that serves nothing but saltine crackers and orange juice thinking that he just needs to put better ads in the newspaper to increase his customer base.

[Historian]

Move them wherever you want, and after the first two years, watch the attendance drop like a stone.

Go ahead Brandon....I dare you.

[TacklingDummy]

No Buffalo team :monkeyp: NFL

[Historian]

Oh, and Brandon would probably have to sell his restaurants were he to stay with the team.

Bonus.

[jamze132]

Maybe he would sell all of the tickets if he actually spent to the cap and brought in some talent.

[BertSquirtgum]

**** this **** sucker. If the Bills weren't a garbage laughing stock every year for the last 14 years, the fans would have no problem shelling out money for tickets. Hell. my dumb ass has done it for the last 12 years. I'm done with it after this year. I don't put up with people holding things over my head. I say move the team. **** him.

[trapezeus]

take the team. it's obvious they don't care about winning. it honestly takes more skill to not make the playoffs in 14 years than to fall back asswards into it just once in that time.

the jauron hire was kind of the proof that they don't care. then gailey and then an exhaustive search for the guy with a mediocre record who just happened to be in our backyard. wow!

Then they have the same money guy who can't retain talent but is great at letting it walk away for 20+ years. They simply don't want to win.

the players hardly stay in the area and call it a home. there is little benefit to having this ****bag team. $130MM to make an eyesore a little less so?

build an ***** stadium in downtown, work with the NFL to create some events that could be held in Buffalo and be positive for the city and the team, and then have a real front office who knows how to spend wisely and thus can compete in a decently sized regional area.

the uppercrust having poor man complaints...Russ' schtick.

[kingJofNYC]

**** this **********.

What a piece of ****. Make it viable by putting a decent team together you moron. Is that too much to ask?

[THATHURMANATOR]

He is 100% right though good team or not.

[trapezeus]

He is 100% right though good team or not.

are you kidding? this team has sucked and the people most responsible in the power structure are still there and promoted. you can keep changing coaches, qbs, etc, but the problem is russ himself. it's clear as day. the fact his analytics program doesn't pick that up shows that that new iniatitve to shift blame to someone other than him is also broken.

they need a football mind, or at least a new one. brandon is like our obsession with having kick returners. the bills are obsessed with his marketing angle. but the guy is selling football in buffalo. not particularly hard. win, and the stadium fills. yes, there are a lot of hands to shake to fill the boxes with big companies, etc. but filling the bowl is about winning. and we've filled that bowl long enough with teams with no talent, no coaching and they want that to continue indefinitely. is he crazy.

I want a football guy to be at the top and creating an effective and lean football operation. So that when we lose one player, it isn't the end of the season. we have depth.

Russ Brandon's problems are self inflicted and he should get zero sympathies from the fanbase.

[BertSquirtgum]

My first post was a knee jerk reaction to just reading what you posted. I listened to the interview and it's obvious that Brandon is on the fans' side and has their perspective in focus. "The toronto series will be reviewed in grand manner' Howard - "Can the Bills get out of it can you Russ?" Russ - "I'm going to look at everything Howard"

I think the bull**** articles from the Toronto star pissed off OBD. I'm sure the article about waiting for Ralph to die so TO can steal the team didn't help matters. It appears their is a great big rift in the working relationship between the Bills organization and the Rogers group now.

- - - Updated - - -

http://www.wgr550.com/Brandon-on-WGR--Bills-Will-Review-Toronto-Series/17895866

[better days]

Move them wherever you want, and after the first two years, watch the attendance drop like a stone.

Go ahead Brandon....I dare you.

Well, except like when the Browns moved to Baltimore, SUDDENLY the team IMPROVES & becomes a SUPER BOWL team.

[WagonCircler]

Russ need not worry.

Whoever buys the Bills after Ralph dies will ABSOLUTELY fire his useless ass.

[Bunion]

Would this mean that the colors, trophies and records stay in Buffalo, all the players and staff go with the new guy, and we get three years of "deactivation" before a new "Bills" appear?

[OpIv37]

Would this mean that the colors, trophies and records stay in Buffalo, all the players and staff go with the new guy, and we get three years of "deactivation" before a new "Bills" appear?

Um, no.

If the NFL leaves Buffalo, it's over.

Maybe 10 or 15 or 50 years down the line, the economy will recover and the city could get a team back, but with the weather, the ****ty economy and the taxes in NY, that's highly unlikely.

[trapezeus]

i actually don't think it's out of the question. if the bills get sold to another owner, they do as they please. The wilsons get paid out big time.

Then the NFL after a year or two of complaints here from NYS that a stadium will be built, new ownership group wants a team at $500MM and will sign long term stadium deal with city since they don't have the same debt as if they purchased from $800 to $1BN, then those fees go to the 32 other owners, buffalo gets a team, tradition is saved, and the NFL made a state pay for yet another stadium.

That might be the way this all shakes out in the long run. One thing WNY has for it is the ratings that it generates for all NFL games. It is a factor on why the TV deal is so lucrative. You don't want a huge loss of viewership.

It's not 100% likely, but it's not out of the question.

[Generalissimus Gibby]

Um, no.

If the NFL leaves Buffalo, it's over.

Maybe 10 or 15 or 50 years down the line, the economy will recover and the city could get a team back, but with the weather, the ****ty economy and the taxes in NY, that's highly unlikely.

Question: Where do the Bills go? Toronto? They rarely sell out the Skydome. Speaking of Skydome, Rogres Centre whatever, its a colossal dump of a place for football. No amenities, ****ty sight lines, cookie cutter relic, lack of luxury boxes, no tailgating, so that's a problem. Also, I don't think Toronto folk really care about funding a stadium for a sport that most Canadians probably don't care too much about. Do they go to LA? I think the Bolts, Rams, or Jags are much better candidates for relocation there. Actually, if the Bills were to leave Buffalo, I think it could herald in an era of contraction by the league. Anyways, I still have to wonder if OBD isn't intentionally losing to pull off the scenario seen in Major League.

[swiper]

I see Spiked is trolling again.

[Generalissimus Gibby]

Russ need not worry.

Whoever buys the Bills after Ralph dies will ABSOLUTELY fire his useless ass.

How is Russ useless? He is a brilliant marketer. As such I have absolutely no problem with him running Marketing and all non-football/on the field aspects of this team. He knows how to sell a shoddy product and for that I give him credit. However, he has absolutely no place making any football decisions whatsoever.

[chris66]

Russ need not worry.

Whoever buys the Bills after Ralph dies will ABSOLUTELY fire his useless ass.no they wont. from a business perspective Russ has done an excellent job

[The Popcorn]

**** this **** sucker. If the Bills weren't a garbage laughing stock every year for the last 14 years, the fans would have no problem shelling out money for tickets. Hell. my dumb ass has done it for the last 12 years. I'm done with it after this year. I don't put up with people holding things over my head. I say move the team. **** him.


I hear this from a lot of Bills fans... minus the word enhancers.

[OpIv37]

Question: Where do the Bills go? Toronto? They rarely sell out the Skydome. Speaking of Skydome, Rogres Centre whatever, its a colossal dump of a place for football. No amenities, ****ty sight lines, cookie cutter relic, lack of luxury boxes, no tailgating, so that's a problem. Also, I don't think Toronto folk really care about funding a stadium for a sport that most Canadians probably don't care too much about. Do they go to LA? I think the Bolts, Rams, or Jags are much better candidates for relocation there. Actually, if the Bills were to leave Buffalo, I think it could herald in an era of contraction by the league. Anyways, I still have to wonder if OBD isn't intentionally losing to pull off the scenario seen in Major League.

Well, clearly there aren't any unoccupied NFL-quality stadiums. If Toronto were to get a team, a new facility would be a necessity. Same for LA, although that stadium is already in the works (but not a guarantee).

The Jags won't move until at least 2025 because their lease would make them far more expensive than any other team. I don't see the NFL moving the Rams back to LA- it would be like admitting a mistake and these egomaniacs would never do that. They may move the Raiders back because at least the fan base is semi-nearby, and they could blame the previous move on Al Davis. The Bolts moving to LA is a distinct possibility, and probably the most likely.

[WagonCircler]

How is Russ useless? He is a brilliant marketer.

And yet 20,000 tickets remain unsold.

And last week's loss was on Russ and his rotten ***** deal that sold home games and turned them into away games. I realize it was a great career move for the ass-kissing piece of **** personally, but it was to the detriment of the team on the field, and despite the popular belief to the contrary, I can't see how the millions gained from that deal have benefitted the organization in any other way than to line Ralph's pockets.

******* Russ Brandon. He has ZERO business as a CEO.

[WagonCircler]

no they wont. from a business perspective Russ has done an excellent job

As compared to whom?

[Mace]

Well, clearly there aren't any unoccupied NFL-quality stadiums. If Toronto were to get a team, a new facility would be a necessity. Same for LA, although that stadium is already in the works (but not a guarantee).

The Jags won't move until at least 2025 because their lease would make them far more expensive than any other team. I don't see the NFL moving the Rams back to LA- it would be like admitting a mistake and these egomaniacs would never do that. They may move the Raiders back because at least the fan base is semi-nearby, and they could blame the previous move on Al Davis. The Bolts moving to LA is a distinct possibility, and probably the most likely.

Probably a significant point to add, is that one move will start others. St. Louis Cardinals to Arizona moves LA Rams to St. Louis and the Oakland Raiders to LA, Baltimore Colts to Indy, Cleveland Browns to Baltimore. Sure Houston went to Tennessee and the NFL gave Houston another team, and Cleveland also....but the thing is that all those cities either retained huge upside or experienced a decline and revival Buffalo is entirely incapable of with feeble leadership and lack of creative imagination in a massively taxed state.

An attractive city loses a team, panics, puts on a short skirt, pouts just a little and lures another one. A struggling city panics, loses some weight, works out, gets contacts and some implants, puts on a short skirt, pouts just a little and vamps the NFL into another. Buffalo doesn't have the stuff to change itself, it's been trying as long as I can remember noticing in the 70's, then just flops happily back into its feeble minded leadership apathy to embrace losing another two toes while hoping it means the state will give it some comfortable shoes real cities will snicker at.

Any other team moves, the Bills might end up wherever they left.

I don't like Brandon in general, but he's speaking the hard, cold truth. Are the Bills viable ? Can they be ?

This loops back into the constant "don't support them and teach them a lesson, they'll learn a thing or two !" whine. Not supporting them makes them less viable eh ? Real clever logic. If you don't appreciate them, someone else will and they'll make even more money so you taught them a real good lesson now didn't you ? A happy martyr, you can now march to your grave blowing angst about Buffalo having no Bills and watch them from afar like some basketball fans still watch the LA Clippers who used to be the Buffalo Braves.

Takes time to build anything, there are some signs they are. Usually doesn't work, did a couple times, so you can't tell. Brandon is also saying if we sold 80k tickets a game it would be a no brainer to shuck Toronto. A smaller stadium in the right location could boom and they intend to study it. He's basically telling people they'd be willing to toss Toronto if we didn't in any sense need it.

I don't like Brandon, but he's basically saying how it is, and that's better than deciphering rumors or taking shots out of the blue when they happen.

[YardRat]

I read this more as initial posturing for a new stadium in the Niagara Falls area as opposed to moving the team. Brandon now has the international draw trump card in his pocket (not necessarily the Toronto games specifically, but an established fan base in southern Ontario).

The team will get better, IMO. Win.
A new stadium. Win.
No more Toronto games because of the proximity of the new stadium to Canada. Win.
The team stays in WNY. Win.

Say what you want about Brandon and his lack of football 'the game' ability, but if anybody has the knowledge and experience to pull something like this off, it's him.

[OpIv37]

The only thing I like about Brandon here is that he's finally being honest. Even if you think the "viable" thing is just a scare tactic, at least he admitted that they manufactured the sellouts.

Still, this fan base stood pat for 14 years and this is the fourth rebuild, and the fan support is just now dropping in a serious manner.

I've often compared Bills fans to battered women. We keep coming back even though we know its going to result to another size 12 Timberland to the face and more lies to the neighbors about falling down the stairs. But Brandon is starting to see that even battered women have their breaking point.

[kishoph]

I see Spiked is trolling again.


And he's caught well over the limit. :fishy:

Unfortunately I've been in that net too many times. :rage:
Everyone needs to listen to the interview.

[Night Train]

and yet Jacksonville and Oakland ( 35,000 a game ) continue on.

" Viable " talk = expect profit margin, real or desired. Most teams are NOT selling out all their games.

I'll always have college football so that leverage no longer works with me.

[coastal]

"It's also about being viable. That's one of the things that we've talked about for many years here. Look at it from the standpoint from where we've been on the ticket side. We've taken a game out of the market that has essentially taken 70,000 seats out of our market, and we've truly only sold out two of our home games," Brandon said. "We've manufactured sellouts in the other four or five. We're trying to find ways to obviously keep this team viable and we've done a very good job, and this [Toronto] series has obviously contributed to that."

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10077465/buffalo-bills-review-toronto-game-future


To me that is the more interesting part of that article.

By the way, in the NFL seat sales revenue along with TV revenue and some other revenue is shared among the teams.

Luxury box revenue is not shared and how poorly Buffalo performs relative to other NFL cities in that area is something a potential new Bills owner will look at very carefully.
To me that sounds like Russ trying to explain how he's done a good job.

and maybe he has from the standpoint of keeping the Bills economically viable.

the simple reality may be that the area can no longer really support a team.

[Forward_Lateral]

Maybe if the team didn't completely suck EVERY SINGLE YEAR, people would buy tickets. What do I know, though, I'm not the marketing master Brandon is.

It's like a guy running a restaurant that serves nothing but saltine crackers and orange juice thinking that he just needs to put better ads in the newspaper to increase his customer base.

The Detroit Lions have sucked longer than the Buffalo Bills. They went winless a few seasons ago. They have had no problems filling their stadium, especially since Ford Field was built.

Just sayin.

[OpIv37]

The Detroit Lions have sucked longer than the Buffalo Bills. They went winless a few seasons ago. They have had no problems filling their stadium, especially since Ford Field was built.

Just sayin.

I wonder if having an indoor stadium plays into it. I would guess that it does, since the Bills never have a problem selling out their early season games.

Pretty much all of us who post here are diehard fans and don't mind sitting outside in garbage weather to watch a crappy team, but we forget that most of the world doesn't think like that. There are plenty of people who will go to a game on a 70 degree day or in a dome that wouldn't even consider going to one in a 20 degree snowstorm.

[Historian]

How is Russ useless? He is a brilliant marketer.

Bull****.

Russ is selling guns to the indians.

Only now, the indians are refusing to pay for flintlocks when eveyone else has a Sprinfield rifle.

[Albany,n.y.]

and yet Jacksonville and Oakland ( 35,000 a game ) continue on.

" Viable " talk = expect profit margin, real or desired. Most teams are NOT selling out all their games.

I'll always have college football so that leverage no longer works with me.
At the game I went to in Oakland 2 weeks ago, the entire uppermost deck was tarped over (It's only on one side of the field), the game was declared a sellout & was on home TV.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Raiders+top+deck+tarped&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=BKygUqeFEuvMsQSagIGACw&ved=0CEYQsAQ&biw=1422&bih=728#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=wSBzU9Ih9syXnM%3A%3BPUqLhZuedsJakM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fi.dailymail.co.uk%252Fi%252Fpix%252F2013%252F11%252F25%252Farticle-2513025-199F0A2A00000578-349_634x352.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%252Fnews%252Farticle-2513025%252FWoman-leaps-45-feet-Raiders-stadium-game-injuring-man-100-cent-saved-life-tried-catch-her.html%3B634%3B352

[Meathead]

its russ brandonberg and his magical marketing fingers thats gonna keep the bills in bflo you know

[Bill Cody]

Bull****.

Russ is selling guns to the indians.

Only now, the indians are refusing to pay for flintlocks when eveyone else has a Sprinfield rifle.

I'm confused. So Russ is an arms dealer?

[trapezeus]

Bills Fans openly wondering wheterh Russ Brandon can be viable as a CEO.

[better days]

Probably a significant point to add, is that one move will start others. St. Louis Cardinals to Arizona moves LA Rams to St. Louis and the Oakland Raiders to LA, Baltimore Colts to Indy, Cleveland Browns to Baltimore. Sure Houston went to Tennessee and the NFL gave Houston another team, and Cleveland also....but the thing is that all those cities either retained huge upside or experienced a decline and revival Buffalo is entirely incapable of with feeble leadership and lack of creative imagination in a massively taxed state.

An attractive city loses a team, panics, puts on a short skirt, pouts just a little and lures another one. A struggling city panics, loses some weight, works out, gets contacts and some implants, puts on a short skirt, pouts just a little and vamps the NFL into another. Buffalo doesn't have the stuff to change itself, it's been trying as long as I can remember noticing in the 70's, then just flops happily back into its feeble minded leadership apathy to embrace losing another two toes while hoping it means the state will give it some comfortable shoes real cities will snicker at.

Any other team moves, the Bills might end up wherever they left.

I don't like Brandon in general, but he's speaking the hard, cold truth. Are the Bills viable ? Can they be ?

This loops back into the constant "don't support them and teach them a lesson, they'll learn a thing or two !" whine. Not supporting them makes them less viable eh ? Real clever logic. If you don't appreciate them, someone else will and they'll make even more money so you taught them a real good lesson now didn't you ? A happy martyr, you can now march to your grave blowing angst about Buffalo having no Bills and watch them from afar like some basketball fans still watch the LA Clippers who used to be the Buffalo Braves.

Takes time to build anything, there are some signs they are. Usually doesn't work, did a couple times, so you can't tell. Brandon is also saying if we sold 80k tickets a game it would be a no brainer to shuck Toronto. A smaller stadium in the right location could boom and they intend to study it. He's basically telling people they'd be willing to toss Toronto if we didn't in any sense need it.

I don't like Brandon, but he's basically saying how it is, and that's better than deciphering rumors or taking shots out of the blue when they happen.

Well, as Hurkey pointed out, Brandon said NOTHING at all like the thread title.

Typical Spiked BS.

[trapezeus]

SPike definitely likes to troll a bit, but he quoted brandon verbatim. The guy's marketing genius is that he doesn't let us have the piece of mind other teams get. so we do buy tickets when the team absolutely sucks because we don't want to lose the team. and it lines the top executives pockets. maybe a player or two here or there, and a bunch of coaches who wouldn't have gigs at $3MM a year get a cushy job.

Brandon needs to go f himself. he has no business running this team with his track record. bring me a couple top notch football minds, let them do their work. They'll work the cap by paying the effective game changers and letting the filler walk and replace by good scouting.

instead they buy a marketing player, over pay, and then cut where cuts can't happen. then scouting sucks, and general front office is weak in comparison to the other 31 teams. a CEO should be able to see this and fix it. A CEO doesn't say, " i might go sell my product somewhere else." they say, "i will make it better so more people want it." The ones that arbitrage legislation instead of working on their products usually only enrich themselves for a short period of time and bankrupt the company. the ones with a vision and know how to get the right people into the gig usually get credited with be a genius.

In the words of Coastal. Russ is fools gold.

[better days]

SPike definitely likes to troll a bit, but he quoted brandon verbatim. The guy's marketing genius is that he doesn't let us have the piece of mind other teams get. so we do buy tickets when the team absolutely sucks because we don't want to lose the team. and it lines the top executives pockets. maybe a player or two here or there, and a bunch of coaches who wouldn't have gigs at $3MM a year get a cushy job.

Brandon needs to go f himself. he has no business running this team with his track record. bring me a couple top notch football minds, let them do their work. They'll work the cap by paying the effective game changers and letting the filler walk and replace by good scouting.

instead they buy a marketing player, over pay, and then cut where cuts can't happen. then scouting sucks, and general front office is weak in comparison to the other 31 teams. a CEO should be able to see this and fix it. A CEO doesn't say, " i might go sell my product somewhere else." they say, "i will make it better so more people want it." The ones that arbitrage legislation instead of working on their products usually only enrich themselves for a short period of time and bankrupt the company. the ones with a vision and know how to get the right people into the gig usually get credited with be a genius.

In the words of Coastal. Russ is fools gold.

Spiked DID NOT quote Brandon verbatim on the THREAD TITLE.

Brandon said NOTHING OF THE KIND.

[Mace]

To me that sounds like Russ trying to explain how he's done a good job.

and maybe he has from the standpoint of keeping the Bills economically viable.

the simple reality may be that the area can no longer really support a team.

Might be. But no point in not trying anything and everything that might work still.

[SpikedLemonade]

Spiked DID NOT quote Brandon verbatim on the THREAD TITLE.

Brandon said NOTHING OF THE KIND.

Look at my post.

[Mouldsie]

Make me GM, win super bowls, problem solved. :)

[better days]

Look at my post.

I did look at your post. A FRAGMENT of Brandon's entire interview.

Now, you look at your Thread title. That is NOTHING at all that Brandon said.

[TacklingDummy]

I get a chuckle seeing this thread preview (Russ Brandon Is Openly) on the main forum page.