How To Instantly Make The Buffalo Bills Worth More Than $1 Billion

[Fletch]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2014/07/11/how-to-make-the-buffalo-bills-worth-over-1-billion/ (there's a picture at the link for those of you that prefer picture books)

Forgive me. But I think the late Ralph Wilson had it wrong.


Instead of trying to grow the Buffalo Bills business by focusing north of the border (http://www.torontosun.com/2013/01/28/exclusive-buffalo-bills-to-keep-playing-in-toronto-for-5-more-years), he should have expanded south. In fact, whom ever buys the NFL team should plant the Bills flag and claim all of New York state.


The New York Bills of Buffalo. Heck, they are the only NFL team that plays in the state. Why not brag about it?


The Bills are expected to sell for (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fancy-stats/wp/2014/06/20/buffalo-bills-shouldnt-fetch-1-billion-when-they-are-sold/) around $1 billion. The Cleveland Browns went for $987 million (http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2012/07/27/cleveland-browns-being-sold-for-980-million-to-tennessee-businessman/) two years ago, about six months after the league inked new, far more lucrative, national broadcasting deals (http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2011/12/14/the-nfl-signs-tv-deals-worth-26-billion/) with CBS (http://www.forbes.com/companies/cbs/) , NBC and Fox (http://www.forbes.com/companies/fox/) . The Browns have slightly more revenue (http://www.forbes.com/nfl-valuations/list/) than the Bills, but the multiple of revenue being paid for teams is higher now than 2012. Plus, the Bills have made $130 million of renovations (http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/6-reasons-to-be-excited-about-the-Ralph-Wilson-Stadium-renovations/d9ae82f2-7c6e-4d78-adfa-1b60fb0a62b2) to their stadium, most of which comes courtesy of taxpayers, which should should boost revenue.




The Bills are really hurting when it comes to advertising and sponsorship revenue, generating less than $15 million of revenue–about half of what the Green Bay Packers pulled in–during 2012, placing them in the bottom quartile of the league. A $20 million increase in sponsorship revenue would equate to about a $100 million increase in value because unlike national broadcasting fees, stadium advertising revenue is not shared equally with the other teams in the league.


With a New York name I bet the Bills could grab some big sponsors. Their current sponser roster (http://www.buffalobills.com/about-us/bills-partners.html) has lots of names, but not much in the way of the big Wall Street and financial firms. The team owns the naming rights (http://www2.erie.gov/exec/index.php?q=buffalo-bills-lease-terms-summary) to Ralph Wilson Stadium and a sponsor would pay more for a team identified as New York rather than just Buffalo.


Arte Moreno did something similar after he bought (http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/2003/05/16/77630-moreno-gets-ok-to-buy-angels/) the Anaheim Angels a decade ago and two years later officially changed (http://losangeles.angels.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20050103&content_id=926747&vkey=pr_ana&fext=.jsp&c_id=ana) the MLB team’s name to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to generate more revenue (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=1960972).


Experts say the Bills would need permission by the league to change the name. I sent an email to the league this morning to see if the New York Giants and New York Jets, both of whom play at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, would also have to give permission but have not yet heard back.
My message to whom ever owns the Bills next: think more Big Apple and less Toronto.

[Topas]

Interesting. Not sure I like NY Bills and neither am I sure that that is possible (Jets and Giants), but interesting nonetheless.
I would like to have a more southern focus without changing the name, but I am not sure how to do this.

[Fletch]

Interesting. Not sure I like NY Bills and neither am I sure that that is possible (Jets and Giants), but interesting nonetheless.
I would like to have a more southern focus without changing the name, but I am not sure how to do this.

Yeah, agree. Not sure that there's much in the Southern Tier, and going towards PA doesn't help. I'm thinking more eastward, but only to make the team more appealing to some of the rest of the Finger Lakes region and Syracuse. Right now it's only about an hour further for people from Syracuse to attend a Giants or Jets game, plus they've got all that the NYC metro region has to offer if they overnight it.

I'm not sure that putting it in/near Rochester makes much sense. I do like the idea of putting it nearer Batavia though.

Funny thing though, if Golisano (or someone like him) buys the team and wants to build a stadium with his own money, other than zoning and permission and stuff, I'd think that he could put the team where he wanted to.

[trapezeus]

the bills have pushed east and try to compete in albany and they've grown their brand there over last 15-20years. I'll give brandon some credit there.

changing the name to NY bills makes no sense. buffalo bills is the name and the brand they've established for over 60 years. it makes sense as the buffalo bills. it makes no sense as the NY Bills. it almost reads like a political joke about NYS being so expensive.

nyc are also not fickle fan bases. they love the giants or jets. one or the other. it's a lost cause. they have the tri state area down pat. You can rename it NJ, no one in the area would care to be like, "oh really, my tax dollars don't support my team, well i'm done."

the bills also have the tornto market largely to itself. if they could focus on the winning, they'll get more of the casual fans. Those are the fun guys to get because they don't buy sesason tickets, they buy game by game at inflated costs.

The bills have marketable stuff. they have essentially throw back uni's that are popular/hipster-ish. younger fans are so "fantasty football" oriented that the bills just need to market the **** out of their own potential superstars. That requires getting them in the first place and then keeping them. then working with them to get their brand out there. and oh, by the way, winning gets more of the fair weather fans buying jerseys. how many brady jerseys are out there? how many ray lewis, favre, names of people with stories.

the bills have a story more in line with most americans than the big market teams as well. when a david starts its ascent, americans love for david to slay goliath. and the bills have 15 years of being atrocious. if they ever do turn it around, i bet people would really get into their story. NYC fans aren't going to gravitate to that. but towns that don't have teams, and those fair weather people who love football and want a good game, will root for them.

it's on the bills for having such a pathetic executive structure that they can't put out 1 winning team in 15 years. don't over think the problem.

[Typ0]

The JETS and GIANTS play in the New York Metropolitan Statistical Area and that's what matters. This argument about the Bills being the only NY team is crazy ...

[stuckincincy]

the bills have pushed east and try to compete in albany and they've grown their brand there over last 15-20years. I'll give brandon some credit there.

changing the name to NY bills makes no sense. buffalo bills is the name and the brand they've established for over 60 years. it makes sense as the buffalo bills. it makes no sense as the NY Bills. it almost reads like a political joke about NYS being so expensive.

nyc are also not fickle fan bases. they love the giants or jets. one or the other. it's a lost cause. they have the tri state area down pat. You can rename it NJ, no one in the area would care to be like, "oh really, my tax dollars don't support my team, well i'm done."

the bills also have the tornto market largely to itself. if they could focus on the winning, they'll get more of the casual fans. Those are the fun guys to get because they don't buy sesason tickets, they buy game by game at inflated costs.

The bills have marketable stuff. they have essentially throw back uni's that are popular/hipster-ish. younger fans are so "fantasty football" oriented that the bills just need to market the **** out of their own potential superstars. That requires getting them in the first place and then keeping them. then working with them to get their brand out there. and oh, by the way, winning gets more of the fair weather fans buying jerseys. how many brady jerseys are out there? how many ray lewis, favre, names of people with stories.

the bills have a story more in line with most americans than the big market teams as well. when a david starts its ascent, americans love for david to slay goliath. and the bills have 15 years of being atrocious. if they ever do turn it around, i bet people would really get into their story. NYC fans aren't going to gravitate to that. but towns that don't have teams, and those fair weather people who love football and want a good game, will root for them.

it's on the bills for having such a pathetic executive structure that they can't put out 1 winning team in 15 years. don't over think the problem.


I'd guess that referring to younger folks seeking self aggrandizement with fantasy wins, fair weather fans buying jerseys, and a David vs. Goliath pitch qualifies as over-thinking the problem.

[alnilla]

The JETS and GIANTS play in the New York Metropolitan Statistical Area and that's what matters. This argument about the Bills being the only NY team is crazy ...


They play in East Rutherford NEW JERSEY.

[Fletch]

They play in East Rutherford NEW JERSEY.

And what, that isn't part of the NYC Metropolitan Statistical Area? Is that what you're trying to say?

[stuckincincy]

They play in East Rutherford NEW JERSEY.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas_of_New_Jersey

[Fletch]

the bills also have the tornto market largely to itself.

Woohoo!

That's sure gotten us a lot over the years, hasn't it.

The Toronto metro area plus everything in between NF and there is probably 8M people, and we're lucky if we get 10,000 of them to one game, somewhere around 1/10th of a percent. Good thing we have those 10K people all to ourselves.

I think that the whole Canada thing is wholly overblown. But since we're at it, think about it, would we ever have a sellout without those few Canadian attendees? We keep hearing about what a great fanbase we have, and I agree insofar as the real fans go, but when we consider that WNY has 2M+ in population between the Buffalo and Rochester metro areas, and we can't even regularly sell out our home games without help from the Canadian fans, I don't think that it really presents a huge obstacle to anyone arguing that there are better places around the country to have an NFL team in.

[Fletch]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas_of_New_Jersey

You may have to point out specifically that it's not in Cape May.

[stuckincincy]

And what, that isn't part of the NYC Metropolitan Statistical Area? Is that what you're trying to say?

The intentional purging of geography from school curriculum has paid off.

[Fletch]

The intentional purging of geography from school curriculum has paid off.

LOL

Apparently so has the dirge of business and entrepreneurial education from our high school curricula.

[Typ0]

if you were trying to have a discussion about law, politics or taxation then you would have an argument. But you aren't. You are talking about business and marketing which pretty much revolves around the MSA. The Jets and Giants play within the New York MSA. I am just clarifying what I said because I don't understand some of the responses.

Buffalo does not play in the NY MSA. I do not feel use of New York in their name would be appropriate when two teams already play in that MSA and they are actually located within it. The Census drives the MSAs there is plenty of information at census.gov.

[alnilla]

And what, that isn't part of the NYC Metropolitan Statistical Area? Is that what you're trying to say?

Still play it in a different state.

[Fletch]

if you were trying to have a discussion about law, politics or taxation then you would have an argument. But you aren't. You are talking about business and marketing which pretty much revolves around the MSA. The Jets and Giants play within the New York MSA. I am just clarifying what I said because I don't understand some of the responses.

Buffalo does not play in the NY MSA. I do not feel use of New York in their name would be appropriate when two teams already play in that MSA and they are actually located within it. The Census drives the MSAs there is plenty of information at census.gov.

I guess that depends upon how "New York" is perceived. The author of the article clearly thinks that the mention of "New York" conjures up images of the state, not the city. I'm not sure I agree, as you also imply. I think that when people talk about "New York" and sports, what comes to mind are the NYC teams.

I'm guessing that many people that have never lived in NYS don't understand the divide that exists between upstate and downstate, and there's no reason why they would. It's similar to Northern Cal and Southern Cal. Many of us understand that the the differences exist, but no one that hasn't been out there and visited both regions can know the difference. Texas has some similarities as well.

Anyway, agree or not, the writer of the piece is saying that the Bills should make an effort to claim the state as their own. As we residents and former residents know, it's not that easy. NYC tells us what to do, not the other way around.

[Fletch]

Still play it in a different state.

Tell that to the millions of resident NYC, Binghampton, Syracuse, Albany, Poughkeepsie, Ithaca, Schenectedy, etc. Giant and Jets fans.

If what you're implying were the case, then they'd all be Bills fans. But northern Jersey is as close or closer for them than Buffalo is, particularly Orchard Park which requires another 20-30 minute drive beyond the eastern edge of Buffalo to get to the stadium.

Put a stadium out near Batavia and all of a sudden you shave off nearly an hour to get to the stadium for people from across the state. Put another way, you shorten their game drive time by nearly two hours.

Anyone thinking that that's not significant in this scenario is being shortsighted. Another thing to consider is that you then also expand the tv market to the Syracuse region. I'm not sure to what extent, but somewhat anyway. It already goes out east from Rochester somewhat.

[Turf]

For the three millionth time..The Western NY Bills. You capture everything and build a stadium off the thruway (slams head against wall).

[Typ0]

The Syracuse TV market is already a local market to the Bills.


Tell that to the millions of resident NYC, Binghampton, Syracuse, Albany, Poughkeepsie, Ithaca, Schenectedy, etc. Giant and Jets fans.

If what you're implying were the case, then they'd all be Bills fans. But northern Jersey is as close or closer for them than Buffalo is, particularly Orchard Park which requires another 20-30 minute drive beyond the eastern edge of Buffalo to get to the stadium.

Put a stadium out near Batavia and all of a sudden you shave off nearly an hour to get to the stadium for people from across the state. Put another way, you shorten their game drive time by nearly two hours.

Anyone thinking that that's not significant in this scenario is being shortsighted. Another thing to consider is that you then also expand the tv market to the Syracuse region. I'm not sure to what extent, but somewhat anyway. It already goes out east from Rochester somewhat.

[YardRat]

The Bills were 'instantly' worth more than a billion the second Wilson passed. Trying to stretch the fan base to downstate would be fruitless.

[trapezeus]

I'd guess that referring to younger folks seeking self aggrandizement with fantasy wins, fair weather fans buying jerseys, and a David vs. Goliath pitch qualifies as over-thinking the problem.

the topic is marketing the team and knowing who has a chance to root for this team outside its region. going to a NY name and trying to get NYC fans to root for the bills is entirely a lost cause. the only way they maybe get into it is if the team wins consistently. That hasn't been a priority for the last 15 years.

so if you are starting from scratch on finding new fans, those are the ones you want to go after. the people who look at players to root for, not specific teams. this is pretty basic.

[trapezeus]

Woohoo!

That's sure gotten us a lot over the years, hasn't it.

The Toronto metro area plus everything in between NF and there is probably 8M people, and we're lucky if we get 10,000 of them to one game, somewhere around 1/10th of a percent. Good thing we have those 10K people all to ourselves.

I think that the whole Canada thing is wholly overblown. But since we're at it, think about it, would we ever have a sellout without those few Canadian attendees? We keep hearing about what a great fanbase we have, and I agree insofar as the real fans go, but when we consider that WNY has 2M+ in population between the Buffalo and Rochester metro areas, and we can't even regularly sell out our home games without help from the Canadian fans, I don't think that it really presents a huge obstacle to anyone arguing that there are better places around the country to have an NFL team in.

what other teams have not won in 15 years. you are attributing economics not a crappy product. the fact that they get the sellouts they do and aren't even competitive by late oct routinely says something about the strength of the fan base.

you have to win. and to win, you got to cut brandon and the other smither type characteres and build a proper front office. one that knows when to push and go all in and when you should be patient and build up assets.

where did all these seattle fans come from? 20 years ago they were a laughing stock. now, you see that green everywhere you go. there is a large part of fantasy football driving people to just root for players and current storylines. perhaps that's not how we were raised on football, but that's the trend. if the bills could be a good team with a few studs, there would be a ton of jerseys selling for them as well.

[albertjenney]

The Bills were 'instantly' worth more than a billion the second Wilson passed. Trying to stretch the fan base to downstate would be fruitless.With a New York name I bet the Bills could grab some big sponsors

[WagonCircler]

This is really inspiring.

I'm going to slap a Porsche Cayenne emblem on my Saturn VUE and sell it for $75K.

[Homegrown]

What about the "Western New York - Southern Ontario Bill's of Buffalo on the banks of the Niagara river " ?...assuming they build a stadium in Niagara Falls

[Famous Amos]

Naw, this is dumb. Buffalo is the westernmost city in New York. Down staters probably think Buffalo is a part of Canada. It might as well be. My phone gets confused some times and tells me I'm roaming. For a year, google maps was using metric. We'd be better off the WNY Bills or Upstate Bills. Buffalo has a charming ring to it. Buffalo comes with a catchy chant. I mean, in our chants, we don't even say the Bills. We say Let's Go Buffalo.

[Turf]

You know I got It!

The Bills was always a meaningless name, so............

The WNY Buffalos! Now we've got the whole thing covered, and can keep the emblem. What the hell is a Bill anyway?

[Typ0]

How about the "Milky Way Bills"?

[BillsImpossible]

Good post, nice read but it fails to address the real underlying problem.

We have to grow from the inside out, not the outside in.

I don't think anyone here actually likes the idea of changing the team's name.

But if I ABSOLUTELY HAD to do it, just put NY in between Buffalo and Bills.

The Buffalo, New York Bills.

But instead of changing the name for the sake of trying to reach more fans outside of WNY, why not focus on growing the population of Buffalo?

What would make people from all over the country move back home to where they were born?

Jobs.

Most of us here have friends and family members that left for that one single reason, not the weather or high taxes.

So how can Buffalo create jobs and lure all of the people that left Buffalo back home?

In order to create more jobs, the taxes MUST be cut in half. The only way to create business investment (and jobs) is to cut the Erie County Sales Tax of 8.75% down to 4.5% and cut property taxes in half.

Businesses do not want to do business in Buffalo for this very simple reason. They can make more money somewhere else, so they do.

A franchise cannot grow its fan base by continually looking outward.

We have to look inward.

The fact that the Buffalo Bills have been aggressively seeking customers/fans from outside of WNY for over the past 10 years should be a wake up call.

[better days]

Good post, nice read but it fails to address the real underlying problem.

We have to grow from the inside out, not the outside in.

I don't think anyone here actually likes the idea of changing the team's name.

But if I ABSOLUTELY HAD to do it, just put NY in between Buffalo and Bills.

The Buffalo, New York Bills.

But instead of changing the name for the sake of trying to reach more fans outside of WNY, why not focus on growing the population of Buffalo?

What would make people from all over the country move back home to where they were born?

Jobs.

Most of us here have friends and family members that left for that one single reason, not the weather or high taxes.

So how can Buffalo create jobs and lure all of the people that left Buffalo back home?

In order to create more jobs, the taxes MUST be cut in half. The only way to create business investment (and jobs) is to cut the Erie County Sales Tax of 8.75% down to 4.5% and cut property taxes in half.

Businesses do not want to do business in Buffalo for this very simple reason. They can make more money somewhere else, so they do.

A franchise cannot grow its fan base by continually looking outward.

We have to look inward.

The fact that the Buffalo Bills have been aggressively seeking customers/fans from outside of WNY for over the past 10 years should be a wake up call.

NY State is running Commercials on TV in Fla that say any business that Start up in NY won't have to pay any tax for 10 years.

[stuckincincy]

the topic is marketing the team and knowing who has a chance to root for this team outside its region. going to a NY name and trying to get NYC fans to root for the bills is entirely a lost cause. the only way they maybe get into it is if the team wins consistently. That hasn't been a priority for the last 15 years.

so if you are starting from scratch on finding new fans, those are the ones you want to go after. the people who look at players to root for, not specific teams. this is pretty basic.

No dispute on the importance of winning, and the chimera of attracting NYC fans.

As for new fans...I'm not sure how folks rooting for BUF in other geographic reasons helps them. They can buy jerseys and other trinkets, true. Pick their players in fantasy leagues, or just follow this or that star player. And in the NFL, today's team stars can be another team's stars in a few years.

Another issue is the depressed wages of folks, especially young folks. Can they be induced (gulled) into plunking down hard cash for NFL games and trinkets?

:2cents:

[trapezeus]

No dispute on the importance of winning, and the chimera of attracting NYC fans.

As for new fans...I'm not sure how folks rooting for BUF in other geographic reasons helps them. They can buy jerseys and other trinkets, true. Pick their players in fantasy leagues, or just follow this or that star player. And in the NFL, today's team stars can be another team's stars in a few years.

Another issue is the depressed wages of folks, especially young folks. Can they be induced (gulled) into plunking down hard cash for NFL games and trinkets?

:2cents:

young folks are largely giving up on appreciating assets like homes and buying luxury goods and other "i want now" items. they are more teenager like than every before. so they will spend on games and tickets and nfl ticket.

having teams that are successful and players people like and root for is good for the value of the team and good for exposure. If the bills are a team people want to watch and get the national games, etc, that shows the league the team brand is strong, they are part of why people pay the TV contracts they do.

if you have a team that no one likes and is essentially a drag of profits and image, that team will get moved eventually.

[stuckincincy]

young folks are largely giving up on appreciating assets like homes and buying luxury goods and other "i want now" items. they are more teenager like than every before. so they will spend on games and tickets and nfl ticket.

having teams that are successful and players people like and root for is good for the value of the team and good for exposure. If the bills are a team people want to watch and get the national games, etc, that shows the league the team brand is strong, they are part of why people pay the TV contracts they do.

if you have a team that no one likes and is essentially a drag of profits and image, that team will get moved eventually.

Well put. Sad about the kids, but well put.