Will SJ Fisher join Fredonia State?

[YardRat]

As a 'former' location of Bills' training camp?

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/2017/07/26/mcdermotts-training-camp-lite-not-good-sign-bills-staying-rochester/514780001/

It could be that McDermott’s idea of a good training camp is one that is short, sweet and efficient, hence this condensed version that seems so unnatural to football’s traditional “dog days of summer.’’

But he and Beane are also young and more likely to initiate change after nearly 20 years of the same old thing with the Bills.
With input from the business and marketing side, they may decide that holding camp in Orchard Park is more fair to their core fan base. That perhaps taking a few practices or scrimmages on the road to Rochester, Syracuse and even Toronto achieves regionalization with a lot less hassle.

One thing is clear and this all fans can feel good about: Unlike every GM and coach before them since 2000, Beane and McDermott have more freedom to make decisions based on football and not marketing.

[Goobylal]

They have a certain amount of freedom. They're GM and coach. Russ Brandon, who went to SJF, is the president and probably will be long after those 2 are gone. Which hopefully is a long time from now.

[GreedoII]

undoing another shady deal from Brandon leaving Fredonia....

[OpIv37]

Interesting tidbit: the Bills moved from Fredonia to Rochester the summer before I transferred to Fredonia.....

I had a temp job that summer and the parking lot was one of the pickup points for the shuttle to Bills camp. One day, they let us go early cuz of network issues and I took the bus over to camp and wandered around. I didn't get to see a practice though- it started pouring rain before the practice started and I was dressed to be in an air conditioned office all day.

The whole reason camp is in Rochester is marketing- they are trying to drum up interest in the closest population center to Buffalo (I know, that's probably the first time anyone has ever described Rochester as a "population center"). But I'm not really sure it's necessary. People in Rochester are overwhelmingly Bills supporters as it is.

[Goobylal]

It's in Pittsford/SJF because Russ Brandon went there. And I'm glad it is because that's my hometown, my mom and some relatives still live there, and I can pickup the bus at my old HS which is literally behind my across-the-street neighbor's backyard.

[BillyT92679]

undoing another shady deal from Brandon leaving Fredonia....
As a Fisher alum I'm very glad it happened

[OpIv37]

It's in Pittsford/SJF because Russ Brandon went there. And I'm glad it is because that's my hometown, my mom and some relatives still live there, and I can pickup the bus at my old HS which is literally behind my across-the-street neighbor's backyard.
Are you sure about that? He joined the team in '97 and was barely 30 years old. You think he had the pull to move camp that quickly at such a young age?

[Goobylal]

Are you sure about that? He joined the team in '97 and was barely 30 years old. You think he had the pull to move camp that quickly at such a young age?

That's what I read. And it makes sense since he did go there.

[justasportsfan]

After seeing what camp is like, maybe MCD will change his mind. Its supposedly one of the best camps in the entire league.

The bills are a small market team. They need as much fans as they can get from the region. Only way they grow the fan base is to create a winning dynasty.

[Night Train]

I heard this last month. McDermott is big on the video aspect of reviewing drills after workouts and sees having to move everything and set up all the equipment as a royal pain. Thus the short camp and maybe the beginning of the end.

[Forward_Lateral]

Good.

There's no need to have training camp somewhere else, when they have a state of the art practice facility in Buffalo.

[swiper]

Geez. The last camp I was at was at Niagara University. Saban was coach. And I got OJ's autograph.