Notes from Wilson/Schumer conference earlier today

[Bill Brasky]

Schumer went on about a number of things, how the Bills are the heart of the community, how football is the best sport because of the equality of each team, and how there are 10 or 11 big market teams that do well followed by everybody else... He said he's going to 3 things:

1 call Tags tomorrow...

2 He's going to be calling various state politicians that house other small market teams to try and gain support so various governments can be involved in the new CBA and maybe meet with the NFL...

3 and he wants the fans to speak out and voice their concerns.

Ralph said he knows that when the receipts come in from the home games he knows he's at or near the bottom. He knows he cannot charge 80, 90, 100$ for a sideline seat... he can only charge what the community can bare... and that's what he is trying to accomplish.

[socalfan]

Schumer went on about a number of things, how the Bills are the heart of the community, how football is the best sport because of the equality of each team, and how there are 10 or 11 big market teams that do well followed by everybody else... He said he's going to 3 things:

1 call Tags tomorrow...

2 He's going to be calling various state politicians that house other small market teams to try and gain support so various governments can be involved in the new CBA and maybe meet with the NFL...

3 and he wants the fans to speak out and voice their concerns.

Ralph said he knows that when the receipts come in from the home games he knows he's at or near the bottom. He knows he cannot charge 80, 90, 100$ for a sideline seat... he can only charge what the community can bare... and that's what he is trying to accomplish.

YEAH! Go get 'em Schumer. Take it to 'em Ralph!

[Mr. Pink]

Schumer went on about a number of things, how the Bills are the heart of the community, how football is the best sport because of the equality of each team, and how there are 10 or 11 big market teams that do well followed by everybody else... He said he's going to 3 things:

This very statement is contradictory. Football is equal, then it's not. Puzzling.

1 call Tags tomorrow...

Tags won't be in office much longer, the proposal is a proposal that is agreed upon by the owners and players minus Mr. Wilson and Mr. Brown. Tags wants his league to play and make money for everyone involved, he won't tarnish his own legacy and upset 30 other owners who agreed to the CBA. It wouldn't be smart on his part.

2 He's going to be calling various state politicians that house other small market teams to try and gain support so various governments can be involved in the new CBA and maybe meet with the NFL...

The gov't has more pressing problems than the CBA. What are they gonna do? Say the NFL has to do this, that and the other thing? Then they would be imposing rules and regulations on them which isn't in their authority.

3 and he wants the fans to speak out and voice their concerns.

If it makes any of us feel better...then sure. Just don't expect it to do anything.

Ralph said he knows that when the receipts come in from the home games he knows he's at or near the bottom. He knows he cannot charge 80, 90, 100$ for a sideline seat... he can only charge what the community can bare... and that's what he is trying to accomplish.

The community can bare to pay a little more than what they are paying now. Yes I firmly believe that, if tickets averaged 60 dollars, and seasons 600 people would still pay it. Sure it wouldn't be up to the NFL average but it's more that is being brought in now. Say you're paying 40 dollars a seat now, 400 for season tickets...you can afford to pay 600 next year. Even 800 for season tickets isn't that unreasonable. If tickets were 800 dollars for season tickets and you averaged 25K a year in salary-paid biweekly, it still wouldn't even be one whole paycheck.

Just my two cents.

[Michael82]

Chuck understands it... :clap:


First and foremost, the Bills are the heart of Buffalo. Everyone in Buffalo is totally loyal to the Bills, even if you lived in Buffalo for 2 years, you carry the Bills with you throughout the country. They are a team that symbolizes the community.

And..This is what bringing a powerful guy like Charles Shumer to the table does for you..... :bf1:



1. I'm going to call the league, I've been involved with the NFL on many issues before. I'm on some of the major committees, the finance committee and the judiciary committee which have jurisdiction which have issues that the NFL cares about and I'm going to call NFL Commissioner Tagliabue first thing tomorrow and ask him what gives.

2. I'm going to be reaching out to Senators from states with smaller City teams. And there are many. In fact there are about 10 or 11 teams that do very very well and all the others. And I'm going to be reaching out to them to join me and maybe all of us can meet with the NFL. Well the basic outlines of this arrangement have been made (CBA) there are lots of details and if those details will make teams like the Buffalo Bills be in better shape, we can succeed.

3. I'm going to be reaching out to the network of Buffalo Bills fans and former players, people like Jack Kemp and Tim Russert. And ask them to get involved as well.

[Bill Brasky]

I'm glad all these "high powered" politicians are in Ralph's corner.

But they're the same ones that always promise to help out WNY and what have they ever done in the past?

I guess I've seen it before, I won't be surprised to see the same things happen again.

Hopefully they can prove me wrong on this one.

[Michael82]

I'm glad all these "high powered" politicians are in Ralph's corner.

But they're the same ones that always promise to help out WNY and what have they ever done in the past?

I guess I've seen it before, I won't be surprised to see the same things happen again.

Hopefully they can prove me wrong on this one.
New York state can't afford to lose the Buffalo Bills, especially now that the Jets and Giants are pretty much doing all their business in New Jersey. The tax money that they lose alone would kill the economy.

[socalfan]

I'm glad all these "high powered" politicians are in Ralph's corner.

But they're the same ones that always promise to help out WNY and what have they ever done in the past?

I guess I've seen it before, I won't be surprised to see the same things happen again.

Hopefully they can prove me wrong on this one.

It will be a different kind of fight this time....the people of western NY will be paying attention.

[Bill Brasky]

It will be a different kind of fight this time....the people of western NY will be paying attention.

They've always paid attention, only to have their heads filled with empty promises by people like Pataki, Clinton, and Schumer. And when these same people dicked the local areas, the citizens had no choice but to leave... I hope the same thing doesn't repeat itself in this case!

[BillyT92679]

Chuck understands it... :clap:



And..This is what bringing a powerful guy like Charles Shumer to the table does for you..... :bf1:
I pretty much loathe all Democrat politicians, but I will begrudgingly admit that Schumer does seem to recognize the worth of New York State on a federal level. He's a much better senator than Hillary.

[G. Host]

The community can bare to pay a little more than what they are paying now.
Yes SOME could afford more and Bills ought to create more tiers with higher costs so those who can and are willing to afford more can get better seats even though some might be displaced but not all can and not enough can to guarentee sellouts. This is why they created the Rockpile section so they could sell additional seats out especially the important season ticket sales. Remember they closed down seats to ensure sellouts

However there are teams with smaller stadiums - should they also be forced to increase seating even if that results in less selouts? It should be a factor of total regular attendence sales - regular attendence sales are what is shared with visiing teams not the skyboxes unless things changed in current partially written CBA.