Why the Bills are Great!

[Mike]

The NFL is a business pure & simple. It's about making $$$ and the Bills are great at this. Their marketing is so good that they have managed to sell tickets to a perennial looser to the same fans that would not buy tickets to a perennial winner back in the 1990s. I remember the Greatest Comeback Ever. A playoff game that did not sell out. Moreover, a playoff game of a team that just went to 3 straight SB! In comparison, I believe we sold out every game last year to watch a team that would end up picking 3rd overall in the NFL draft.... What has happened to my Bills? They have become a slick money making machine.

[TheGhostofJimKelly]

Do you really think it is the Bills marketing that sells tickets? I think it has a lot more to do with the love and passion that this fan base has for this team. Ralph Wilson has sat there and s**t on all of us for 12 years, but we keep coming back, not for Ralph, but for the Bills. I don't think it has anything to do with anyone leading the charge.

[Skooby]

How hard is it to sell a huge party to a bunch of alcoholics on the weekend?

[SabreEleven]

I don't think it has anything to do with anyone leading the charge.

yes, it's about leading the charge...Charging your credit card.

[Historian]

The Bills are literally the heartbeat of the entire area, and beyond.

People plan their vacas around the schedule.

WTF else is there to do around here?

[DolfanTom]

Bills fans are among the most loyal in the league, there's just no denying it. You deserve better (though, I really don't want to see it )!

[justasportsfan]

WTF else is there to do around here?

[stuckincincy]

How hard is it to sell a huge party to a bunch of alcoholics on the weekend?

Pretty easy.

Drunk fans or not, sports is one of a handful of businesses that can wipe their feet off on the face of the paying public, yet they come back asking for more.

The saga of the 10 - cent beer baseball game...

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

Also, the disco demolition baseball game...

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

[Mike]

Do you really think it is the Bills marketing that sells tickets? I think it has a lot more to do with the love and passion that this fan base has for this team. Ralph Wilson has sat there and s**t on all of us for 12 years, but we keep coming back, not for Ralph, but for the Bills. I don't think it has anything to do with anyone leading the charge.

It's marketing believe me. The Bills are great @ generating false excitement (eg: Owens, Spiller, etc) & excuses.

The area is essentially that same as it was in the early 1990's & there were drunken football fans back than as well. What the Bills have managed to do is get more converts, more fanatics, & as a result sell more tickets for a far worst product!

think about this: the Greatest Comeback Ever Game was not sold out! A playoff game! On top of that, a playoff game played by a team that went to 3 straight SB & had another chance to go? Where were the drunken fans on that Sunday? Where could they possibly have gone that today's fans can't?

[Mike]

Its marketing, expanding your customer base, & getting their cash. They are so great that they have been selling ****sicles to the fans promising it will turn into a popsicle!

[Mike]

Absolutely brilliant! In the 1990's sucking was not nearly as advantageous. With the collective bargaining agreement & profit sharing bad teams with low payrolls make more than great teams with high payroll.

Football is a game and were all getting played by the Bills & the NFL

[Historian]

think about this: the Greatest Comeback Ever Game was not sold out! A playoff game! On top of that, a playoff game played by a team that went to 3 straight SB & had another chance to go? Where were the drunken fans on that Sunday? Where could they possibly have gone that today's fans can't?

Bad comparison.

The stadium capacity in 1992 was 80,290.

Today it's 73,079.

I'll be willing to bet if you go back and checked, (and I have the media guides for every year from 1960-2009, I just don't have the time) had the Bills stadium been 73, 079 in "the Glory Years" you would have had a sellout for pretty much every game from 1986 to 2000.

The games that did not sell out back then were usually about 5 or 6 thousand short.

In fact, Al davis used to chide Ralph about getting 80K in a snowstorm, when he could barely get 60 or 70 in Oakland or the LA Colliseum in perfect weather.