Will the Bills Black Out a Game This Year?

[feldspar]

This is from Wiki...

Teams and year of last blackout/non-sell out

• Giants (1975)
• Jets (1977)
• 49ers (1981)
• Packers (1983)
• Bears (1984)
• Cowboys (1990)
• Patriots (1993)
• Browns (1995)
• Titans (1997)
• Vikings (1997)
• Dolphins (1998)
• Eagles (1999)
• Colts (2002)
• Panthers (2002)
• Seahawks (2002)
• Saints (2004)
• Cardinals (2005)
• Falcons (2007)
• Chiefs (2009)
• Jaguars (2009)
• Rams (2009)
• Lions (2010)
• Bengals (2012)
• Buccaneers (2012)
• Raiders (2012)
• Chargers (2013)
• Bills (2013)

As of the 2013 season, the Washington Redskins (last game not sold out was in 1965), Denver Broncos (joined the NFL in 1970 per AFL-NFL merger agreement; last game not sold out was in 1969), Pittsburgh Steelers (last game not sold out was in 1972), Houston Texans (founded in 2002) and Baltimore Ravens (founded in 1996) have never had a blacked out game under the post-1973 rules. However, there have been blackouts in the post-1973 era in the Houston market (1995) and Baltimore market with previous franchises.

Like I said in the other thread:

Well, the Bills might have been one of only two teams to have a blackout/non-sellout last year, but LOTS and LOTS of other teams had a much lower average attendance.

...and we're talking about a cold-weather, small-market team that hasn't made the playoffs in 14 years. Oh, and lots of other stadiums have less seating capacity as well; in fact, I think only something like 10 stadiums have a larger seating capacity. Jacksonville puts tarps over their seats so they can "sell-out," for Christ's sake...they don't have to sell those tickets. Other teams have done something similar to reduce the number of tickets that need to be sold to broadcast the game locally. Oakland has one of the smallest seating capacities in the league, and they eliminated almost 10,000 seats last year to avoid blackouts. Their friggin' seating capacity was 53,250. Wowee.

I could go on.

I know you hate Buffalo Spiked, so go fly a kite.

In addition, go take a long walk off a short pier after you put things in context.

Buffalo likes you about as much as you like IT. So stay out already, asswipe.

[Historian]

I think Cleveland will be a hard sell.

One of the things the Bills do that is really nice, is that they allot so many tickets to the cold weather games to the little leagues for 20 bucks apiece.

Then the little league sells them for 25 or 30.

It helps the Bills, and it also helps families that would otherwise not be able to afford to take a family. Makes money for your league too.

Win-Win.

[cookie G]

The Toronto game was excluded from Black Outs.

LOL!!!! What a shock!!!

Give Toronto a franchise and that will be a standing rule in the NFL.

PS..

This is a team that regularly asks Buffalo to fill its 73,000-seat-stadium with nearly a third of its population

It is hard to take an author seriously who doesn't know that Buffalo has suburbs.

[stuckincincy]

I think Cleveland will be a hard sell.

One of the things the Bills do that is really nice, is that they allot so many tickets to the cold weather games to the little leagues for 20 bucks apiece.
Then the little league sells them for 25 or 30.
It helps the Bills, and it also helps families that would otherwise not be able to afford to take a family. Makes money for your league too.

Win-Win.

Probably so re CLE.

It's game 9 and at that point, CLE would have played several stronger clubs...NO, CIN, ATL, BAL, toss in 2 games against PIT and an improving TB. So, doubtful that CLE fans would be inspired to travel to the BUF game.

BTW, nice to hear about the Little League thing...

[better days]

Probably so re CLE.

It's game 9 and at that point, CLE would have played several stronger clubs...NO, CIN, ATL, BAL, toss in 2 games against PIT and an improving TB. So, doubtful that CLE fans would be inspired to travel to the BUF game.

BTW, nice to hear about the Little League thing...

If the Bills are in contention for a playoff spot at the time of the Browns game, I think it would sell out.

If the Bills are out of it, the game will most likely be blacked out.

[stuckincincy]

Note:

CIN opts into the relaxed blackout scheme...no blackout if 85% of non-premium seats are sold. For sales in excess of 85%, the visiting team pool rises from 34 cents to 50 cents on the dollar.

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-...1-8114a4a0a191

[SpikedLemonade]

Note:

CIN opts into the relaxed blackout scheme...no blackout if 85% of non-premium seats are sold. For sales in excess of 85%, the visiting team pool rises from 34 cents to 50 cents on the dollar.

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-...1-8114a4a0a191

And the Bills have not opted in.

[stuckincincy]

And the Bills have not opted in.

No. IIRC, MIA and TB opted in last year.

[Fletch]

Season ticket sales are up past 50,000 which is encouraging.

Encouraging? ****, that's a record isn't it? More than encouraging.

If the team can sell seasons like this I guess they don't have to worry about being competitive.

[stuckincincy]

Encouraging? ****, that's a record isn't it? More than encouraging.

If the team can sell seasons like this I guess they don't have to worry about being competitive.

I don't know that season tix figures are around the league, but 50K seems a decent number for a smaller market and population base. That they sell out such a large capacity stadium is notable.

CIN owner Brown is noted for wielding a sharp pencil. Says he:

..." “We’re proud to be one of only five teams in the playoffs each of the last three years,” Brown said, “but the fact is that sales are not as strong to date as we’d like. Even under the 85 percent plan, we will need a strong sales from this point to get games on TV. But the option is helpful, and we are continuing with a maximum sales effort."...

It's no secret that many folks' disposable income has taken a pretty big beating the past several years. The NFL, like golf, knows that attracting new, younger customers is going to be an uphill battle.

With that extra 16 cents per ducat given to the visitor on tix over 85%, I'm a bit surprised that BUF hasn't gone the relaxed route for the exposure to potential customers. That thought falls flat on its' face if the club isn't halfway competitive, of course.