For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

[Joe Fo Sho]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

Yes, because the stuff we do know he was responsible for he was very successful with.

Hell look at what many consider to be his biggest issue, the sale of one Bills game a year to Toronto. Fans emotionally point to the fact that the games did crap in attendance and the environment sucked. I look at from the angle that the Bills made a **** ton of money and basically disproved the theory that there was a ready and willing fan base in Toronto for this team.

That's a good point. What we do know is that Russ was in charge of marketing and that he did a great job at that. Nobody really knows the extent of what he was allowed to do when it came to coaching/personnel hires. I think we're all agreed that it's best he's not in charge of that anymore.

If the Bills were able to stay in Buffalo even partly because of the decisions Russ made and the programs that he put in place (Toronto Series), then he deserves at least an ounce of credit.

My only legitimate gripe with Brandon is that I think his coaching hires have been poor. In those situations he needed to defer the responsibility out because he's too marketing/business focused. Marrone was hired because he's a local guy who had good success and brought a feel good local angle. Rex was hired because he was the biggest name out there. Neither are legitimate reasons to hire either coach imo. That is an issue.

There were more reasons to hire Rex than just because he was the biggest name out there. There are also a bunch of reasons not to hire Rex, but I get your point. If these first set of hires that have happened since the change of ownership fail, then I'm putting that on Pegula not Russ.

[justasportsfan]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

It's already been determined that Russ won't be making any football/hockey decisions which means he will be marketing the team where OP admitted he is very good at yet he says he's not willing to take a chance? What is he whining about?

[better days]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

That's a good point. What we do know is that Russ was in charge of marketing and that he did a great job at that. Nobody really knows the extent of what he was allowed to do when it came to coaching/personnel hires. I think we're all agreed that it's best he's not in charge of that anymore.

If the Bills were able to stay in Buffalo even partly because of the decisions Russ made and the programs that he put in place (Toronto Series), then he deserves at least an ounce of credit.



There were more reasons to hire Rex than just because he was the biggest name out there. There are also a bunch of reasons not to hire Rex, but I get your point. If these first set of hires that have happened since the change of ownership fail, then I'm putting that on Pegula not Russ.

I'm sure Russ was WOWED by Rex just as the Pegula's were, but make no mistake about it, the decision to hire Rex was made by the Pegula's for better or worse.

Here is hopping for the better. better days ahead.

[OpIv37]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

It's already been determined that Russ won't be making any football/hockey decisions which means he will be marketing the team where OP admitted he is very good at yet he says he's not willing to take a chance? What is he whining about?

Someone with blood on their hands for this team's poor performance is being rewarded and given the chance to interfere with the city's only other major sports franchise.

And the Sabres already have good marketing. They don't need him.

[THATHURMANATOR]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

Ok.

So, we don't know. He may have been responsible for a lot of it, he may have been responsible for very little of it. But as a fan, are you willing to take that chance? I'm not.

Take what chance?

He is clearly involved in 0% of the on field product for either team and will continue to be.

Please explain what you are talking about.

[THATHURMANATOR]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

Someone with blood on their hands for this team's poor performance is being rewarded and given the chance to interfere with the city's only other major sports franchise.

And the Sabres already have good marketing. They don't need him.

He was rewarded for doing an amazing job at what he is currently hired to do for the Bills and will be doing for the Sabres.

What about this don't you understand?

Apparently the Sabres hockey operations were a mess, according to Paul Hamilton, and other inside sources. The Bills operations were clearly running very well and Pegula decided to upgrade the Sabres side as well.

[justasportsfan]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

Someone with blood on their hands for this team's poor performance is being rewarded and given the chance to interfere with the city's only other major sports franchise.

And the Sabres already have good marketing. They don't need him.

I get accused by you for not being able to make distinctions and yet you cannot make a very simple distiction between corporate and football decisions?

I'm nopt sure if we can dumb this further for you but here goes..... Russ is NOT making football/hockey personnel decisions. Whaley/Murray are. He's making corporate decisions.

He is being rewarded for being able to sell a crappy product. If you cannot grasp how valuable a person like that it to ANY business, then I have nothing for you.

Even if Sabres have a great marketing team, you still look for ways to get better. Wasn't it your opinion that it's stupid for bills fans to be content with " good enough"? Look who's guilty of doing the same thing now.


Selling 97% is nothing when you can sell 100% every year. It would be great if you have a waiting list for season ticket holders which the sabres have not achieved.

Stop settling for mediocrity OPiv .

[BuffaloRedleg]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

Status quo is the end of the world because facts are facts and we all know what has happened on the field. Brandon is the embodiment of status quo.

Ok well I'm not going to get too involved in this 5 page thread of discussion equal to my uncle's facebook feed about whether Obama is a Muslim, but come on.

I know he is symbolic of a lot of the frustration of Bills fans, but I think we've lumped enough on him. We can't even unequivocally agree on what he has been responsible for that is so bad (or is entirely his fault).

Just read this:

Yet the leadership change for the Pegulas highlights how Brandon continues to move away from the football operations of the Bills, where decisions are now made solely by general manager Doug Whaley and coach Rex Ryan, who report directly to the Pegulas.

"So I think this really delineates really more, in concrete, that we have a hockey department with [Sabres general manager] Tim [Murray] and Coach [Dan Bylsma], we have a football department with Doug and Coach [Ryan], and now we have a business department that I oversee: the business and culture within both organizations."

"I know that I take some heat there, and understandably so. I understand why," Brandon said. "But that gets a little bit overblown on that front. There's collaboration in every organization. There were times when I was filling a void within the structure of our organization at times.
"That ended when Buddy [Nix] took over [as general manager, in 2010]. Buddy was in charge of football, period. And when we transitioned into [Doug Whaley], he's in charge of football, period.

"But they have full autonomy, Doug Whaley and Coach [Ryan] and Tim Murray and Coach [Bylsma]. They have full autonomy to run their departments, and they report to the owner. And that's the way it should be."

Nothing here shows anything that I should be worried about as a Bills or Sabres fan. He's just heading that new synergized One Buffalo concept basically, which is fine. I only care about the product on the field/Ice.

Listen, I know what the rebuttal is. How can we trust him? He's a snake oil salesman. If that is your response then you will never be convinced, because all we have in this world is the facts before us and we can't actually get into his sneaky brain that is secretly going to try to ruin our sports teams. That is basically internet discourse these days and whatever if you want to use emotion as a basis for your argument that is your right in this new internet age.

I for one don't give a **** if they put Fred Flinstone as their director of business operations. As long as he isn't making personnel decisions it doesn't matter to me at all. He tried and failed to get involved in personnel decisions, that happens in life. It's not like he is an evil or bad person, you guys act like he is some megavillain in a damn movie. Now he doesn't participate in that aspect of the teams anymore. Why people have a personal vendetta against him is beyond me. If you have some sort of bone to pick with Brandon then I recommend you let it go, you'll live a lot longer.

http://espn.go.com/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/19647/russ-brandon-continues-transition-away-from-bills-football-decisions

[better days]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

Someone with blood on their hands for this team's poor performance is being rewarded and given the chance to interfere with the city's only other major sports franchise.

And the Sabres already have good marketing. They don't need him.

Since the Pegula's own both the Bills & the Sabres, it is only logical to have one person run the business of both.

It will be much easier for one person to market both teams with the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing.

And Buffalo is not the only place to do this.

For example, in New Orleans, the same person runs both the Saints & the NBA Basketball team for the owner of both teams.

[Famous Amos]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

on the other side of the coin, does Russ Brandon get any credit for the iron clad stadium lease between the county the Bills and to a lesser extent the NFL?

I don't like the fact that he's been here for all of the losing. I don't like it that, despite his marketing genius and the world's greatest fans, we still had blackouts through his tenure. I certainly hated and reviled the Toronto ****show, lackluster GM and head coach hires, and the awful 2000 era uniforms. His product was unenjoyable to say the least. But I kept watching not because of what was going on currently, but the anticipation and hope of what to come was going to be better than what we had.

He get's a big fat meh from me.

[trapezeus]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

yes, he gets credit for the last lease because that was solid. i said it at the time. i just don't think marketing football in buffalo is a thing. the nfl exploded in the90's. most teams got the benefit from this increase in popularity. buffalo wasn't ho hum on the team before brandon.

and as ralph aged, we felt like we had to keep our tickets to keep the team, regardless of the performance. he had a set of circumstances that made it ideal to do nothing and make money.

and when it wasn't going his way he trotted out his "its hard to be viable." He's darcy reiger. people were afraid to move from him because he was here so long. and we were told he was so great with everything that he'd be scooped up immediately. he languished for a while and was picked up by a team that doesn't have a fan base and was competing to be the worst with us.

Brandon doesn't get picked up in the same role if he got canned. bills and sabres tickets sell without him. He's the court jester and the kings and queens have been amused. the rest of the populace other than aspiring jesters find him mostly useless.

[OpIv37]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

Take what chance?

He is clearly involved in 0% of the on field product for either team and will continue to be.

Please explain what you are talking about.

He was GM for two years so don't tell me he was never involved in the on the field product.

And even when he supposedly wasn't responsble for football decisions, a) he held the purse strings for those who were and b) we don't know how much he meddled.

Once again, not a chance worth taking, especially since the sabres already have good marketing.

[OpIv37]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

I get accused by you for not being able to make distinctions and yet you cannot make a very simple distiction between corporate and football decisions?

I'm nopt sure if we can dumb this further for you but here goes..... Russ is NOT making football/hockey personnel decisions. Whaley/Murray are. He's making corporate decisions.

He is being rewarded for being able to sell a crappy product. If you cannot grasp how valuable a person like that it to ANY business, then I have nothing for you.

Even if Sabres have a great marketing team, you still look for ways to get better. Wasn't it your opinion that it's stupid for bills fans to be content with " good enough"? Look who's guilty of doing the same thing now.


Selling 97% is nothing when you can sell 100% every year. It would be great if you have a waiting list for season ticket holders which the sabres have not achieved.

Stop settling for mediocrity OPiv .

No one can sell 100% of the tickets on a last place team.

[JoeMama]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

Look, Thurmanator, I think the consensus here isn't that Russ Brandon is a bad marketing/advertising guru. He's obviously has a sharp mind for that. Just like all great snake oil salesmen, he can hype anything if he can get the fans stoked year in year out for a franchise that hasn't made the playoffs since the 1990s. He could sell ice to an Inuit if he was of a mind to.

We're just expressing our immense gratitude that he won't have a role in actual personnel decisions or oversight of involvement in decision making that affects the product on the field. Because he was one hell of a failure when he assumed those roles.

Let the man do what he does best, but not a single thing more.

And that's what's happening, so all's well ends well.

[OpIv37]

Re: For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

Oh and that's the other thing.

Maybe Russ truly has nothing to do with football/hockey operations. But iif the people who do **** it up, Russ will still get fans to buy tickets and give him a handy as a thank-you for the privilege.

People are seriously defending the guy who got them to drop a **** ton of money on a garbage team. Gotta love the homerism.