BILLS KEEP BLACKOUTS DESPITE NEW NFL POLICY

Niagara Falls Reporter

BILLS KEEP BLACKOUTS DESPITE NEW NFL POLICY By Tony Farina
The Buffalo Bills, a team with a 10 – 22 record over the last two years, has decided to opt out of the NFL’s relaxed policy on local TV blackouts. Almost incredibly, some fans say they actually understand the Bills’ move as a business decision, but at least one high-profile supporter had the courage to criticize the team that has the longest running playoff drought in the NFL, dating back to1999. Rep. Brian Higgins said in a statement “it is fundamentally unfair and fiscally short-sighted to alienate the dedicated fans regardless of where they sit to cheer on our team.” Higgins said the decision could reduce team revenue: “Things like advertising revenue…the value (is) diminished when you say to advertisers, we have 8 but half of them may be blacked out,” in effect undermining the team’s negotiating leverage. The Bills have a history of being unmoved by local criticism because they know fans will endure just about anything to appease the franchise, no matter the product on the field or, in this case, the decision to join only two other teams in not lifting blackouts. Ralph Wilson, the 94-year-old owner whose succession plan is a mystery, bought the Bills for $25,000 in 1959. The team currently has a value of $792 million, according to Forbes, despite the team’s failures on the field. That’s not near the top of the list, headed by the Dallas Cowboys at $1.85 billion, but it’s not chump change. The Bills are one of the most successful sports franchises in the country despite a history of losing. The Bills blacked out six games over the last two years and that may have been merciful to fans who didn’t have to watch the 10-22 team perform, if they didn’t buy a ticket, especially in 2010 when the Bills won four out of 16 but increased ticket prices by $10 a game for season ticket holders along the sidelines in the lower bowl and boosted the average ticket price 16% to $59. They also had the lowest team payroll in the AFC East, $104 million. The league’s new policy to ease blackout restrictions works like this: Home teams pay visitors 34 cents of every dollar for tickets sold. That escalates to 50 cents beyond an 85 percent threshold the league set to lift blackouts, whether it’s 85 percent or higher. Teams can set their own mark. So far, only the Colts and Chargers have joined the Bills in turning thumbs down on easing blackout restrictions. The Bills chief bean counter, Russ Brandon, is quoted as saying “We are not going to participate in the relaxed-manifest rule. We are a volume based business, and for us to be successful, we need to keep our ticket prices low and sell a greater number of tickets.” According to Brandon, the team’s chief executive officer, relaxing the blackout policy would result in revenue losses although that flies in the face of a recent study on the subject. According to Forbes, nine sports economists issued a report last February that takes a different view. That report says that “academic research supports the conclusion that local TV blackouts have little or no effect on ticket sales or attendance,” and that “local blackouts harm consumers without producing a significant financial benefit to teams.” But the Bills can sell just about anything to local supporters and while there will be grumbling about sticking it to the fans on blackouts, it will disappear with a few wins and the Bills can avoid any possible diminished gate revenue from lifting blackouts without much opposition. All this takes place as the team continues negotiations with Erie County and New York State over a new stadium lease deal, including at least $200 million in renovations that Brandon says the team needs to stay viable. And as I mentioned earlier there is no known ownership succession plan in place. Now how would you like to be an elected official trying to protect the interests of the taxpayers against the Bills with all of those issues on the table? Good luck Mark Poloncarz and Andrew Cuomo. And it will get worse as fans forget about getting rolled over on the blackout policy and dream about a playoff run. Now if the Bills look good early, how much of that $200 million for the stadium renovations do you think the Bills will want to ante up? Brandon knows the score, and the Bills are likely winners in the lease negotiations just as they were in protecting their gate against the league’s bid to end blackouts. The Bills know how to squeeze every dollar out of their crazed fans and the politicians who must keep them in town. Now if they could only figure out how to win football games. But win or lose, they are at the top of the food chain in a community desperate for national recognition for something other than snow.

By Tony Farina

The Buffalo Bills, a team with a 10 – 22 record over the last two years, has decided to opt out of the NFL’s relaxed policy on local TV blackouts.

Almost incredibly, some fans say they actually understand the Bills’ move as a business decision, but at least one high-profile supporter had the courage to criticize the team that has the longest running playoff drought in the NFL, dating back to1999.

Rep. Brian Higgins said in a statement “it is fundamentally unfair and fiscally short-sighted to alienate the dedicated fans regardless of where they sit to cheer on our team.”

Higgins said the decision could reduce team revenue: “Things like advertising revenue…the value (is) diminished when you say to advertisers, we have 8 but half of them may be blacked out,” in effect undermining the team’s negotiating leverage.

The Bills have a history of being unmoved by local criticism because they know fans will endure just about anything to appease the franchise, no matter the product on the field or, in this case, the decision to join only two other teams in not lifting blackouts.

Ralph Wilson, the 94-year-old owner whose succession plan is a mystery, bought the Bills for $25,000 in 1959. The team currently has a value of $792 million, according to Forbes, despite the team’s failures on the field. That’s not near the top of the list, headed by the Dallas Cowboys at $1.85 billion, but it’s not chump change. The Bills are one of the most successful sports franchises in the country despite a history of losing.

The Bills blacked out six games over the last two years and that may have been merciful to fans who didn’t have to watch the 10-22 team perform, if they didn’t buy a ticket, especially in 2010 when the Bills won four out of 16 but increased ticket prices by $10 a game for season ticket holders along the sidelines in the lower bowl and boosted the average ticket price 16% to $59. They also had the lowest team payroll in the AFC East, $104 million.

The league’s new policy to ease blackout restrictions works like this: Home teams pay visitors 34 cents of every dollar for tickets sold. That escalates to 50 cents beyond an 85 percent threshold the league set to lift blackouts, whether it’s 85 percent or higher. Teams can set their own mark. So far, only the Colts and Chargers have joined the Bills in turning thumbs down on easing blackout restrictions.

The Bills chief bean counter, Russ Brandon, is quoted as saying “We are not going to participate in the relaxed-manifest rule.
We are a volume based business, and for us to be successful, we need to keep our ticket prices low and sell a greater number of tickets.” According to Brandon, the team’s chief executive officer, relaxing the blackout policy would result in revenue losses although that flies in the face of a recent study on the subject. According to Forbes, nine sports economists issued a report last February that takes a different view. That report says that “academic research supports the conclusion that local TV blackouts have little or no effect on ticket sales or attendance,” and that “local blackouts harm consumers without producing a significant financial benefit to teams.”

But the Bills can sell just about anything to local supporters and while there will be grumbling about sticking it to the fans on blackouts, it will disappear with a few wins and the Bills can avoid any possible diminished gate revenue from lifting blackouts without much opposition.

All this takes place as the team continues negotiations with Erie County and New York State over a new stadium lease deal, including at least $200 million in renovations that Brandon says the team needs to stay viable. And as I mentioned earlier there is no known ownership succession plan in place. Now how would you like to be an elected official trying to protect the interests of the taxpayers against the Bills with all of those issues on the table? Good luck Mark Poloncarz and Andrew Cuomo.

And it will get worse as fans forget about getting rolled over on the blackout policy and dream about a playoff run. Now if the Bills look good early, how much of that $200 million for the stadium renovations do you think the Bills will want to ante up?
Brandon knows the score, and the Bills are likely winners in the lease negotiations just as they were in protecting their gate against the league’s bid to end blackouts. The Bills know how to squeeze every dollar out of their crazed fans and the politicians who must keep them in town. Now if they could only figure out how to win football games.

But win or lose, they are at the top of the food chain in a community desperate for national recognition for something other than snow.

Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com July 17 , 2012