It is a HUUUUGGGGEEEEE difference. It is cash on hand and how much money you can finance. All upfront money counts, but it is easier to get up front money if you make more money. The Patriots probably make twice or even three times as much money as the Bills do. They can shell out $10 million from their profits. The Bills would probably have to finance it. There is only so much financing a team can do before the bank says no more.
I have to admit, I don't understand the argument. The Bills have spent to the salary cap every year. In other words, they have spent just as much money as Daniel Snyder. Have you seen the amount of signing bonuses they doled out recently? They are not cash strapped. While I agree with Ken that they can do a lot better to promote the team, there is the potential that the Bills and other small market teams will get left behind if the salary cap increases exponentially.
This is a simple economics issue, not a cap issue. The Patriots are the second highest revenue team and the Bills are the lowest revenue team. The Pats can far more easily afford to shell out more upfront money to players because they have far more revenue coming in than the Bills. The cap has nothing to do with this. The banks have far more to do with this.
Are you sure the Bills have the lowest revenues? Lower than Arizona? Lower than Oakland? I find that hard to believe. 70,000 fans weekly at $65 a pop tells me they're making more than teams with half full stadiums. I really think you're wrong on the Bills and up front money, and it's proven by the amount of upfront money they recently doled out, much more than the Patriots.
And they are dead last in average ticket price (their average ticket is half of what the Patriots' average ticket is). This is because their population cannot or will not pay for tickets at the league average. This is a big part of the reason why they are dead last in revenues.
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You're overexaggerating things a bit here. Yes, the tickets are cheap, but consider that 15,000 fans more can fit into the BIlls stadium than the Patriots. The vast majority of those 15,000 seats are third deck corner family seats at $25 a pop. They water down the average price. Have you been to the Bills stadium and seen how massive it is? Trust me, I can't get an end zone seat for less than $55 at Ralph Wilson. Sideline seats go up from there.
Only a few of the companies you mentioned have their corporate headquarters based in the Buffalo era. I doubt that many corporations will allow their subbranches shellout $100,000 plus a year for ten games a year.
All the companies on that list save M&T (I just checked again, sorry) have their USA headquarters in the area. They are massive employers here. Look it up, HSBC, Eastman Kodak, Delaware North, etc.
As for cities that would better support a team than Buffalo, LA, San Antonio, Portland, a SC team potentially, and a few other places have been discussed. Buffalo isn't even one of the 50 top populated cities from what I could find.
Why would they better support their team? What tells you that? Where are you getting your info? LA has lost 3 teams because of NON-SUPPORT. Portland has that west coast flavor about it. You think these cities would be more loyal than Bills fans who have bought a ton of tickets now while waiting 15 years for a decent team. Is eriously doubt it.
As for cities and their populations, you have to look at metro areas. It's silly to compare, say, St. louis to jacksonville when Jacksonville is the largest city in America (sq. footage) and St. Louis has a tiny footprint. Look at the entire region. Buffalo has 1.3 million living in the city and first ring sburbs. Rochester has 1.2 million people less than an hour away. Over the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, there are the Canadian fans (10-15% of the season ticket holders) and that's another 500k up to St. Catherine's. A lot of people live up here, over 3 million.
The Bills main problem is Ralph Wilson's laziness, Marv Levy's crappy drafts, and the fact that it's a small market. As far as the NFL goes, it's simi9lar to a lot of small market teams. But if the Bills get their act together, you'll see Wilson increase the ticke prices. They can't now because they suck.
Look at the Sabres. Over 50 home games a year, tickets fetching over $65 a seat for 19,000 seats, and 10 of those games they were selling seats for over $200 (playoffs). Do the math: the Sabres brought in about $90 million in ticket sales. Multiple that times concessions from 50 games. Over $100 million bucks. If Ralph Wilson had a brain, consider how much he could charge if he could draw as much fan support as the Sabres do: $90 million / 70,000 seats / 8 games = $160 bucks a ticket. That's how well the Sabres are doing and how poorly the Bills are doing.
