Los Angeles to get NFL team NEXT year (1 Viewer)

[Hipple Long Ware & Peete]

apparently some billionaire who is a majority owner in the Lakers said that LA will have a team next year. Anyone hear anything about this?edit: looks like they might be crushing 1/28 of the board instead.

Report: Los Angeles to house NFL team next seasonBy PFW staffAug. 28, 2008Los Angeles will be home to an NFL team next season, billionaire developer Ed Roski Jr. said in a San Gabriel Valley Tribune report. Roski said his plan is to build a new stadium in the L.A. suburb Industry, located in the San Gabriel Valley. Roski anticipates the 75,000-seat stadium to cost approximately $800 million, which is roughly $1 billion less than the new stadium the Giants and Jets are building.According to the report, the stadium would be ready for action for the 2011 season, and the relocated team would play in the Rose Bowl for the two seasons in the interim. Rose Bowl general manager Darryl Dunn said the parties have had “very preliminary talks so far.”Furthermore, Roski said that the NFL has identified Los Angeles as a two-team area, and that an additional team could conceivably play in the new stadium as well. In April, Roski listed the Saints, Bills, Vikings, Jaguars, Chargers, Raiders and 49ers as clubs that might have interest in coming to the country’s second largest city.

 

[Hipple Long Ware & Peete]

This says new stadium by 2011 and there are NFL officials quoted. This could get interesting.

LOS ANGELES - Billionaire developer Edward P. Roski Jr. has made a commitment to build the kind of stadium an NFL team needs to thrive in Los Angeles. Now, he’s hoping one will commit to play there.Roski, a part owner of the Kings and Lakers who has spent years trying to lure the NFL back to this area, unveiled plans Thursday for a 75,000-seat facility in the City of Industry he said could be finished in time for the 2011 season.“I intend to develop our stadium project that meets all of the NFL requirements, and more,” Roski said at a Staples Center news conference, where stadium models and artist renditions were displayed. “Always the most important thing has been the certainty of doing this. A team is not going to commit to coming to Los Angeles without a stadium. We’ve taken this one point of uncertainty and made it a certainty. The stadium is a certainty and it will be built.”Story continues below And, Roski added, without public money.“Absolutely no taxpayer dollars,” he said. “There’s no taxpayer dollars to get.”The proposed 600-acre site, near the southern intersection of the 57 and 60 freeways about 20 miles east of Los Angeles, would be surrounded by a shopping mall, and located on a vacant property which Roski already owns. Roski said around 12 million people live within 25 miles of the site.“We are aware of it and are monitoring all stadium-related developments in southern California,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said from his New York office.Roski said the cost would be around $800 million, adding the stadium will be built into a hillside meaning far less steel will be required. And that, he said will result in a cost of about $400 million less than it might be otherwise.Roski said the site is already zoned and an environmental impact report was approved in 2004.“A supplemental EIR is currently in progress,” he added, saying construction could begin as early as the final quarter of this year and parking requirements would be met. “We’ll make it happen, just as we did here at Staples Center with the Lakers and Kings.Roski and Philip Anschutz, the head of AEG, headed up construction of Staples Center. The Lakers, Kings and Arena Football League’s Los Angeles Avengers play their home games at the facility, which opened in October 1999. AEG is not involved in this venture.The one obvious obstacle standing in the way is a tenant for the new stadium. Possibilities might include the New Orleans Saints, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings and San Diego Chargers because of their stadium uncertainties.Roski made it clear construction will not begin until a team agreed to move, adding he did not expect an expansion team to be involved.The NFL has said it has no plans to expand from its present 32 teams, and it’s also clear Los Angeles is not a high priority with the league at this time. But that might not stop a team with stadium uncertainties to make the move.“No team is going to say they’re going to come here until we have this,” Roski said of the stadium plan. “We have not talked to any teams. Now, we will start the second phase of it. We’ll start talking to the NFL and the teams. We’ve got this out of the way. Now, we’ll concentrate on getting a team.”With a smile, the 69-year-old chairman and CEO of Majestic Realty Co., added: “If I was sitting there, I would be waiting for my call. This is the top market. The team that decides to come to Los Angeles is financially going to be one of the top teams in the league, by far.”Los Angeles, the second-largest media market in the country, has been without an NFL team since 1995, when the Raiders moved back to Oakland after playing 13 years at the Los Angeles Coliseum and the Rams moved from Anaheim to St. Louis.Proposals have been made for numerous stadium sites in the area over the years including the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena as well as in Irwindale, Inglewood, Carson and Anaheim.But, as Roski pointed out, there were always uncertainties.Should a team decide to make the move, he said it could play the 2009-10 seasons at either the Coliseum or the Rose Bowl while the new stadium was under construction.

 

[TheDirtyWord]

Most logical candidate here is San Diego being that they can get out of their lease next year...

 

[jimmy b]

Heard that the Jags might be in the mix.....along with 7 other teams.

 

[Hipple Long Ware & Peete]

Text size: increase text sizedecrease text size

L.A. Billionaire Trying to Bring NFL Back to SoCal

4:41 PM EDT, April 17, 2008

Plans were announced today to build in the City of Industry a 75,000-seat stadium that could be home to a National Football League team.

Developer Ed Roski Jr. made what he described as a major announcement at Staples Center about the proposed Los Angeles Stadium, which would be built on land he owns near the intersection of the Pomona (60) and Orange (57) freeways.

CHECK OUT THE PLANS FOR THE STADIUM



Roski told the Los Angeles Times that if a team is willing to move to Los Angeles, construction on the stadium can begin this fall and be completed in 2011. He said a team could begin playing in Los Angeles in 2009, using the Coliseum or Rose Bowl as a temporary home.

"I think this is important for Los Angeles, for the fabric of the city," Roski told The Times. "The city has done real well without the NFL and the NFL has done real well without the city. But I think it's important to have a professional football team in Los Angeles."

The prospect of the NFL returning to Los Angeles faces many hurdles, including rising financing costs.

Additionally, a return to Los Angeles is not considered a top priority within the NFL, whose owners are believed to be more focused on such issues as negotiations with the players union for a new collective bargaining agreement, improving the league's revenue sharing, and having its cable television channel -- NFL Network -- reach more households.

In his February 1 "State of the NFL" address, Commissioner Roger Goodell said "expansion is off the table for right now," meaning an existing team would have to move for professional football to return to the Southland.

A bill allowing the City of Industry to divert $820 million in property tax revenue from basic government services and use it instead for stadium- related development subsidies was pulled by its author, Sen. Gloria Romero, D- Los Angeles, hours before it was scheduled for its first hearing Wednesday, The Times reported from Sacramento.

The bill had drawn the opposition of Los Angeles County officials, who complained that much of the money would come from their tight budget, according to The Times.

"Everybody wants an NFL stadium, but I'm not so sure taxpayers should be footing the bill for that," Supervisor Gloria Molina told The Times. "That's what we potentially have going here."

Romero told The Times it was possible that she would seek a parliamentary exception to revive the bill if the concerns of opponents can be addressed.

Roski, who helped build Staples Center, joined with billionaire Eli Broad in an unsuccessful bid to bring an NFL expansion team to Los Angeles in 1999.

The NFL has not had a team in the Los Angeles area since the Los Angeles Raiders returned to Oakland after playing 13 seasons at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Anaheim Stadium-based Los Angeles Rams moved to St. Louis before the 1995 season.

The NFL has returned to all the cities from which teams have moved from since 1961, except for Los Angeles.

Stadium issues have been among the leading impediments in the way of an NFL return to the region.

In November, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said "the Coliseum is no longer a viable option for the NFL." The league has consistently resisted the prospect of having a team play in Exposition Park, even if the interior of the venerable Coliseum were torn down and a new stadium erected behind its historic walls.

In 2006, Pasadena voters concerned about traffic issues rejected by a nearly 3-to-1 margin a ballot measure that would have reopened talks to attract an NFL team to the Rose Bowl, the site of five Super Bowls.

 

[Manster]

when the Rams and Raiders left LA, did anyone there even notice?

 

[NoFBinLA]

They have been planning this for a while. There is even a website Roski put up about it months ago. The Jags were then 'the mystery team'.

I'll believe it when I see it. Yes all those teams could come here. No I don't know I expect one here by next year.

I think most of LA has just given up on it and headed over to talk to the folks at Direct TV.

And with rising ticket prices and PSLs, the average fan whose energy is necessary to getting a team here is a little hesitant to bring a team to town, in a recession, whom we could not afford to see live.

That's my

 

[Blackjacks]

As a Rams fan I'm afraid they are going back.

 

[Hoss_Cartwright]

Let's face it, LA has too many sports and "other" interests, which is the reason football can't survive there. It's failed a couple of times, and it will fail again, and again, and again., and long after I'm dead they will keep trying to bring football to LA. Unless they're Super Bowl contenders every year, no one gives a crap in that town.

 

[Eviloutsider]

They don't deserve a team.

 

[BigRed]

Sweet another team, we don't have enough - and back in that great football community of L.A.

 

[abishagenaden]

As long as it's not the Raiders. No thank you very much.

 

[Hoss_Cartwright]

As long as it's not the Raiders. No thank you very much.

I can see the "San Antonio Raiders" in their future. They already have a huge following in the area (Calif and Mexico influence).

 

[AnonymousBob]

Let's face it, LA has too many sports and "other" interests, which is the reason football can't survive there. It's failed a couple of times, and it will fail again, and again, and again., because long after I'm dead they will keep trying to bring football to LA. Unless they are Super Bowl contenders every year, no one gives a crap in that town.

Don't hate us because we've got a lot to do.

 

[Hoss_Cartwright]

Let's face it, LA has too many sports and "other" interests, which is the reason football can't survive there. It's failed a couple of times, and it will fail again, and again, and again., because long after I'm dead they will keep trying to bring football to LA. Unless they are Super Bowl contenders every year, no one gives a crap in that town.

Don't hate us because we've got a lot to do.

No hate at all. Just like Joe Friday would say, "just the facts ma'am", or I would say, "just a fact".

 

[NoFBinLA]

They don't deserve a team.

How do you deserve a team?I don't agree - but it is a moot point cause we won't get one.As people said - there are too many distractions, people are getting killed by gas and other costs and it's just not a priority.

 

[Phurfur]

Let's face it, LA has too many sports and "other" interests, which is the reason football can't survive there. It's failed a couple of times, and it will fail again, and again, and again., because long after I'm dead they will keep trying to bring football to LA. Unless they are Super Bowl contenders every year, no one gives a crap in that town.

Don't hate us because we've got a lot to do.

I always hear that but in reality you don't have any more to do than anywhere else.

 

[cstu]

Let's face it, LA has too many sports and "other" interests, which is the reason football can't survive there. It's failed a couple of times, and it will fail again, and again, and again., because long after I'm dead they will keep trying to bring football to LA. Unless they are Super Bowl contenders every year, no one gives a crap in that town.

Don't hate us because we've got a lot to do.

No hate at all. Just like Joe Friday would say, "just the facts ma'am", or I would say, "just a fact".

How long were the Rams here?

 

[Hoss_Cartwright]

Let's face it, LA has too many sports and "other" interests, which is the reason football can't survive there. It's failed a couple of times, and it will fail again, and again, and again., because long after I'm dead they will keep trying to bring football to LA. Unless they are Super Bowl contenders every year, no one gives a crap in that town.

Don't hate us because we've got a lot to do.

No hate at all. Just like Joe Friday would say, "just the facts ma'am", or I would say, "just a fact".

How long were the Rams here?

Teams didn't move back then. Now league policy and owners agenda makes it easier. That was easy to answer.

 

[identikit]

Let's face it, LA has too many sports and "other" interests, which is the reason football can't survive there. It's failed a couple of times, and it will fail again, and again, and again., because long after I'm dead they will keep trying to bring football to LA. Unless they are Super Bowl contenders every year, no one gives a crap in that town.

Don't hate us because we've got a lot to do.

No hate at all. Just like Joe Friday would say, "just the facts ma'am", or I would say, "just a fact".

How long were the Rams here?

Teams didn't move back then. Now league policy and owners agenda makes it easier. That was easy to answer.

Guess teams didn't move in 1946 either then?

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

Bills aren't going anywhere as long as Ralph Wilson is alive. After that, anything is possible.

 

[BigSteelThrill]

If it doesnt come with a new state-of-the-art stadium etched in stone, dont even bother.

It has to be serious entertainment to survive in LA. Too many other things to do.

Also, dont put it in the middle of the ghetto, or try to use it as a revitlization project.

 

[Hoss_Cartwright]

Let's face it, LA has too many sports and "other" interests, which is the reason football can't survive there. It's failed a couple of times, and it will fail again, and again, and again., because long after I'm dead they will keep trying to bring football to LA. Unless they are Super Bowl contenders every year, no one gives a crap in that town.

Don't hate us because we've got a lot to do.

No hate at all. Just like Joe Friday would say, "just the facts ma'am", or I would say, "just a fact".

How long were the Rams here?

Teams didn't move back then. Now league policy and owners agenda makes it easier. That was easy to answer.

Guess teams didn't move in 1946 either then?

Back then they moved to stay solvent. I guess that could happen now?

 

[hotdogcollars]

just because some real estate billionaire says it, doesnt make it so. He's probably just trying to drive up the price of the land he owns around the stadium site. Once he sells all the outparcels the hype will fade and LA can go back to their pilates, road rage, and celebrity watching.

ETA: NTTAWW pilates

 

[tombonneau]

Let's face it, LA has too many sports and "other" interests, which is the reason football can't survive there. It's failed a couple of times, and it will fail again, and again, and again., because long after I'm dead they will keep trying to bring football to LA. Unless they are Super Bowl contenders every year, no one gives a crap in that town.

Don't hate us because we've got a lot to do.

I hope they we get a team only because that proposed stadium looks pretty f'ing sweet. Would make an awesome Super Bowl site.

 

[Hoss_Cartwright]

Let's face it, LA has too many sports and "other" interests, which is the reason football can't survive there. It's failed a couple of times, and it will fail again, and again, and again., because long after I'm dead they will keep trying to bring football to LA. Unless they are Super Bowl contenders every year, no one gives a crap in that town.

Don't hate us because we've got a lot to do.

I hope they we get a team only because that proposed stadium looks pretty f'ing sweet. Would make an awesome Super Bowl site.

That would be sad, becasue you know they will lose any team they get eventually.

 

[Hoss_Cartwright]

just because some real estate billionaire says it, doesnt make it so. He's probably just trying to drive up the price of the land he owns around the stadium site. Once he sells all the outparcels the hype will fade and LA can go back to their pilates, road rage, and celebrity watching.

don't forget border crossings, even if it isn't San Diego.

 

[tombonneau]

Let's face it, LA has too many sports and "other" interests, which is the reason football can't survive there. It's failed a couple of times, and it will fail again, and again, and again., because long after I'm dead they will keep trying to bring football to LA. Unless they are Super Bowl contenders every year, no one gives a crap in that town.

Don't hate us because we've got a lot to do.

I hope they we get a team only because that proposed stadium looks pretty f'ing sweet. Would make an awesome Super Bowl site.

That would be sad, becasue you know they will lose any team they get eventually.

Why do you hate Los Angeles so much?

 

[Hoss_Cartwright]

Let's face it, LA has too many sports and "other" interests, which is the reason football can't survive there. It's failed a couple of times, and it will fail again, and again, and again., because long after I'm dead they will keep trying to bring football to LA. Unless they are Super Bowl contenders every year, no one gives a crap in that town.

Don't hate us because we've got a lot to do.

I hope they we get a team only because that proposed stadium looks pretty f'ing sweet. Would make an awesome Super Bowl site.

That would be sad, becasue you know they will lose any team they get eventually.

Why do you hate Los Angeles so much?

I don't hate LA, I'm just one of those guys who says give another city a chance instead of rewarding someone who's failed before and before. Something tells me they could find more avid fans.

 

[hotdogcollars]

honestly, it looks like a college stadium to me...plus about 300 sky box suites of course.

2.5 million sqft of offices, restaurants, and retail space. I still say his actual motive is to inflate the cost of this space, lock in tenants, and then let the NFL do whatever it does. LA needs to show that it really, REALLY wants and NFL team. And it has failed consistently to do that over the past 10-12 years. In fact, they've voted in overwhelming #s to NOT have an NFL team.

 

[awesomeness]

Bills aren't going anywhere as long as Ralph Wilson is alive. After that, anything is possible.

Might wanna check the home stadium for the December 7th game vs the Phins.

 

[Ozymandias]

I think the demographics are wrong.

40% watch Mexican futbol.

12% watch Chinese gymnastics.

11% watch Korean Women's Golf.

11% watch Indian Cricket.

10% watch Filipino soap opera

9% are wannabe actors who only watch themselves.

6% are surfing.

That leaves you and me and a couple of others.

 

[NoFBinLA]

I think the demographics are wrong.

40% watch Mexican futbol.

12% watch Chinese gymnastics.

11% watch Korean Women's Golf.

11% watch Indian Cricket.

10% watch Filipino soap opera

9% are wannabe actors who only watch themselves.

6% are surfing.

That leaves you and me and a couple of others.

No excuse - you go out early, surf the early waves, paddle back to shore, pick up some morning burritos and head to the Tv for the rest of the day.The rest.... well {no comment}

 

[GroveDiesel]

Bills aren't going anywhere as long as Ralph Wilson is alive. After that, anything is possible.

IMO, this guy is full of it. It's obvious that he would love to have a team there, but the guy is clearly lying through his teeth. He says that he has a handshake deal with the folks that own the Coliseum to use it until a stadium is built. But the head guy there says that no deal exists. He says that he's contacted 7 teams and every single one of them were chomping at the bit to go to L.A. The Bills were previously mentioned as one of 7 teams that this guy was recruiting. And there is NO way that Wilson is telling this guy that he wants to move the team to LA. I don't remember which one, but one of those other 7 owners actually came out and said the same thing.

 

[NoFBinLA]

Bills aren't going anywhere as long as Ralph Wilson is alive. After that, anything is possible.

IMO, this guy is full of it. It's obvious that he would love to have a team there, but the guy is clearly lying through his teeth. He says that he has a handshake deal with the folks that own the Coliseum to use it until a stadium is built. But the head guy there says that no deal exists. He says that he's contacted 7 teams and every single one of them were chomping at the bit to go to L.A. The Bills were previously mentioned as one of 7 teams that this guy was recruiting. And there is NO way that Wilson is telling this guy that he wants to move the team to LA. I don't remember which one, but one of those other 7 owners actually came out and said the same thing.

Also you can't trust the Coliseum Commission as far as you can throw them. That bunch of idiots is why we lost out on the Texans. he may have an agreement but the moment it seems real, they'll try to make the Coliseum a factor but refuse to do what they need to in terms of updates and ceding control to the team and - as it always does - it will screw the whole thing up anyway.I mean they almost drove USC out of the Coliseum this spring.

 

[shader]

Can someone tell me what great things LA has to offer that you can't do in the rest of the country!

I mean, apparently it's the only city in the US that has so many attractions, and whose citizens are SO INCREDIBLY BUSY, that it can't fill a stadium 8 times a year despite having 4 million people!

 

[NoFBinLA]

Can someone tell me what great things LA has to offer that you can't do in the rest of the country! I mean, apparently it's the only city in the US that has so many attractions, and whose citizens are SO INCREDIBLY BUSY, that it can't fill a stadium 8 times a year despite having 4 million people!

Well thats the thing - i think they can - the Rams were just pretty far away from LA proper and struggled - in which case liek many stadiums in many cities, it didn't get filled.The Coliseum sat 90-100k and it was just really tough to fill it. I dunno a lot of teams could every week (although USC often does). A smaller, more sanely sized stadium could be filled pretty routinely. So no, I don't think LA is THAT busy. A lot of people seem to liek to think we wouldn't do it, but it's impossible to get Laker tickets when they are good, people go to baseball games all the time and even the Clippers have been known to draw well.I think why LA doesn't have/won't get a team isn't it wouldn't fill the stadium - it's many other factors.

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

got a bad feeling the bolts are moving North

Im sure Al Davis will sue to get there though.

could be ugly

 

[MrJamela]

Personally I'm just as happy there is no team here.

The ticket prices would be ridiculous, the crowd would be rough, traffic would be hell and we'd get games blacked out on TV.

Keep in mind that the Rams and Raiders both sucked terribly while they were here.

 

[Hoss_Cartwright]

Personally I'm just as happy there is no team here.The ticket prices would be ridiculous, the crowd would be rough, traffic would be hell and we'd get games blacked out on TV.Keep in mind that the Rams and Raiders both sucked terribly while they were here.

Now that's the kind of fans LA is known for

 

[The Kansas Comet]

Can someone tell me what great things LA has to offer that you can't do in the rest of the country!

I mean, apparently it's the only city in the US that has so many attractions, and whose citizens are SO INCREDIBLY BUSY, that it can't fill a stadium 8 times a year despite having 4 million people!

Well thats the thing - i think they can - the Rams were just pretty far away from LA proper and struggled - in which case liek many stadiums in many cities, it didn't get filled.The Coliseum sat 90-100k and it was just really tough to fill it. I dunno a lot of teams could every week (although USC often does). A smaller, more sanely sized stadium could be filled pretty routinely.

So no, I don't think LA is THAT busy. A lot of people seem to liek to think we wouldn't do it, but it's impossible to get Laker tickets when they are good, people go to baseball games all the time and even the Clippers have been known to draw well.

I think why LA doesn't have/won't get a team isn't it wouldn't fill the stadium - it's many other factors.

The Coliseum is extremely tough to fill - it is very difficult to get to on a game day, there is very little reliable parking, the sight lines are very poor, and it is simply too big to be filled consistently (USC fills it often now, but that's only because they've been unbelievably successful during Carroll's tenure - they didn't come close to filling that place aside from the UCLA or ND games during Hackett's time). Plus, the way the concessions and restrooms are set up is terribly inefficient - trying to walk around the perimeter of the stadium to use the bathroom or get some food at halftime is like trying to drive around the nearby 110 an hour before kickoff. And, of course, the surrounding neighborhood is not one that anybody would go out of his way to visit most of the time.

If an owner could build a 70-75,000 seat stadium (I say an owner because there's no way LA would ever put public money up for a stadium, thankfully), I'm pretty sure LA and the surrounding counties could fill it. People say LA had their chance and blew it, but St. Louis simply made the Rams an unbelievable offer to move and it made too much financial sense (which is all Shaw was really concerned about for much of his time in LA/Orange County) for them not to move. As for the Raiders, blaming LA for Al Davis' machinations is pretty much ridiculous - like any city could handle Al and his numerous shady dealings in the 90's. The acrimony between him and the city of Oakland seems to be proof of that.

For any stadium deal to get done in LA, the Coliseum Commission would need to be kidnapped and dumped in a penguin colony in Antarctica. They would deserve it, too, for as many times as they've screwed up potentially good deals.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

Bills aren't going anywhere as long as Ralph Wilson is alive. After that, anything is possible.

Might wanna check the home stadium for the December 7th game vs the Phins.

Packers used to play games in Milwaukee too.

 

[MrJamela]

Personally I'm just as happy there is no team here.The ticket prices would be ridiculous, the crowd would be rough, traffic would be hell and we'd get games blacked out on TV.Keep in mind that the Rams and Raiders both sucked terribly while they were here.

Now that's the kind of fans LA is known for

I went to more than a couple games over the years out here....the Raiders games were terrible. The team was so bad that the fans would get restless and start fighting. Where other teams have guys going up and down the stadium with drinks and hot dogs, we had uniformed LAPD officers patrolling the stands. Football makes sense in most other towns. Not so much here.

 

[The Hank]

Bills aren't going anywhere as long as Ralph Wilson is alive. After that, anything is possible.

Might wanna check the home stadium for the December 7th game vs the Phins.

Packers used to play games in Milwaukee too.

Aren't the Bills making 3 times as much money during those Toronto games though?It sucks from a fan's prespective, but for a strictly business move, its a no-brainer and an easy way to grow the fan base "internationally".

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

Bills aren't going anywhere as long as Ralph Wilson is alive. After that, anything is possible.

Might wanna check the home stadium for the December 7th game vs the Phins.

Packers used to play games in Milwaukee too.

Aren't the Bills making 3 times as much money during those Toronto games though?It sucks from a fan's prespective, but for a strictly business move, its a no-brainer and an easy way to grow the fan base "internationally".

absolutely. that's why they are doing it. doesn't mean the franchise is relocating.I also don't think it sucks too bad from a fan's perspective either. Bills season ticket sales are the highest they've been since the Super Bowl years.

 

[The Hank]

Bills aren't going anywhere as long as Ralph Wilson is alive. After that, anything is possible.

Might wanna check the home stadium for the December 7th game vs the Phins.

Packers used to play games in Milwaukee too.

Aren't the Bills making 3 times as much money during those Toronto games though?It sucks from a fan's prespective, but for a strictly business move, its a no-brainer and an easy way to grow the fan base "internationally".

absolutely. that's why they are doing it. doesn't mean the franchise is relocating.I also don't think it sucks too bad from a fan's perspective either. Bills season ticket sales are the highest they've been since the Super Bowl years.

I would just be upset that I'd be going to one less "home" game.How close is Buffalo to Toronto?

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

I would just be upset that I'd be going to one less "home" game.How close is Buffalo to Toronto?

It's about a 90 minute drive. Season ticket holders also got to purchase one less preseason game, which is generally a waste of money. So, instead of purchasing tickets for 10 games this year, season ticket holders only had to purchase 8. Makes it more affordable, which helps in a small market with a depressed economy. I think most fans recognize the economic benefits. If playing 1 or 2 games per year in Toronto allows them to compete better financially and sign players that they otherwise wouldn't be able to, then it's actually better for the fans of the team.As I said though, nobody knows what will happen once Wilson is gone. Team will be up for sale at that point and it's anyone's guess what will happen.Goodell is a Western NY guy and the team is making the best of their situation with the current arrangement. There's enough reason for optimism that the team will stick around as long as they can find a buyer willing to keep the team there.

 

[awesomeness]

I would just be upset that I'd be going to one less "home" game.How close is Buffalo to Toronto?

It's about a 90 minute drive. Season ticket holders also got to purchase one less preseason game, which is generally a waste of money. So, instead of purchasing tickets for 10 games this year, season ticket holders only had to purchase 8. Makes it more affordable, which helps in a small market with a depressed economy. I think most fans recognize the economic benefits. If playing 1 or 2 games per year in Toronto allows them to compete better financially and sign players that they otherwise wouldn't be able to, then it's actually better for the fans of the team.As I said though, nobody knows what will happen once Wilson is gone. Team will be up for sale at that point and it's anyone's guess what will happen.Goodell is a Western NY guy and the team is making the best of their situation with the current arrangement. There's enough reason for optimism that the team will stick around as long as they can find a buyer willing to keep the team there.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the days of the Buffalo Bills are numbered.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the days of the Buffalo Bills are numbered.

certainly a possibility once Wilson is gone. 90 year old owners don't live forever.are you 100% certain the Bills won't be in Buffalo in 5 years? 10 years? when?do you think they're going to wind up in LA? in Toronto? where?how much do you really know about the situation?

 

[apalmer]

Can't help thinking that "next year" is an awful lot like "tomorrow", and tomorrow never comes.