Southern Ontario = Toronto.
The Buffalo Metro consists of Erie and Niagara County and is 1567 square miles. So technically 1.87 times bigger than Wake County if we want to get pedantic.
And obviously there have been issues with tapping the Toronto market (the dropped series Buffalo-Toronto experiment). Buffalo also has the lowest ticket prices in the league. Nothing need be imminent, but certainly it becomes a question about whether Buffalo could pony up for a stadium if it came to that. Itās a small market. The smallest market with a professional team (let alone two) there is, outside Green Bay.
Iām not sure what you are comparing here or why it matters. You said Erie county was twice as big as Wake county, which itās not. You canāt just add an entire county to prove yourself right. Thatās cheating.
If you are only including Buffalo metro as the NFL market for the Buffalo Bills, then yes, itās a small market but half the fans come from Rochester and Canada. Something like 20% of the season tickets are owned by Canadians. (Pre-pandemic of course).
The average ticket price this year for a Billās game is 101.69, the league average is 104. Bills will sell out ever single game despite Canadian travel restrictions while every other team in the league struggles to fill their stadiums. Bills are staying put.
I never said anything about Erie County. I said the Greater Buffalo area, aka Buffalo MSA.
I think you may be looking at season ticket prices and not average ticket prices, which are much lower in Buffalo. I also am unsure what you mean by selling out. NFL games sell out mostly. Only 3 teams sold less than 90% of their tickets in 2019 (Tampa, Washington, Cincy). Buffalo was average, at 17th. I never said Buffalo had bad fans. Just that they are capped to a large extent. Even if we took your numbers at face value, 70% of their fans come from 70+ miles or another country. How sustainable that is is definitely an open question.
I can go ahead and tell you that Bills Country spans from Toronto, down through Buffalo, and all the way East past Rochester and as far as Syracuse.
Thatās fine. Itās still about money at the end of the day. If Buffalo can find it, great. If they canāt, themās the breaks. NFL is a business and they make fans painfully aware every day.
I still donāt know what your point is and this is silly to talk about because the Bills are not moving and they will get a new stadium even though the one they play in is the best in the league.
Next time you watch Jacksonville or Miami, take a look at the stands and let me know if 95% of those seats are full.
So bringing this back to being Raleigh-relevant; if the Bills were to ever move the team here, we know both @Phil and myself would be season ticket holders! Thatād be the only Bills move Iād selfishly be ok with. However with the Panths 2ish hours down the road, I find this scenario unlikely.
Thatās not right at all. If the Bills moved to Raleigh I wouldnāt spend a dime on the team and would enthusiastically root against them. And here I thought I was talking to a Bills fan. You my friend are no Bills fan.
oh ⦠ok sorry sir
Damn rightā¦
You can turn in your Jersey and Bills Mafia card to the nearest dumpster.
I see 30 new comments on this thread and naively think something interesting is happeningā¦
Come on guys. Remember what this forum is for. Bashing each other about something that will never happen is about as far from the purpose as you can get. Back on topic please.
Any more details? Or just going to leave that one hanging thereā¦
There were not any new details mention concerning DTSouth . My friend did mention that the project team were working hard on the lawsuit concerning the grease company that is fighting to keep the timeframe on their lease .
I for one worry that Downtown South could suck the development and retail energy out of actual downtown much like Cameron Village did 70+ years ago. Iād rather see this go forward AFTER some of the larger announced projects are completed downtown. A āgoā with DT south could steal all the energy, especially if it includes a stadium.
John , You do have a strong point concerning Downtown verses Downtown South Project and especially having a sports stadium .
It does feel, at least from my distant perspective, that DTR is right on edge of turning into something really dynamic, a lot of great areas just waiting to be stitched together.
Iād like to think we could support both DTProper and DTSouth right now, but Iāve got serious doubts.