Wilson’s has no more excuses over naming rights
The Buffalo Bills have been searching for different streams of revenue, which prompted the experiment with Toronto. That idea has people confoundedly confused, considering that the Bills have never sold the naming rights to Ralph Wilson Stadium.
The main reason that Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr. has not sold the naming rights to the stadium is that the sale of the naming right would not be enough to be worth while. However, that is not the case anymore as the Dallas Cowboys, according to The Dallas Morning New’s Suzanne Marta, will break the record deal of 20 years, $400 million dollars. The record is held by the New York Mets, and New Jersey Nets.
Even if the Bills were to bring in one quarter of the $400 million that would still mean $5 million a year for the Bills. They probably will get more, considering that the Indianapolis Colts sold theirs to Lucas Oil on their new stadium for $120 million for 20 years.
For the Bills to get that kind of money they would have to build a new stadium, which would have to be fully funded by the government. The reason being that Wilson has stated publicly that building a new stadium would be detrimental to the team, since it would raise ticket prices.
However, that idea would be welcomed with open arms in an instant. Downtown Buffalo is in the opening stages of their downtown revitalization project. City of Buffalo mayor Byron Brown, and Erie County executive Chris Collins have stated that a new stadium is needed.
The fact is that Wilson does not want a naming right deal, because it would force the next owner of the Buffalo Bills to commit to Buffalo till at least 2012, which is when the lease on Ralph Wilson Stadium expires. The reason of not committing to Buffalo is, because it is in decline. However, Buffalo is one of the poorest cities in the USA.
The fact of the matter is that Wilson is an out of touch with reality owner that does not understand that if he stepped up, and work with the city he could help turn around the city of Buffalo, and bring in more revenue at the same time.
April 15th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
What company in their right mind would pay $100 million for the naming rights to RWS?
Putting you name on a SOTA palace in a growing market like Dallas is one thing–but what marketing ‘bang for your buck’ do you get in plastering your name on a 30+ year old stadium in an economically depressed small metro market? Answer: not $100 million worth (more like a couple of million a year, which is pocket lint to an NFL franchise).