Tebowmania can’t block a Buffalo blackout

AP

The Broncos and Tim Tebow will face the Bills in Buffalo, on the eve of the day that some would say should be Tebow’s actual birthday.  But the arrival of Tebowmania in Western New York won’t be enough to allow the game to be televised locally.

According to Mark Gaughan of the Buffalo News, a whopping 24,000 seats remain unsold for Saturday’s game.  Factoring in Christmas Eve no-shows, Gaughan says that Ralph Wilson Stadium could see its smallest crowd since 2001.

That dynamic could prompt owner Ralph Wilson to consider making drastic changes.  Though coach Chan Gailey and G.M. Buddy Nix aren’t believed to be on the hot seat, Wilson could decide that bigger names are needed, both to fill seats and to increase the chances of the team making it back to the playoffs.

73 responses to “Tebowmania can’t block a Buffalo blackout

  1. It’s Christmas Eve…

    It’s late december in Buffalo…

    The team is on a 7 game losing streak…

    What did they expect?

  2. Also the giant elephant in the room, Fitzpatrick. He was playing lights out at the start of the season, and once he got paid his numbers went down, and the team started losing. At the start of the season the Bills looked to be a playoff team.

  3. After the T.O. signing the fans bought a record number of season tickets, then a few weeks before the season they fire their OC and starting LT. The fans are waiting for the Bills to start spending money with over $20 million in cap space, and might let one of their young studs in Stevie Johnson go also. The Bills have turn into a farm system for other NFL teams. Now with the Lions all but in the playoffs, the Bills hold the title for longest span between playoff appearances being at 12 years and counting.

  4. They should have the game start at 9Pm and then have Santa fly in with gifts for all the children – The reindeer could come right out on to the field. It would be glorious.

  5. the good folks in Buffalo have more sense than to buy into all the Tblowmania. Maybe they actually have lives in upstate NY and aren’t as desperate and needy as donkey fans.

  6. Tebow looked really bad against a good team. I don’t think the Bills will have an impact on him tho. I hope they do I wanna see the Chargers make the playoffs instead of the overrated Broncos with no QB

  7. Sincere thanks to Tom Brady and the New England Pats for giving us at least a one week reprieve from the incessant Tebow stories.

    Thank you very much.

  8. Why the hell do they need to show up? To sit in the freezing cold and lament about another 4-0 start that will be lucky to end up at 7-9? Stay home, drink some beer, stary warm and enjoy 24 hours of A Christmas Story.

  9. You think that’s bad?

    Just wait until the Broncos and Bills meet again and Fitpatrick AND Tebow are both atrocious NFL QBs.

  10. They wouldnt even sell 20,000 tickets for this game if it were in Toronto – That market sucks for football.

  11. seaner44 says:
    Dec 21, 2011 3:39 PM

    I have a radical idea. Maybe dont have games on christmas eve.
    =====================================

    When would all the week 16 games be played then, Christmas Day? Monday, the 26th? Every team gets a bye? Unfortunately there isn’t really a good solution.

  12. shame on the people of buffalo not getting out in the cold of winter to get a glimpse of jesus resurected in the form of a football player.

  13. tfbuckfutter says:
    Dec 21, 2011 3:57 PM
    You think that’s bad?

    Just wait until the Broncos and Bills meet again and Fitpatrick AND Tebow are both atrocious NFL QBs.

    We’ll wait for eternity then.

  14. The amount of tickets remaining has NOTHING to do with Chritmas Eve, Fitzpatrick, or the game bein i nlate December….

    It is more that the fans are fed-up with the organization. 12 years of no playoffs…. 12 years of lack-luster teams with very little effort or money put into the organization.

    The fans are just over it. Until Ralphie starts spending some money to keep the good players he’s got and sign free agents to bring the team to a competitive place…. we just dont want to spend $200 to bring a family to watch a losing team extend its 7-game losing streak. i’m over it.

  15. seaner44 says:Dec 21, 2011 3:39 PM

    I have a radical idea. Maybe dont have games on christmas eve.

    ———————————————————-

    Thats would be a good idea, they could play the next day which happens to be a sunday. Also happens to be chritmas.

  16. Ralph Wilson has no idea what day it is to begin with. He needs to step down, sell this team and move on. As for the Bills, they can leave Buffalo for all I care. Erie County wants us taxpayers to foot the bill for $100 million in improvements to Ralph Wilson stadium. Why? Why should we pay out our tax dollars for Ralph Wilson to keep his money and give us an inferior product year after year?

  17. The gaol posts were like that in the picture because the wind in Ralph Wilson stadium swirls – That was against the Pats 2 or 3 years ago.

  18. “Oh please Christmas Eve is not stopping all the other teams in the NFL from selling out their stadiums. How about getting some loyal fans in Buffalo”

    Just because people don’t want to burn their wallet doesn’t mean Buffalo fans aren’t loyal.

    It means we’ll watch on television. Sorry we don’t want to spend an enormous amount of money to sit in freezing cold weather watching a perennial loser get destroyed every week.

  19. “LOL @ making Fitzpatrick the franchise QB”

    Hater alert.

    Chan Gailey isn’t going anywhere nor should he.

    I think Nix has done well, outside of the horrendous Spiller selection.

  20. This is exactly what the Bills brass deserves after avoiding the purchase of remaining seats a couple weeks back. The essentially chose to blackout their local market so the people of Buffalo chose to blackout the stadium. They seem to have forgotten what the economy has done to the city of Buffalo and most don’t have the cash to throw around.

    It’s sad because I love all the old AFL/NFL teams and think they’re a special part of the NFL. I don’t want them to move. I just want Ralph Wilson to sell them to a local Buffalo guy to rebuild the organization/stadium.

  21. The Pats played Buffalo, the last game of the 2008 season with Matt Cassel at QB. There were 60mph gusts. Some punts went backwards. They had to tie ropes to the goal posts to straighten them out for field goal attempts. I think the pic is from pre game warmups.

  22. Well that’s because it is pretty much confined to Denver and the media that keeps pumping it. That’s not a slam on Tebow, but to fans he’s just the Broncos QB. I don’t care how the Broncos do as long as they lose to my team.

    It’s just another case of the media telling us we are supposed to be bat crazy excited about something when we really just don’t care that much.

  23. …attention all believers in buffalo: church services in the area have been cancelled due to a special appearance by tebow & his imaginary friend in the sky at ralph wilson stadium…don’t miss this rare opportunity to finally catch your first glimpse!

  24. Here’s a radical idea…move the team.

    Evidently Bills fans can’t support their team despite ticket prices being the cheapest in the NFL. Ticket prices made artifically cheaper by expensive welfare payments to the Bills on the backs of local taxpayers.

  25. the fans have sold out that stadium for 12 yrs…. yes soemtimes not in time to lift a black out… but there are always 65,000+ people in that stadium on any given sunday watching a perennial LOSER… this has NOTHING to do with the loyalty of fans in Buffalo… it has to do with fans being FED-UP with the actual organization (not the team itself).

    The fans have kept up their end of the bargain… the organization has NOT. year in and year out of mediocrity (at best)…. Ralph, Russ Brandon, and Buddy need to start doing somethign to prove that they give a damn about the fans… lets start throwing some money at big name and actual good player free agents…. and stop trying to find quick-fiz draft pick luxuries…. BUILD A WINNER.

    its officially embarrassing… and NOT for the fans… but for Ralph and Russ Brandon. they should be embarrassed. how absolutely inept does an organization have to be to miss the playoffs 12 yrs in a row? its like you have to TRY to be that useless. if any of us “achieved” that distinction, we wouldn’t be able to keep our jobs…. its a JOKE.

  26. I know a crap-ton of Bills fans from my military days, most of them still in. Good people, but they ate me up this fall with the Dolphins hate and Playoffs talk. Funny I haven’t heard from any of them in awhile. Must be deployed or something, because it couldn’t have anything to do with the sweep or them being in last place in the AFC East….

  27. Nobody gives a crap about Tebow outside of Denver other than the media and religious zealots. Religious zealots don’t go to football games on the sabbath as it is, much less on the eve of their savior’s birthday.

  28. Cheap owner + dearth of talent + 7 game losing streak + 12 years without playoffs = empty stadium . Give Bills fans credit for being smart enough to stay home.

  29. The Broncos and Tim Tebow will face the Bills in Buffalo, on the eve of the day that some would say should be Tebow’s actual birthday.

    Always with the snarky comments…..This is the nonsense the media loves to perpetuate.

  30. rdrs68 says: Dec 21, 2011 3:50 PM

    the good folks in Buffalo have more sense than to buy into all the Tblowmania. Maybe they actually have lives in upstate NY and aren’t as desperate and needy as donkey fans.
    ——————————————————
    So what does that say about you since you are a fan of neither-or any real-team? Pretty sure Tebow exposed that pathetic bunch of fools you root for smart guy. Go somewhere else and spread your pathetic hate. And GO CHIEFS (this weekend anyway).
    P.S. 99 yard drive in less than 3 minutes with no time outs=CHOKEland

  31. Buffalo gave everybody an early Christmas present with the late season collapse, so why bother to show up when you already know what you got.

  32. grninerfan says: Dec 21, 2011 4:55 PM

    Tebow has never pretended to be God. Those of you who are making stupid jokes ’cause he expresses his faith all the time need to grow up.

    ————————————–

    I agree. All you people who no longer believe in fairy tales really need to grow up.

  33. The changes need to be Ralph Wilson. Guy is senile and every Buffalo fan knows he needs to either step down, sell the team or pass away. He’s ruined the Bills the last ten years while simultaneously damaging his legacy in Buffalo. Today’s generation of Bills fans see him as horrible.

  34. @ GMEN 1987

    “Here’s a radical idea…move the team.

    Evidently Bills fans can’t support their team despite ticket prices being the cheapest in the NFL. Ticket prices made artifically cheaper by expensive welfare payments to the Bills on the backs of local taxpayers.”
    ____________________________

    You are just jealous because the Giants aren’t even in NY State! There is now way NY State will let the Bills go without a fight. They are the only NFL team in the state. I pay $90 a game per seat for my tix. The only welfare I see are the checks you cash!

  35. Pat Robertson thinks it’s disgraceful that the heathens in Buffalo aren’t going to see their Lord and savior.

    BTW, Tebow does this to himself by throwing religion in everyone’s face.

  36. 12 years without the playoffs. The gradual demise of a front office. The failure to sign or even be in the market for a quarterback of any stature. These fans are always half glass full people but the constant let downs are wearing on them. All we want for Christmas is a new, caring and committed owner.

  37. Hey Bills fans,

    Not a smart time to start a boycott when your team’s lease is up after next season. This just shows potential new owners and taxpayers that you are not as committed fans as you say you are.

  38. I hear all the playoff games will also be blacked out
    in San Diego, Oakland and KC this year.
    Tebow beat them all.

  39. Football in LA is like hockey in Atlanta. I’m old enough to have seen a nice number of teams leave that town. LA is one of, if not the LEAST supportive town that an NFL team could move to, despite the market size. Secondly, since everyone knows what the BUF fans problem is how about a solution. How would you show disgust in your teams ownership after 5 years, 10 years, 15 years…just keep on supporting? That is being a lemming. What would you do?

  40. rdrs68 says:
    Dec 21, 2011 3:50 PM
    the good folks in Buffalo have more sense than to buy into all the Tblowmania. Maybe they actually have lives in upstate NY and aren’t as desperate and needy as donkey fans

    OHHH.. you still butt hurt bout that comeback beatdown in your house by our “horrible” quarterback? Get used to it…its gonna be worse the Shanahan years..Pu$$y

  41. Nope. No changes. No big names. Just draft picks. Without all the injuries, maybe would have gone 8-8 this year. Next year, draft a couple more guys on D, pick up some free agent OL here and there, and have enough depth to go 8-8 or 9-7. After that, make the playoff for a couple of years, then fade. Chan and Buddy aren’t the smartest guys in the room, but they know how to get it done. Sell them short at your own risk.

    They’ll get the 100 mil. in upgrades (more bathrooms) from Erie County, and sign an extension. Honestly don’t know if the Toronto gig is going to continue after the current one runs out. Not moving to LA, that’s for sure. Chuck’ll take care of that.

    Tailgate starts tomorrow.

    Who’s up for bowling ball shots?

  42. gmen1987 is a little worm! i used to take him seriously now i just laugh at him. he’s like the stephen colbert type for the bills fans lol. also interesting that the NY Gov. Cuomo didn’t commit to the Ralph renovation funding, but said he would work with Erie County and the community to keep the NFL franchise. “The Bills are very important, not just for western New York but to the entire state,” Cuomo said when asked by reporters. “So I’m looking forward to working with the county and the entire community in finding ways to make sure the Bills stay here.” That plus the undying support from Sen. Schumer brings nothing but optimism.

  43. Even here in Jacksonville we’ve never had 24,000 tickets to sell to avoid a blackout – and not a single remark by this site about moving the Bills to LA…

  44. @jagmania65…

    yeah but the Jags have to cover up 17,000 seats to achieve a “sell-out” (bringing the capacity to ~67,000). Ralph Wilson stadium has a capacity of 74,000… and no seats are covered…. when all is said and done on any given sunday, even at a non “sell-out” game, there will be more than 65,000 people in attendence…. which is aroudn what the Jags get on the ever elusive sell-out day down there (which never happens).

    so, in short, your comparison is apples to oranges.

  45. stanmark says: Dec 21, 2011 9:49 PM

    gmen1987 is a little worm! i used to take him seriously now i just laugh at him. he’s like the stephen colbert type for the bills fans lol. also interesting that the NY Gov. Cuomo didn’t commit to the Ralph renovation funding, but said he would work with Erie County and the community to keep the NFL franchise. “The Bills are very important, not just for western New York but to the entire state,” Cuomo said when asked by reporters. “So I’m looking forward to working with the county and the entire community in finding ways to make sure the Bills stay here.” That plus the undying support from Sen. Schumer brings nothing but optimism.
    ====================================
    Goobs, Governor Cuomo already has said there is not enough money to pay for renovations at the Ralph. The state is up to it’s ears in debt and you expect us taxpayers to give the Bills another welfare payment.

    Bills fans are going to have pull their own weight or else it’s time to move the Bills.

  46. Ralph will get the chip in from the state/county. why? because cuomo has pledged support along with schumer. try giving ONE fact to support anything you say! you cant thats why you are the king of satire! dont stop though you are hilarious.

  47. All I want for Christmas is for Ralph Wilson to sell the team to someone who has a passion for the Buffalo Bills and wants to build a contender.

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