Commissioner: Bills’ Future Should Be In Western N.Y.
By Dan Scotchmer sports@post-journal.comCHAUTAUQUA - The hot-button issue at Friday's press conference with National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell was the future of the Buffalo Bills in the Queen City.
Goodell attempted to alleviate much of the concern surrounding the Bills venture into Toronto, where they'll play eight games over the course of the next five years.
''I think this move to Toronto for a limited number of games has actually strengthened the Buffalo Bills in Western New York,'' Goodell said after speaking at Chautauqua Institution on Friday. ''It's allowed them to generate additional revenue. It's allowed them to regionalize their fan interest."
''I think people will go from Buffalo up to Toronto to see those games, but I also think that people are going to come from Toronto to Buffalo. Not only to see those games, but, hopefully, participate in other things in that community. So, this is a part of the regionalization we saw in the mid 90s in Buffalo ... to broaden its market.''
Goodell also added that it was too early to tell whether more games would be played in Toronto after the initial slate of eight games.
''It's too early to speculate on that,'' he said. ''I think if it goes well and it does what we hope it's going to achieve, then there would be no reason to expand it necessarily.''
Although he has little control over the sale of the Bills franchise by the estate of current owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr., Goodell maintained that he is going to try to keep the team in Buffalo.
''As far as the long-term future of the team, those are not issues we deal with, with respect to how an owner wants to pass a team on. ... He (Wilson) can instruct how he wants the team to be sold and to whom if he wished. ... Mr. Wilson has made it clear he would like to see the team stay in Buffalo, and I will work very hard to make sure that it does.''
He further added, ''We have rules about our franchises. We work to make sure our franchises stay in their current market. Just because somebody spends the most money to buy a team does not give them the right to move. They have to meet relocation guidelines that are very strict and very important to the league. They need 3/4 vote. So, it's not the highest bidder takes the team where they want.''
Player, Owner Relations
Small market teams, like Buffalo, still remain financially viable according to Goodell because of the revenue sharing system the league has put in place. Thus, insuring that the
''I think that's one of the premises that's made the league great and it starts with the fundamental principle that we share our revenue more than any other league. 80 percent of our revenue is shared among the 32 clubs, and the television revenue that is generated in New York is the same amount of money in New York as in Buffalo as far as what the team brings in. So, those decisions that were made close to 50 years ago have given us the financial stability to allow the Green Bay Packers, the Buffalo Bills, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Indianapolis Colts to be successful.''
He added, ''It is hard to imagine the National Football League without the Green Bay Packers or some of our other small market teams, the Buffalo Bills, the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers. These are markets that have contributed so much to the NFL and they continue to be successful.''
NFL Owners recently opted out of the Collective Bargaining Agreement; however, Goodell said that football fans everywhere should not be worried.
''I don't think fans should be worried for one simple reason -there's still three years of football guaranteed. We have plenty of time to resolve the issues we have in front of us. This was something that was contemplated in ou Collective Bargaining Agreement. It gave us the option to do this if we did not feel the deal was working as we had hoped it would.''
Goodell recently meet with all 32 NFL owners in one-on-one meetings to discuss the financial situations of each team. He cited a March 2009 deadline to ratify a new agreement between the NFL owners and the Players Association.
''We will work very hard to see if we can get something down by March of 2009,'' Goodell stated. ''If it doesn't happen at that point in time, we'll work on the next deadline.''
Lynch Could Face Suspension
Goodell also briefly addressed the issues of beleaguered Bills' running back Marshawn Lynch, who admitted on Friday that he was the one driving his SUV when it struck an Ontario woman.
''We are monitoring it very closely (the incident),'' said Goodell. ''We would like to understand the facts as everyone else would. I think there have been a lot of discussions going on privately with law enforcement and Marshawn Lynch's people. I think from our stand point, we'll wait and see what the facts are and then we'll decide if it's a violation.''
