Buffalo Bills: Marketing Geniuses of the NFL

It’s sometimes incredible to think about what not making the playoffs for almost a decade can do for a franchise. 

Bills fans are faced with a strange dilemma year in and year out.  Each year the organization builds up hope and each year the team disappoints.  Over the last 10 years the Bills have found just about every imaginable way to disappoint their fans from the Music City Mistake and the Monday Night Football losses against Dallas and Cleveland, to letting good quarterbacks go or by hiring unproven coordinators as head coaches. 

Each offseason rolls around and every season ticket holder is left with the question as to whether or not to renew their tickets. As a fan the only way to really have your voice heard about the poor product on the field is to do so with your wallet. If a fan wants to prove something to the organization they don’t renew their tickets, they don’t buy merchandise and they don’t watch games. That’s the only conceivable way to make a statement.

This is where Bills fans are in a strange paradox. A Bills fan’s greatest fear of late has been the threat of losing their team to a city like Toronto. Owner Ralph Wilson Jr. complains about how the Buffalo market can’t compete with that of Dallas and other larger cities. So if the fans were to take a stand and not pay up, what happens to the franchise?

Last season the Bills sold 56,011 season tickets, good for second best in club history. Last season the fans actually had legitimate things to be excited about.  They had a young intelligent quarterback entering his first season as the full time starter. They finally drafted a tall WR opposite Lee Evans and had an official pro-bowl left tackle. They traded for Marcus Stroud to strengthen the interior of their defensive line, and young players like Ashton Youboty and Paul Posluszny looked to become promising starters. 

The excitement was understandable.

The team then started out at 5-1, so everything the club had promoted and the fans fans had believed seemed justified.  Then in true Bills fashion they fell apart and ended up 7-9 again. In a surprising move the Bills still signed head coach Dick Jauron to a contract extension despite his unpopularity among fans and the teams decomposition following their impressive start.

Since that meltdown, the Bills lost their left tackle, and swung Langston Walker over from the right spot. They drafted rookie offensive linemen to switch to the guard positions. They also drafted a one year starter from Penn State in hopes of curing their anemic pass rush. 

Their players also got into trouble during the offseason. Marshawn Lynch was arrested for possession of a gun and marijuana.  Ko Simpson was arrested for hindering a police investing and tried to use his not-so-big-time name to get him out of trouble. Donte Whitner was arrested in a brawl outside of a night club in Cleveland and lastly Corey McIntyre was arrested in an exposure case. Not all of these players were charged with their respective allegations, but these incidents sure didn’t help the Bills as a franchise look very classy.

And still with all that being said, somehow, all of the pieces fell into place for Buffalo in respect to their marketing for the upcoming season.

This is why this offseason so frustrating. Despite last season’s collapse, the questionable moves and legal woes, the club is still selling just as many season tickets than ever, currently around the 54,000 mark. 

The signing of Terrell Owens is the first thing that comes to mind when discussing Buffalo’s marketing genius. For now, T.O. is all fans apparently need to believe that Buffalo has a whole new, relevant team. Now we are going to get to see the catchphrase posted everywhere, “T.O. to T.O.” when the Bills try to promote their disappointing visits to Toronto.

T.O. also brings great career totals, the publicity of two television shows, and swarms of media now in attendance at Bills practices. While he does bring so many different elements to the Bills from his play to his character, he is basically being used to hide all of the other problems the Bills have.

Besides the signing of T.O. comes the 50th anniversary of the American Football League. What timing! As if selling thousands of T.O. jerseys practically overnight wasn’t enough for revenue, comes the release of the new throwback jerseys in honor of the anniversary celebration.  And to top all that off, T.O. now has his own cereal.

Then there is the fact that Ralph Wilson Jr. and Bruce Smith are getting inducted into the Pro- Football Hall of Fame in ten days.  The Buffalo Bills will be a major focus of that week's festivities having two inductees entering this year along with the team being asked to participate in the annual Hall of Fame Game. So many things to market!

It’s hard not to be impressed with how the Bills still find ways to get fans overly excited about the approaching season.  When you talk about simply the team we see from week to week, sure, there is always the possibility of something big happening. We’ve seen moments of greatness from the majority of this roster over the last three seasons, but it’s not enough.

The Buffalo Bills franchise has done a spectacular job at making money when they really shouldn’t be. They have made all the right moves.  Let’s hope they can do the same on the field for once this decade.