Bills’ Wilson should sell stadium’s naming rights

By Connor Byrne  |   Monday, April 17, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Buffalo Bills
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With the recent talks of the Buffalo Bills' demise running rampant of late, many have begun to wonder how the small-market franchise can start pulling in more revenue. Bills owner and president Ralph Wilson has bickered about the NFL's new collective bargaining agreement being awful for organizations such as his, but he's yet to take any real action in trying to take the proverbial lemons and make lemonade out of them.

One way that comes to mind is selling his stadium's naming rights. Currently, the Bills' humble, 72,000 seat abode is known as Ralph Wilson Stadium. Prior to having that name, the facility was known as Rich Stadium; Rich Products was its corporate sponsor. That shows that Wilson has been willing to have a company sponsor his stadium in the past, so he should have no problem going back to that, but he does.

Little does Wilson know that he can have his cake and eat it too. All he has to do is find a company to put its name on the stadium, while agreeing that he can keep his name on the venue as well. For instance, when the Denver Broncos moved out of Mile High Stadium a few years back, owner Pat Bowlen made it a point to keep the "Mile High" moniker alive in the new name. Thus, he agreed to a multi-million dollar deal with Invesco, and that's where the name Invesco Field at Mile High spawned from. It's kept the fans of the Broncos pleased, while raking in money for the organization and its corporate sponsor.

If Wilson is so bent on keeping his name on the Bills' stadium, he can simply find a company and keep it on there. How would he do that? For example, let's say Wilson and Verizon reach some sort of accord. Rather than being called Ralph Wilson Stadium, the Bills' newly-named facility would be called Verizon Field at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Obviously, that keeps the team's founder in the limelight, while making some serious money for and from a happy company. The owner could copy the Broncos' model while keeping tradition intact.

Should Wilson find himself a worthy company to put its name on the Bills' stadium, it would be worthwhile for the owner to set up an agreement with that business. Wilson stated two weeks ago that selling the stadium's naming rights wouldn't even make the team enough money to sign ragtag free agents off the street, but that simply isn't true. Almost every organization across the sports landscape has signed up with another company for a stadium name because it is a major cash-cow.

Many have piled on the Bills' defenseless owner when it comes to not changing the stadium's name, but perhaps those around him should take the brunt of the criticism. They ought to be telling the curmudgeonly figure that acquiring a corporate sponsor for Ralph Wilson Stadium would be a huge boon to the organization; however, they simply aren't doing that. Shame on them.

Although a new corporate name won't cure all that ails the Bills' sagging finances, it would certainly be helpful. To put it in laymen's terms, Buffalo and its football team look pathetic in the national spotlight because their owner is doing far too much bleating about the league's new CBA and its financial effects. Unfortunately for Wilson, nobody outside of his own fan base is smart enough to feel sorry for a multi-millionaire who owns a sports franchise. Nationally, maybe people will begin to see the light of Wilson if he just steps off his high-horse for a second and does the right thing.

It may not be what the Bills' faithful wants to hear, but it's the undeniable truth to anyone not wearing rose-colored glasses.

--Connor Byrne can be reached at cbyrne@realfootball365.com
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