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STUDY SAYS ON-FIELD RECORD HURTS BILLS SEASON-TICKET SALES

          Bills season-ticket sales "have plummeted this summer
     in the wake of a successful 1996 season," according to Scott
     Thomas of BUFFALO BUSINESS FIRST.  Bills Owner Ralph Wilson
     "predicts" that the team will sell 34,000 season tickets
     this season, down 18% from '96 sales of 41,504, which would
     be the lowest total since the Bills had 33,625 season-ticket
     holders in '87.  Wilson recently said that the economy and
     population loss in Western NY have contributed to declining
     ticket sales, but a BUSINESS FIRST study of Bills ticket
     sales since '73 shows that the economy "actually has little
     impact at the box office."  The study compared annual ticket
     sales with the Bills' winning percentage the previous season
     and annual changes in the local employment base.  Results
     showed the Bills averaged 49,400 season tickets in its ten
     top sales years, which followed seasons in which the Bills
     averaged a .660 winning percentage.  The Bills averaged
     22,900 season tickets in their 10 lowest sales years, which
     followed an average .360 winning percentage.  Regarding the
     economy's impact, local employment actually declined by an
     average of 0.1% in the Bills' 10 best sales years, while the
     job base grew by an average of 0.4% in their 10 worst sales
     years.  As for the current sales after the Bills' playoff
     appearance in '96, "observers suggest that the real problem"
     is the elimination of a season-ticket holder discount,
     "coupled with the expectation of a decline in the team's
     fortunes" (BUFFALO BUSINESS FIRST, 7/14 issue). 
          STUDY THIS: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Barra & St. John
     release a study of attendance trends of nine MLB teams after
     they moved to new facilities.  Barra & St. John: "A new
     ballpark increases attendance, but not by itself. ... [I]f
     the won-lost record slips below .500, the ballpark stops
     looking very new.  Hey, if you win it, they will come" (WALL
     STREET JOURNAL, 7/18).

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