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).