Bills President & CEO Russ Brandon yesterday announced that the team has "set a new season ticket sales record" by passing 57,500, which "breaks the old mark" of 57,132 set in '92, according to Sal Maiorana of the ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE. With the franchise "safe and secure -- likely for decades to come -- in western New York thanks to new owners Terry and Kim Pegula, not to mention all the buzz that has been created about the team this offseason with the hiring of coach Rex Ryan and the arrival of several new players, the Buffalo fan base has been energized." The Bills have not made the playoffs since '99, a 15-year drought which is the "longest active streak in the NFL." However, since the Pegulas took over, the "dark clouds that have hovered over Ralph Wilson Stadium have begun to dissipate." Fans "can still purchase season tickets -- which provide discounts ranging" from 15-50% off individual game tickets -- but "if the total reaches 60,000, they will be capped and a waiting list will be formulated." The Bills have "never had a waiting list in their 55-year history." The team last year "sold 47,482 season tickets" (ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, 6/16).
FAN APPRECIATION: Brandon yesterday said, "We are sitting here talking about a record and that’s great, but I am talking about the loyalty our fans have provided. ... It is an incredible testament to them. And I know that Rex and [GM] Doug Whaley and everyone in the football department is going to do everything to try and put us over the hump.” In Buffalo, Vic Carucci notes previous members of the Bills’ football department "have made the same effort, only to fall short." Yet, fan loyalty has "seemingly never wavered." Brandon added the Bills’ luxury suites are “pretty much in sold-out status” (BUFFALO NEWS, 6/16).
GET THEM WHILE THEY'RE HOT: PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio wrote the buzz from the new record "should result in even more ticket sales." And the "smart move" will be to sell "as many tickets as possible now, before the season gets started and the absence of a sufficiently-competent quarterback potentially derails the highest hopes the fan base has had since the last time the Bills made the playoffs" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 6/15).
