Despite the Bills having a reported $29M marketing budget, African-American media outlets in Buffalo say they get "virtually no advertising or promotional business from the team despite reaching out to the franchise," according to Rod Watson of the BUFFALO NEWS. WUFO-AM Sports Dir Pat Freeman said, "They don't spend any with media outlets of color." Watson noted Freeman has "written Commissioner Roger Goodell ... and is following up with another letter this week after getting no response." He also will "bring it up at Goodell's State of the League address next week if he gets a chance to ask a question." Watson noted the hope is that Bills Owners Terry and Kim Pegula "will rectify the spending disparities as they learn more about a community in which minority groups constantly have to fight for inclusion." Freeman said that Pegula Sports & Entertainment "cited its exclusivity agreement with WGR Radio but that it would look at that going forward." Freeman, referring to African-American weekly newspapers, said, "Print is another story. If you can't advertise with WUFO, why can't you advertise with the Criterion and the Challenger?" (BUFFALO NEWS, 1/28).
STAYING CONSISTENT: In Buffalo, Tyler Dunne noted after the Bills finished 8-8 in '15, the Pegulas "didn’t want to hit the reset button," so GM Doug Whaley "was extended to a multi-year deal and a tone was set." Whaley said, "I look at it this way. We haven't had continuity: the Buffalo Bills. And what has it gotten us? So let's try something new." Dunne wrote an extension "doesn't necessarily guarantee immunity" beyond '16, and Whaley "gets that." Whaley: "Let's put it this way: anything can happen. You never say never in this business. But what it does is it confirms that everybody in the building is on the same page and feeling like, 'Hey, we're in the right direction'" (BUFFALO NEWS, 1/27).
IT'S NO SECRET: In Buffalo, David Robinson notes while the Bills have built a season-ticket base of 60,000, the club's "long-term fate" still could "hinge on the state of Ralph Wilson Stadium," which completed a $130M renovation two years ago and will be the Bills’ home for the eight years remaining on the team’s lease. Robinson: "Will the Bills seek a new stadium when the lease expires?" Bills Managing Partner & President Russ Brandon said that it is "too early to say what will happen with the stadium." Brandon: “We are still working through the renovations of Ralph Wilson Stadium. We think that renovation will serve us very well” (BUFFALO NEWS, 1/29).
