ORCHARD PARK, NY – Buffalo Bills Season Ticket Members have officially set a new record.
The Buffalo Bills today announced that Bills Season Ticket Members have purchased more than 57,500 season tickets – the highest total in the team’s 55-year history. The previous record of 57,132 was set in 1992. The team sold 47,482 in 2014.
“Since we agreed to purchase the Buffalo Bills in September 2014, we have been humbled by the fans and their outpouring of emotion when they learned this team would remain in Buffalo,” said Bills Owner Terry Pegula. “Bills Season Ticket Members passionately support this team year after year and are the most loyal fans in the National Football League. We truly thank them for their commitment to this franchise. Like our fans, we are looking forward to a great 2015 season with our Head Coach Rex Ryan, the coaching staff, the players and the entire organization.”
Limited individual game tickets only remain for the New York Jets game (January 3). Limited club seats are available for other games. The group ticket on-sale date is set for Friday, June 19. Individual game tickets are no longer available for the team’s first seven regular season home games.
A limited number of season tickets remain available for purchase at this time. If they sell out (at approximately 60,000 total season tickets sold) then a Season Ticket Member waiting list will go in effect. Details for the waiting list procedure will be released at a later date.
Season Ticket Members continue to receive the best overall value for fans purchasing tickets with discounts ranging from 15% to 50% off from individual game prices.
Benefits also include:
· Exclusive Season Ticket Member Events
· Discounted Full Season Parking Passes
· Exclusive Season Ticket Member Fantasy Football Leagues with great prizes
· A personal account service representative
· A discount at The Bills Store – 25% off in-store purchases on select Buffalo Bills merchandise
· Bills Bucks for all Season Ticket Members – STMs receive a percentage of their spend back on a Bills Bucks card that can be used at The Bills Store or at stadium concessions for food and beverage.
· (716) Food & Sport Discount – 10% off their bill when they show their Season Ticket Member card.
· NFL Game Rewind – FREE access to NFL Game Rewind which allows you to watch every NFL game online and on-demand (For US account holders only).
· NFL Red Zone – Exclusive free access to NFL RedZone on your smartphone device (For US account holders only).
Fans interested in purchasing season tickets can log onto buffalobills.com, call 1-877-BB-TICKS, email ticketsales@bills.nfl.net or visit the Ralph Wilson Stadium Box Office. Season ticket prices start at $420.00.
President Russ Brandon News Conference Transcript
ppreciate everyone getting here today. I don’t think it is a secret anymore, but we are thrilled to announce we have broken our season ticket record since 1992. We are right now north of 57,500 for the season. Obviously it is exciting times for the organization. It is a credit to our fans and their loyalty obviously. We have the best fans in the NFL as proven year in and year out. It is a credit to our ticket office and our customer service staff who work year-round to try and make this work and have done an excellent job. The leadership of Chris Colleary and Mike Ciechoski and the entire staff have just done outstanding work, but first and foremost it goes to our fans, it goes to our ownership, the Pegula’s, who have obviously provided stability for this franchise in Western New York. As I said at the time of the sale, the collective anvil that had been on the back of all of our shoulders, we were able to put that in Lake Erie. That played a huge role in today’s announcement. People have also asked me about when this started. Ticket sales and all of our business is a year round business. Since September of last year, really October, when the Pegula’s bought the franchise we have had record renewal rates, record deposits for ticket sales. This started in the fall of last year and we are thrilled where we are today and it is a credit to our fans. Any questions you guys have I am happy to answer them.
Q: Knowing we are still waiting on group sales, what is the consideration now knowing the numbers are getting tight?
A: We are planning on group ticket sale on Friday the 19th. Right now we have limited individual game, regular individual games only for the Jets. So really at this time group sales will be focused on the Jets game. We are very limited with our club seats sales across all of our games. It is a good problem to have. Obviously we have some season tickets on hold, the art of ticketing is just that, it’s how you manage the holds. But we are very limited in what we have held right now for season tickets. We are pretty much in a sold out capacity in all games except the Jets right now from an individual game basis.
Q: Are you going to have to cut off season tickets sales at any time?
A: We plan on capping season tickets at 60 (thousand) if we get there. As I said we are north of 57,500. We anticipate there is an opportunity we could get there and we will cap seasons at that point. Like I said we will go on with the group sale on Friday. We are scheduled to have our individual game sale on Wednesday July 29th, I believe right now we are going to evaluate based on what the inventory looks like.
Q: Can you explain the thought process behind that?
A: The thought process is again the art of it, and how holds work. We have obligations as a NFL franchise, also with holds for visiting teams and different avenues. Again that is what Chris works on, what do we hold and what we do not hold, and how we let those tickets available to the public. There could be tickets that do become available in July. But right now that is what our calendar is right now.
Q: The scarcity of the regular game tickets, has that been a factor for the club and suite sales to make that demand higher?
A: Suite sales are pretty much in a sold out status as well. We were last year and I think that is something that needs to be focused on is that last year our season ticket sales were 47 (thousand) and change. It was an excellent foundation for us to be where we are today. If we look back when I started here our season tickets sales were 31,141 and we had 20 open suites and we were building 76 new suites and were building 6,800 new club seats. So how this business has evolved in today’s NFL has been an immense project for our staff, our organization and our fan base. Right now club seats, sideline club seats are really in a sold out pattern, and we do have some limited availability for individual games within our club seats and our suites are pretty much in the same spot.
Q: Do you think that is more a testament to what is going on behind the scenes or people are excited about the product on the field?
A: I think it is a combination of everything, but the foundation of where we are today squarely is pointed at the Pegula’s buying the franchise. That we have been living with the fact of keeping this team viable in Western New York for the last 18 years has been our number one focus as a business and to see where we are today is obviously humbling for all of us that have been involved in it. Everything starts and stops with the ownership and the stability the Pegula’s have provided us.
Q: This is a team that has gone 15 years without a playoff run and to shatter a record that was created during a Super Bowl run, how do you explain that?
A: That’s funny, we thought we were going to get the record in 2008. We had 56,011 season tickets in 2008, and that was our goal that year. We fell a little bit short and we look back at the analysis over the last 17 years our average season tickets has been 42,944. So it is a pretty good foundation for the inventory we have in the market. To your point the team on the field hasn’t made the playoffs in the last 15 years and that is difficult for anyone who is involved in this organization in any department. But it goes back to our fans and the loyalty they have shown, not just this year. We are sitting here talking about a record and that’s great, but I am talking about the loyalty our fans have provided the entire time we have been on board trying to drive his business obviously. It is an incredible testament to them and I know that Rex (Ryan) and Doug Whaley and everyone in the football department is going to do everything to try and put us over the hump.
Q: Is it fair to say you have been mindful with the pricing increases of six percent and how do you calculate those things?
A: We have been very mindful of it. It is something that has been a hallmark of ours to try and keep our tickets affordable. Also it comes back to regionalization and my overused word that I use all the time to you guys. To see where we built the corridor to Rochester, how built the corridor up the QEW to Toronto and Southern Ontario has been a huge building block for us as an organization. That is something we are going to continue to focus on is regionalizing our brand and something that has proven to be very successful for us as a business.
Q: Can you give us a breakdown of where the percentages are coming from?
A: I knew you were going to ask me that. I will get you up to date numbers. We are pretty steady and Rochester and Southern Ontario have been slugging it out for who is the number two sister city in season tickets. In overall ticket sales both are very strong markets.
Q: What about the spikes you saw after the Pegula’s bought the team or was it Rex, personnel moves, the schedule coming out?
A: Really it’s a combination of a lot of things, the direction of the franchise, people feel pretty good about what Whaley and Ryan are doing on the field. We could see it last year with a pretty significant increase in season ticket sales. I think people feel pretty good about that and the excitement about what we are doing personnel wise, what we are doing coaching wise, and I think all that plays a factor in it. There is no doubt in my mind that the number one factor is what Terry and Kim have done.
Q: Season ticket holders usually get first crack at individual tickets does that change in anyway?
A: No, they have already had their opportunity. That is one of the reasons we are in an individual game situation. Season ticket members have done an incredible job purchasing individual game tickets because that is one of their benefits. There is a long list of benefits that are in the press release. I think that to me is one of the greatest benefits, they have the first opportunity to take care of friends and family from out of town in buying those tickets. That is why at this point really the Jets is the only game available to individuals.
Q: Or to put them on the secondary market and was that a concern if that was going to be tweaked or taken down?
A: That is another great example of how the ticketing world has changed in the last 15-18 years. The secondary market didn’t exist. Obviously it is an avenue and a tool for people to use if they wish. That is one of the things we have done as a business, is we have evolved our strategies in how we sell tickets over the last 15 years. It is a 180 to compare how we started this years ago.
Q: You went to London last week, any update how that is going planning for that game in October?
A: You got your suite all ready for you, Sal. It is a lot of logistics that go into that London game. So we had a majority of our staff out there last week putting everything together. It is going to be an outstanding opportunity. I think our team will travel well as a fan base. Meeting with the NFL UK office they had a lot of calls from Western New York. I think we will bring a little of Buffalo to the UK next October. It is going to be a lot of fun.
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Tagged with: Buffalo Bills, Kim Pegula, NFL, Russ Brandon, Season tickets, Terry Pegula
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