just saw this now.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060410/1056348.asp
Buffalo Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. told reporters Sunday that the team could relocate if proposed changes to a new National Football League agreement are adopted.
Wilson, who appeared in a news conference alongside Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., warned - as he has repeatedly in recent days - that several proposed “qualifiers” in the collective bargaining agreement, including reductions in local revenue sharing, could leave the team economically unviable.
But this was the first time Wilson suggested that the team could actually move.
“I have always said, always, that I would never move the team from Buffalo,” Wilson said. "Now, with this new collective bargaining agreement, I’m hopeful I can steadfastly adhere to what I’ve said. But I am making no promises.
The 87-year-old owner said the uncertainty has clouded his - and the team’s - future.
“As to my succession, I don’t know what I’m going to do now,” he said. “Before, I was going to sell the team or something, but I don’t know now. This has changed everything.”
Proposed changes could stop large-market teams with higher ticket, suite and sponsorship revenues from sharing some of that with smaller-market teams. One qualifier would prevent future owners - of the Bills, for instance - from receiving any such revenue sharing.
Another could penalize teams whose annual ticket revenue drops below 80 percent of the league average, which would impact the Bills and its relatively low ticket prices despite selling out all eight home games last season.
Wilson, who was one of only two owners to vote against the collective bargaining agreement last month, said he has not heard from a single owner offering support during his high-profile campaign. The Bills owner said it could take as late as fall before the league’s Qualifying Committee - whose members have yet to be named - finalizes the critical details.
Schumer, who sits on Senate judicial and financial committees that handle issues of interest to the NFL, said he planned to call Commissioner Paul Tagliabue today to express his concerns. Other politicians Wilson has enlisted for support include Gov. George E. Pataki and Erie County Executive Joel A. Giambra.
Schumer said he plans to bring the senators of small-market teams together to press their case with the NFL and hopes to enlist the support of fans and alumni such as former Bills quarterback Jack F. Kemp, who went on to be a congressman, federal housing secretary and Republican vice presidential candidate.
“The Bills are the heart of Buffalo,” Schumer said. "Everyone in Buffalo is totally loyal to the Bills. . . . They are a team that symbolizes the community more than just about any other.
“The bottom line is very simple: The smaller teams in the league, because of the new contract, are going to have a very rough time of making it.”
Despite the NFL owners’ strong support for the collective bargaining agreement, Schumer held out hope that details in the complex agreement may have been overlooked in the rush for a settlement. He also said the issue went beyond the owners, contending that the NFL had a “higher obligation.”
“It’s the people of Buffalo and Western New York, the people of Jacksonville and northeast Florida who want to see their teams stay,” Schumer said. “I think there’s a national interest here that goes beyond any one owner’s desire to do this or that.” Wilson said that he was aware that NFL owners were concerned about the team’s gross receipts, which he called “the lowest in the league,” but that he would not raise ticket prices beyond what the region could afford. He also said the league wants him to sell the naming rights to Ralph Wilson Stadium.
