Seemed like tix were pretty scarce for the opener

Well.....

I just called the ticket office and they told me nothing available. Now I don't know if they were holding some back for tomorrow, when we can purchase more than 6 (I've got 17 people that were getting 97 tickets total). So, right now, if anyone wants a different game, let me know, either a PM or email jwheeler01 at yahoo.com and I'll get them ordered tomorrow morning. If I don't hear from people by then, I'll have to assume you either don't see this thread, or you want your money back.

I will be emailing everyone this message if I have your email.

Jack.....Hopefully you will be able to score the ticks for the home opener...
For me and Mrs. Lew..its the home opener or nuttin'...

< crossing fingers for good luck for Jack>

Jack - what exactly is going on? Since (obviously) they do not have 75,000 season ticket holders, Has what has happened been that other season ticket holders have already bought up all the seats? Who else has had access to the ticket before the group sales?

-RichNJoisy

this is my guess

Season Ticket Holders...50K
Tickets Available Thursday...15K
Tickets being held for seasons...7k

Cleve and Sea sold like wild fire yesterday as they are the two games that people want to go to and resell....i know that you can get 32 season tickets in a row in section 311 on the Bills website.....

Are you saying Jack COULD have purchased the group tickets yesterday?

No. Six/game/account until tomorrow. Apparently, a couple of thousand people did just that.

no...

Thanks for the clarification!

Went through all my contacts and their contacts with the Bills. No tickets were being held back for large sales tomorrow.

only solution would be to maybe switch games....

I have been advocating it for several years.
Still possible to get them when season tickets sales are done but difficult.

Oakland Raiders would probably be a good game but decision needs to be made quick.

Only people that reply DIRECTLY to me via PM or email will I try to get a different game. I'm not going to just go ahead and switch games on people.

No one replied to say they wanted a different game, but I still called just in case....

25 minutes hitting re-dial...
20 minutes on hold....
no tickets available for Seattle

They are holding back about 8,000 tickets for season tickets purchase, which they expect will be sold out by the beginning of August.

I'll work on getting people refunds via the way you paid.

Wow! Looks like you ran into the same trouble we did on the Zone. Luckily we had 3 different season ticket holders get 6 each. But we are still several tickets short.

I'm thinking that's they way we'll have to do it next year. We'll still get together, just don't know if it will be an official "Annual Tailgate".

You won't be able to get the huge group of seats together. But if you have several season ticket holders, let's say 5 and they all get the 6 tickets a piece, that's 30. Then you just split the people a bit. It worked out evenly for us. We have one of the seat where there is a person who bought 3 tickets, and then next to them is a person who bought 2 tickets. and then 1 individual one is left. You just break them up. And if all 5 season ticket holders get them around the same time, you might actually get the seats very close to eachother.

Welcome to the new reality (no guaranteed tickets), I guess. It's good for the franchise -- I'll take sellouts over blackouts any day -- but that doesn't help us very much right now.

Jack posted a poll on the tailgate board, asking whether or not people are still coming if we all have to find our own tix. Please vote, and feel free to make suggestions. (I also tossed a StubHub link for the game in there.)

Personally, I'd like to see the opening-day-at-Hammer's tradition continue, and I'll do what I can to make that happen.

The wife and I will be at hammers . I have to find 3 more tickets .

How come when Jay did it we had no problems . Just kidding , Jack .

Better look out if I offer you some wine.

Now THAT is just fuggin funny

Jack , just send me wine no Check .

thanks
Rande

Well at least I don't crash servers. I just disappoint many people who had already made plans to be at the opener.


Oh wait....

Hey why fold the tent so quickly? I have been getting tickets from this guy for friends for a couple of years now. LINK Decent seats for just a few extra bucks.....so people are sitting in different sections but can still get together for the tailgate. Just something to think about. GET ER DONE!

Holding back 8K? I think they may sell another 2K season tickets MAX. I think most people who already want seasons have them by now...the ticket office is being a little bit over optimistic here.

I wonder what the Bills will do if they hold back season tickets which do not sell and then they are not still sold individually? Still have a blackout?

Wouldn't be the first time.

This is my annual rant on the Bills ticket distribution process:

- Team sells a respectable amount of seasons (52,000+)

- Team sells individual game tickets to STHers...nothing wrong with that. It's a legit STH perk.

- Team announces most games "sold out" after STH sale or group sale date. 8000 tickets reportedly "held back" for potential STHers.

8000 tickets held back for potential season tickets! There's the problem: the Bills get some cheap PR by announcing that individual game tickets are gone, when in reality it is not true. They are creating an artificial "demand market." I still believe the Bills will sell a couple of thousand STs, but 8000? No way. So...after the Detroit preseason game, the team will have about 6000 tickets for the Seattle game to unload, IN THE NEXT WEEK. A sellout should occur, but that's a lot of tickets to flood that market with, only a week or so to go before the Seattle game.

I think in late July, early August, the Bills may start to bleed some tickets into the market, but folks make plans early in the summer which games they attend and if we're told in early June, all but SF and NE are "sold out," well that takes the wind out of alot of sales (pun intended). Now you fine folks fortunate to be able to make your way to WNY for the TBD party have to make a decision, mostly concerning air travel. Do you take a chance now and book a flight? Hotels are usually able to be cancelled pretty easily, but good luck changing your flight plans these days.

The is an annual corner the Bills paint themselves in every year...I think the marketing is misleading and surprised the paid media (Buffalo Snooze, D and C) hasn't caught on to this. Instead, they run the virtually the same press release that OBD hands them.

End of Rant.

A couple of line items missing from Flanders rant are seats reserved for the opposing team and perk tickets for players, VIPs, Wilson's buddies, ghetto kid charity ... etc.

Presuming (conservatively) that the total to be released is still > 4K and considering the fact that this group has loyally supported and bought group tickets for years; is their any chance of convincing these contacts to reserve 97 of the to be released tickets for the TDB Tailgate Opener group?

Just as ESPN, FOX, CBS, etc will not willing to investigate NFL for fear of being cut off, the Buffalo local press is afraid of being cut off from the Bills' teat.

I thought about that, but if they do it for me, a STH for 9 years, then what about the person with 15 years? 20 years? 30 years? So I didn't even bother asking. Plus in the meantime, as others have already posted, people are checking other 2nd markets for tickets, so by time seats are released, if any, that 97 number could be down to less than 20.

The plan I have, but still needs approval by the Tailgate Commitee, is next year we'll make of list of ST holders that are willing to buy tickets when the limit is in place, then people that want tickets can be matched up. Benefit is greater chance at getting tickets, plus everyone can pick where they would like to sit, instead of being forced to be in the upper deck. Downside is if you have a group larger than six people (if that's still the limit next year) you may need to split them up.

My guy was like 5th in line, and only upper deck seats were available for the opener. It's been that way for a few years now. Seems that unless you have seasons in the lower bowl, there's almost no chance of getting in the lower bowl the day individuals are made available to STH. Just fyi.

Its all the cops fault. They get all the good seats. Fcuking pigs!!

I doubt it - they're all sucking on the county's teat while harrassing the public. Did I ever tell you about the time I saw one of our finest taking this one guy into custody at the stadium? He had him all lined up against a concrete wall, and while I don't know why he had him apprehended, he sure appeared to be submitting and cooperating.

Anyways, he was a big dude, and while the cop was waiting for his backup buddies to arrive, the cop was taking great pleasure in randomly and repeatedly shoving the back of the guys head so that the result was a continuous smashing of his face into the concrete. Good and bloody. I lost count how many times he repeated this textbook arrest technique. Poor guy wasn't resisting or anything. Seemed like the little Napolean was enjoying his chance at giving it back to one of his high school tormentor types. Also seems he was attempting to coerce some type of retaliatory behavior to justify an even bigger beating. Lord knows what happened once the rest of them arrived - I hightailed it out of there once I saw the cops on a rampage

Of course, I'm just bitter about a previous collar, so what do I know. I'm sure this is standard procedure

New thread about the Tailgate over at Tailgate East

http://www.stadiumwall.com/index.php?showtopic=67271

Has anyone seen Heitz's cooler?

Since the post title is essentially settled why not switch the pin from this link to the link quoted?

After being spirited away on that sunny afternoon several years ago, the cooler spent a few hours in the back of a truck, where it was drained of it's contents by Jim, Ned, and Nathan Diaklous, three local hooligans from Lancaster. It was left in the back of the pickup after it was stripped of its’ barley laden cargo and sat in a garage for several months languishing on the garage wall.

It was brought out at a family barbecue the following summer and questions regarding it's heritage and unusual signatures and well wishes scrawled across the lid caused Nathan to claim that he acquired the wayward cooling vessel from a friend who runs a limousine service. He spun a tale of the cooler abandoned after a wild party by a visiting rock star that had departed at the Buffalo airport and left behind the cooler. Ignatius, the family reprobate took in the story with a grin, knowing that the cooler was rarely used and would soon be deposited on the back wall of his Uncle's garage within hours after the family gathering. His mind began to wander to the untold riches that this piece of Rock and Roll history would bring to his doorstep.

After many of the guests had said their goodbyes, Ignatius lingered a bit to help out, insisting that he assist in the cleanup of the refuse from the party with his relatives. As he placed the cooler near the back of the garage, he furtively slipped the latch on the side window to the unlocked position to enhance his ability to retrieve the rock star cooler. Later that night, he would in fact return for his holy grail.

Ignatius pored over the signatures and took several high resolution photographs for his eBay listing, settling on the title “Rock and Roll Hall of fame cooler” giving a description of the cooler and posting several blurred photographs of the faux signatures. He described the white Coleman as having been a personal cooler for the Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones. According to Ignatius, this particular polymer participant had been backstage chilling for the several historic rock and roll events of the late 1990’s and early 2000s. The purported signatures include such rock royalty as Mick Jagger, Dave Mason, Eric Clapton, Madonna, Waylon Jennings, Bono, Michael Oldfield, Macy Gray to name a few.

Bidding was brisk and animated concluding with a winning bid of $1,256 by a California collector who had planned to display the signed Coleman on a pedestal enclosed in glass. After shipping arrangements were completed, the cooler was delivered to Greg Weinhauser a music aficionado and collector of Santa Barbara California on June 12, 2004.

The cooler now resides in the “Parties with Rock Legends” wing of the Weinhauser personal museum of rock and roll memorabilia, sandwiched between the 9x12 scratched mirror used by Devo and a boogie board signed by Robert Palmer. It is in a climate controlled environment and is happy and well in it’s new home.

Ignatius, spent his 987.87 windfall (Ebay took its’ share of the proceeds) on alcohol and loose women, he wasted the rest at a carnival in Batavia. Jim, Ned and Nathan Diaklous still roam the parking lots during Bills games, ever vigilant for a cooler full of liquid refreshment that may be “available”. Heinz, well, he is still out there, searching for his long lost cooler, hopefully he may see this post, and know that although he suffered a great loss, the cooler is in a far better place.

I keep telling you to use those powers for good instead of evil....what a waste....

Jack too bad I didn't see this thread earlier. Might have been able to pull some strings. How many tickets have you needed for the TBD tailgate in the past? If I can't work something out with this "new" ticket outfit (half are from north of the border), at lease I can get 6 extra for every game and know several other season ticket holders that be willing to get tickets for "Wallers"

I haven't asked if people wanted tickets to any games in a few years because I never received any responses. Even the Club Seats where we sit always have extra tickets available. The seats (4) to our right are payed for by one of the local companies. I am going to inquire about those because sometimes they are filled for a half before the people leave, but half the time no one shows. Same goes for the 6-8 seats in front of us; sometimes they can't make the trip from the west because of weather or work. I'll talk to them also and ask what they would want for a ticket. Would anyone be interested in purchasing a club seat in the future? Most likely below cost because something for the ticket is better than nothing

We really enjoy our club seats and if you can afford the extra $400.00 bucks this is the way to go. Plenty of tables to sit down, heated inside, clean restrooms, a bar, and best of all top-notch food and specialty deserts...yum-yum that you won't find in the rest of the stadium. After the game you can stay awhile to watch the 4:00 games, or golf, baseball, etc, drink (there is no cut-off time) and unwind after the Bills win another nail-biter Anyone interest for the futhur, PM me.

Top notch food? Are you making your ribs ribmaster?

I am interested but are you talking about entire season for $400 more? i do not understand that. Getting too old to sit in rain and line is so much shorter to get in stadium.

Yes, I have 4 in the front row that you can have for face value.