“We want to rally the troops and leave no stone unturned.”
Two fans kick off Web site campaign to keep Bills here
WANTED: one billionaire, just one. A person who loves both Buffalo and its undefeated National Football League team. Someone willing to shell out the big bucks to preserve the Bills’ future in Buffalo.
In order to save their Bills, Bob Schwartz and Alex DiNunzio have offered a free prize to any billionaire promising to buy the team and keep it here:
A T-shirt. Welcome to www.billsinbuffalo4ever.com , a slightly tongue-in-cheek Web site with an oh-so-serious mission: To keep the Bills in Buffalo.
Schwartz , a successful marketer, and DiNunzio, an e-marketing whiz, have created a grass-roots organization seeking creative ways to keep the Bills viable here and attract an owner who will keep them here.
“We want to rally the troops and leave no stone unturned, as far as creative solutions to keep the Bills in Buffalo long term,” Schwartz said in the Amherst office of the Schwartz Group, his health care marketing and research firm.
“It’s going to take a lot of stakeholders, being involved, being educated and being proactive,” Schwartz added. “I think the fans do have a voice.”
The effort is designed to bring all Bills fans together under one umbrella — the big shots and the little guys, the influential folks and the not-soSee influential.
“We want the fans who get up at 7 [a. m.] to start tailgating in the stadium parking lot to know that they’re just as important as the person who sits in the suites,” said DiNunzio, 21, a University at Buffalo senior headed for Harvard Business School.
Schwartz, 47, and DiNunzio know the realities about the Bills’ situation.
They know that the team, with a value estimated as high as $885 million, probably will be sold to the highest bidder when owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. passes from the scene. And they know that a new owner paying that kind of money will need — or want — to charge higher prices than the Buffalo market can afford.
“The truth is the owner of the Buffalo Bills can make a lot of money,” Schwartz said. “Ralph Wilson has made a lot of money. It’s true that someone can buy the Bills, move them and make an obscene amount of money. We have to find a way to attract an owner who is satisfied making just a heck of a lot of money, compared to an obscene amount of money.”
Schwartz and DiNunzio already have begun several initiatives on their Web site:
• Launching an online petition, seeking signatures from fans committed to doing anything they can to keep the Bills here long term.
That petition, once they gather thousands of signatures, will be presented to NFL officials and policymakers.
“Our goal is to have a signature for every seat in the stadium,” DiNunzio said.
• Posting video testimonials from elected officials, former Bills players and other public figures about the importance of the Bills to Buffalo.
• Selling T-shirts and bumper stickers with their billsinbuffalo4ever logo, to help raise awareness about the issue and fund their efforts.
• Hosting events to engage the public, such as a Dec. 2 stakeholders’ forum, a brainstorming session seeking to draw elected officials, business leaders, fans, media and maybe some former Bills players.
It’s no coincidence that the stakeholders forum is scheduled the week of the Bills’ first regular-season game in Toronto, the Dec. 7 game against the Miami Dolphins.
“We’re against it,” Schwartz said. “We think the focus should have been on bringing the Toronto corporate dollar to Buffalo, not to bring the Bills to another regional location.”
He and DiNunzio got the idea for their cause when the Bills announced their foray into Toronto in February. Schwartz, on a business trip, jotted down some ideas on a napkin, including a possible logo, with a buffalo perched on top of a heart.
“It looked more like a cow,” DiNunzio quipped.
DiNunzio’s sister, Rachel, an illustration student at Rochester Institute of Technology, then designed the logo appearing on the Web site and the merchandise.
Schwartz and DiNunzio know there’s no easy answer to keeping the Bills here.
But they want to bring any possible scenario into the discussion, including a possible change in NFL bylaws to allow at least partial community ownership of a team or a two-tiered corporate ownership group, with a few deep-pocketed people at the top and a group of a few dozen owners with lesser stakes.
Such an ownership group could include the usual Western New York-based suspects often mentioned as possible owners, or even someone from out of town who wants to tap into this community’s deep-seated love for its football team.
“Neither one of us can imagine Buffalo without the Bills,” Schwartz said. “I can’t imagine my son’s or daughter’s children not having an opportunity to root for the Bills with their parents and grandparents.”
DiNunzio and Schwartz want to spread their message, to find an owner who will appreciate the unique relationship between the Bills and this community.
“If you’re looking for an owner who’s looking strictly at the bottom line, Buffalo’s probably not the best place for him,” Schwartz said. “But they still can make a lot of money.”
And take home a free T-shirt in the process.
