Roger Goodell’s main job as NFL commissioner is pretty much to demand new stadiums for his owners’ teams. (Well, that and doing his “I know nothink” routine when asked about football and brain injuries.) So when you see this:
As the Buffalo Bills continue the process of finding a new owner, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell believes the team must have a new stadium to remain viable in its region.
“Yes, I do,” Goodell told reporters Wednesday in New York City. “We said at the time when they entered into a new lease that this is really a short-term solution. We need to find the right long-term solution that’s good for the community and can help the Bills to continue to be successful in western New York.”
You have to wonder: What self-respecting journalist lobbed him that question to which he could answer “Yes, I do”? What did you expect he was going to say, “Nah, they’re fine where they are”?
Anyway, Goodell earned his paycheck for the week by keeping the Bills’ demand for a new stadium on the front pages. Though ESPN did mention that the Bills can’t threaten to move until 2020 regardless, thanks to the lease extension they signed in exchange for $227 million in state-funded renovations to their old stadium, so maybe he should really have gone on a bit more, to fill all available column inches.
Goodell is a snake. He threatens to keep moving teams. ESPN does bidding for him by asking him.
Roger Goodell says:
“Yes, I do,” Goodell told reporters Wednesday in New York City. “We said at the time when they entered into a new lease that this is really a short-term solution. We need to find the right long-term solution that’s good for the community and can help the Bills to continue to be successful in western New York.”
The phrase ‘help the Bills to continue to be successful…’ is beyond the pale. The Bills have not been in post season since 1999, the longest time of all 32 NFL teams. Roger surely does have a low bar for evaluating franchises’ performance. He should use the same parameters for evaluating the fans performance.
Let me help clarify what Roger means when he says “help the Bills to continue to be successful” means. He means, “Keep the public’s money flowing to the NFL, where it belongs.”
And I second this notion. I love the smell of public stadium cash in the morning, baby!
The shame of it is that no matter what stadium deal the Bills get, by the odd financial logic of the NFL now, Buffalo will likely never be successful off the field. The city is too small and too poor to support the level of premium seat purchasing required, and Toronto is likely too far away. The governor would probably be better off shoveling money to pretend to buy PSLs and luxury suites.