ORCHARD PARK, NY (AP) -- Six straight losing seasons, a poor economy and the NFL lockout are being blamed for contributing to the Buffalo Bills' lowest season-ticket sales total in a decade.
That was the sobering picture painted by CEO Russ Brandon on Wednesday in confirming the team has sold 37,555 season tickets prior to its home opener against Oakland this weekend.
It's the lowest total since 2001, when the Bills sold just over 36,300 season tickets. It's also 6,500 short of last year's total an ends a string of eight straight years of selling 42,000 or more season tickets.
Brandon said the near five-month lockout, which ended in late July, made it far too difficult for his sales staff to reach out to potential new customers over a seven-week span. He noted the economic slump hasn't helped, particularly when it comes to a rust-belt region such as Western New York.
And he made sure to blame the Bills own on-field troubles.
"I think as an organization, we've always felt we have something to prove to our fans," he said. "We have tremendous fans, and it's our responsibility to provide them as much value on and off the field."
The Bills are coming off a 4-12 finish, and have gone 11 straight seasons in which they've missed the playoffs.
On the bright side, Brandon is encouraged by the feedback he said his staff is receiving from fans. He added individual-game, and group sales of tickets have been selling briskly, and the team's suite sales are up over last year.
"We're encouraged by the excitement the fans seem to have with the direction of the franchise," he said. "And we're going to work our tails off to get the season-ticket base back to where it belongs."
Three years ago, the Bills sold 56,011 season tickets, the second highest total in franchise history.
Brandon projects the Bills will sell out their first three games, but will have difficulty selling out each of their final three games - all of them being played in December.
December has traditionally been a difficult time for the Bills to sell tickets, in part because of the wintry weather that blows in off nearby Lake Erie.
The Bills, however, will benefit from playing their fourth annual regular season home game in Toronto, when they "host" Washington on Oct. 30. That's part of a $78 million, five-year deal the Bills have with Rogers Communications to play eight games - including five annual regular season games - in Canada's largest city.
Under the deal, the Bills receive an average of $9.75 million per game in Toronto, which is about double what they make playing at Orchard Park.
(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
