Bills' spending spree paying off in ticket sales

"  BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) Joel Thompson gave up his Buffalo Bills season tickets two yearsago. Now he's back on the bandwagon.All it took to get Thompson to ''Bill-lieve,'' as fans put it inBuffalo, was a span of three days last month. That was the time ittook prized free-agent defensive end Mario Williams to arrive intown to negotiate and sign a whopping six-year, $100 millioncontract.''When Mario came in for a visit, I got together with the guys,and said, `All right, if this happens, if he signs, we'll goback,''' Thompson recalled Friday. ''And sure enough, that's whathappened.''The day Williams signed, Thompson sent an e-mail to his formerBills ticket representative to lock up six season tickets. And thepurchase was completed a week later.''This looked legit,'' said Thompson, who had previously heldseason tickets for eight seasons - from 2002-09 - in which theBills failed to make the playoffs. ''Adding Mario, I thought,`Maybe this team can win sooner than later.'''Thompson is not the only one buying in.The Bills' offseason spending spree - they also signedfree-agent defensive end Mark Anderson and re-signed top receiverStevie Johnson - is already paying off.CEO Russ Brandon said the team has already sold 4,320 newseason-ticket packages, and added that renewal orders are coming inat the fastest pace in 15 years.Brandon credits the spike to the team's offseason splashes and agrowing optimism around town that the Bills just might be turningthe corner after missing the playoffs for 13 consecutive seasons -the NFL's longest active postseason drought.''With the additional signings, it certainly was a huge boost,''Brandon said, before also crediting the work of general managerBuddy Nix and coach Chan Gailey. ''And one of the things that'sreally resonated is that people feel the team is headed in theright direction under the guidance of Buddy and Chan. ... Peopleseem very pleased that the arrow's pointed up.''Nix and Gailey are entering their third seasons on the job. TheBills are coming off a 6-10 finish in which they got off to asurprising 5-2 start before losing eight of nine.The surge in sales comes a year after the Bills sold 37,355season tickets, the team's lowest total since 2001 and about 7,000fewer than the previous year. The Bills also failed to sell outtheir final three games last season.Part of the blame for the drop fell on the NFL lockout, whichwiped out much of the offseason, the prime time for teams togenerate ticket sales.This offseason, the Bills have made it a priority to increasesales. Buffalo already has one of the NFL's lowest average ticketprices at about $53. Aside from not raising ticket prices thisseason, the Bills also dropped prices in two separate sections -including a family section - of Ralph Wilson Stadium to spursales.Brandon won't make projections, but considers 50,000 seasontickets as a realistic goal for the market.Sales and free-agent signings are one thing. For Brandon and theBills, the next step is to prove they're capable of winning on thefield.''Yeah, we're in a prove-it business,'' Brandon said. ''Wecontinue to work as an organization in order to get back to wherewe need to be.''Thompson is upbeat about the Bills, though wary because he'sbeen disappointed before. The first time Thompson and his friendspurchased season tickets was in the spring of 2002, days afterBuffalo acquired quarterback Drew Bledsoe in a trade with NewEngland.Bledsoe lasted three seasons with the Bills before beingcut.''Obviously, we're a bit prone to impulse, perhaps,'' Thompsonsaid. ''But the thing for me is this team doesn't seem like it'sfar off from being good.''"