The Buffalo Bills not a part of the NFL's Global Marketing Program?

The Buffalo Bills Not Participating in The Global Market Program?

As a Canadian, today when the NFL released its Global Market Program, I thought for sure the Buffalo Bills would have expanded into Canada, but no they didn’t.

Why didn’t they?

Honestly, I have no idea why the team with the biggest Canadian fan base is one out of 3 teams not expanding. Approximately 1.5 million Canadians are Buffalo Bills fans, with 3000-8000 of them being season ticket holders, which makes sense because of how close in proximity the Buffalo Bills are to Canada. I, as a Canadian, have been surrounded by Bills fans all my life and I have never left Canada. When I was younger it was more scarce, because the game of Football was still popularizing in modern day America, however ever since the Bills entered the NFL in 1959, they have always had a loyal fan base in Canada. 

So why would the Bills not participate in the Global Market Program?

I can only theorize because I have found no research or evidence that provides a conclusive answer for why, but my theory is limiting costs. The Buffalo Bills have just spent $2.1 billion on a new stadium, a stadium which I would argue wasn’t needed in comparison to fields like MetLife (that field needs to be destroyed) but it was something that both the fans and players will favor, at an expense. The new Bills stadium is expected to have 9000 less seats than Highmark does, which will guarantee the ticket prices to go up ten fold, especially since Buffalo sells out almost every game now. However, 9000 less seats, means 9000 less people are going to be going to the Bills game each week, which means they will have to cover the profits of those 9000 missing seats somewhere, most likely by upping the prices, or by cutting other expenses, like international marketing. Having a loyal Canadian fan base isn’t going to change with how the Buffalo Bills are marketed, sure, if they start condemning Canadians for being fans, they'll lose the fan base, but as long as they don’t have a tyrant in head office that will never happen. Canadians are very loyal people, especially when it comes to American sports, we know we can’t change the way these American Organizations do things, so we just love the team that we grew up loving, and love the players we watch every Sunday, that's why I’m a Patriots fan to this day in Bills country. Which is why I think and theorize that the Bills aren’t a part of the Global Market Program because they needed to cut costs somewhere, and why spend money marketing to an already loyal fanbase. 

How Should Canadian Fans Feel About this? 

Honestly, I hate the Bills, and hate when rich greedy owners sacrifice promotions to a massive part of their fan base, for wealth, but if the NFL really wanted to expand the game Globally, it shouldn’t be the owners paying for the international marketing, it should be the league. The owners job is to build a team that wins and competes, sure some owners are strictly in it for the money it could make them, but international marketing doesn’t help with either of those things unless the international market for the sport of American Football is more popular. Profit will not be made if the people who you are promoting to don't understand, like, or even know what the sport is. Which is why Canadian Buffalo Bills fans should be livid, because you are going to lose out on promotions that other Canadian fan bases will get, you aren't going to get the same respect from the NFL as the other international fan bases get. If the NFL really wanted to expand the game, then their team with the biggest international fanbase should not have to pay out of pocket for that, or apply to be approved for that. The NFL in general should be focusing on marketing the Bills in Eastern Canada a ton, the Seahawks and Cardinals in Western Canada a ton, and promoting the sport and players of American Football in general all over Canada. 

From my independent research, and speculation, the only conclusion I can come to about why the Bills aren’t a part of the Global Market Program is that the owner of the Bills just spent $2.1 billion on a new stadium with fewer seats. They are going to have to cover those costs somehow, and as a team with an already massive loyal international (Canadian) fan base why spend money on Global Marketing.