Jetfan13 Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Staff reports Two Buffalo Bills season-ticket holders, Andrew Petrinec and Allan Keohane, have petitioned the Bills and the NFL to keep the Rogers Center retractable dome open for Sunday's game against the Dolphins in Toronto. Petrinec and Keohane, on behalf of Fans Against Closed Domes, want the Bills to be able to maintain a "home-field'' advantage by forcing the Dolphins to play a cold-weather game. Below is their letter to Bills owner Ralph Wilson and the owners of the dome. To: Ralph Wilson Jr. and Rogers Group From: Fans Against Closed Domes We here in the city of Buffalo, N.Y., and the surrounding western New York area are full of pride -- pride in our area, pride in our families, pride in our heritage, and of course pride in our Buffalo Bills. For years we have grown up in the shadows of such great players as Jack Kemp, Joe DeLamielleure, Jim Kelly, Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas and so many other great players that we can't possibly mention them all. In that same shadow we have all been raised to believe one thing, we do not like the Miami Dolphins. Who could forget such great moments in the rivalry between these two great franchises such as back on Oct. 29, 1989? At then-Rich Stadium, Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino's streak of 19 consecutive games without getting sacked came to an end in a loss handed to them by the Buffalo Bills 31-17 before a crowd of 80,208 screaming fans. Or even back in 2003 when Ricky Williams and the Dolphins came into Buffalo and took an early lead only to end up losing late in the game as the snow began to fall and the Bills made an amazing comeback to the chorus of the sell out crowd singing "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4HCrew Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 I agree with this...first they lose the game to Toronto, now take away the home field advantage. Toronto wants the Bills experience, keep the dome open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaborJet Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Good job by the Bills fans. I honestly think that dome open = Bills win, and dome closed = Dolphins win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetfan13 Posted December 6, 2008 Author Share Posted December 6, 2008 Pennington in a dome....hugh advantage Pennington in the lake affect winds & snow...laughable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMC Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 I don't understand why this is an issue. This is a Bills homegame so shouldn't the Bills have a say in whether the dome is closed or open? Why would the Bills want it closed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowmoe57 Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Good luck with this one. I don't see it happening sucks for the Bills though but I still see them winning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faba Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Since when is the NFL looking out for the fans-all of a sudden and Miami gets special treatment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason423 Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 I don't understand why this is an issue. This is a Bills homegame so shouldn't the Bills have a say in whether the dome is closed or open? Why would the Bills want it closed? I dont think it is like baseball where the teams basically have free say. I think in the NFL(unless its just for the playoffs) the NFL makes the decision whether or not a dome is open or shut and all the NFL cares about is having a fast track/high scoring game for the most part. I thought I remembered reading that was a big bone of contention with the Jets and Giants when they were approached about putting a retractable roof on the new stadium. The last thing they wanted was a team like the Chargers or 49'ers coming into the Meadowlands in December or in the playoffs in January and the NFL orders the roof closed because of cold or snow. It take away a ton from home field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4HCrew Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 The NFL never cares about the fans...this is to get more fans in the stands in Toronto..better experience blah blah blah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crashingjet Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Since when is the NFL looking out for the fans-all of a sudden and Miami gets special treatment. Hmmm, 2 games in consecutive years played on foreign soil does not constitute special treatment for Miami. Screw Buffalo fans, if their City didn't suck, they wouldn't have to move the game to Toronto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcord1786 Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 They were asking everyone to sign it at the JETS/BILLS game, they were 2 young guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thai Jet Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Hmmm, 2 games in consecutive years played on foreign soil does not constitute special treatment for Miami. Screw Buffalo fans, if their City didn't suck, they wouldn't have to move the game to Toronto. Look who's talking, Mr. Miami "king of fan support" Dolfag fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatriotReign37 Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 I don't understand why this is an issue. This is a Bills homegame so shouldn't the Bills have a say in whether the dome is closed or open? Why would the Bills want it closed? The NFL wants to expand its market into Canada. They also want the Bills in Toronto as explained to me by a Toronto sport writer. Theres no money in Buffalo, but theres a ton of money in Toronto. Lots of Canadian companies have their headquarters based in Toronto. The Toronto Bills means more money for the CBA and salary cap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serphnx Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 The NFL wants to expand its market into Canada. They also want the Bills in Toronto as explained to me by a Toronto sport writer. Theres no money in Buffalo, but theres a ton of money in Toronto. Lots of Canadian companies have their headquarters based in Toronto. The Toronto Bills means more money for the CBA and salary cap. Goodell really just needs to give up. The NFL is only popular in the US, it will never get popular elsewhere. If it could be, then the CFL and NFL Europe would already preclude the need for the NFL to expand anyway. In Canada, Hockey is king. In most of the rest of the world, Soccer/Rugby is. The NFL will NEVER overcome soccer in the rest of the world, just as soccer will never overcome the NFL in the US. I hope Goodell doesn't completely screw it all up and water down the NFL in these attempts. I don't think any NFL players would like to go up to Toronto and deal with the double taxation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uart Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 I think they lock the dome closed after baseball season ends. I don't think they CAN open it without a tremendous amount of expense and effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brown42000 Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 They seal the dome shut after the baseball season ends and don't open it during the winter months because the field doesn't have a drainage system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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