I agree with what Dock said about Ralph not wanting night games.  It's been stated numerous times that the Bills preferred to not host night games in order to let their fans not waste time off (Mondays), but also allow the regional fans to make it.  With a fanbase coming from Canada, Rochester, Syracuse, the Southern Tier, even W.Pa on top of the Buffalo base it's tough to entice those fans to come in for a Monday evening game, or even Sunday night games.  This explains why there's been really no home night games other than the Denver and Tennessee opener in 2000 off the top of my head.  The reason we've had few night games on the road is that we've flat out stunk for nearing a decade now.

I also can't agree that having a big market teams ensures multiple night games, BUT I do believe that it will swing it in favor of those teams in many situations.  Why does Dallas keep getting so many night games? In fact they have SIX, yes SIX, I said SIX night games this year along with their annual Thanksgiving affair.  That's 7 guarenteed national games, with probably 2 or 3 of their five 4PM games going national as well.  They could have somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 national games this year, which is absolutely downright ridiculous.  They were a first round loser in the playoffs last year, have only have one true superstar on their team (TO), and have a new coach who probably isn't as well known around the country as other 'name' guys.  So in their case it's pretty obvious having a big market with a lot of perceived fans throughout the nation is driving the amount of night games the Cowgirls received.  

Personally, I believe the first factor related to receiving night games is success the prior year coupled with the believed continued success for that year followed closely by market size/popularity.  The Colts will continue receiving their fair share (rhyme rhyme) of night/national games because they always win and Peyton Manning is one of the faces of the NFL. When he retires and/or the Colts start playing sub .500 football, I doubt we'll see much of them again.  The Bengals will only get night games when they are good.  On the other hand, teams like Oakland, Dallas, Washington, Philly, the Giants, the Jets to a lesser extent, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Seattle will always be in the mix for night games because of their market size and supposed popularity around the country no matter how bad they may be (cough cough Oakland).  I'm sick of seeing one of those teams in seemingly every night game, but that's just the way it is.

Another factor that seems to be taken into account is the Brett Favre Corrolary. If Brett Favre is a Packer, they will always get a handful of night games.  It's a given, year in year out, regardless of how smelly the Pack was the prior year and how bad they look to be that year.  The Packers get 3 night games and a Thanksgiving game this year, which seems somewhat light for them.  Why this is the case, I'll never understand because Brett Favre has been a crappy QB for 4-5 years now.  He seems to be the only player capable of pulling this off himself.  Tom Brady would be another if the Pats would ever start being the Pats of old again.  I think Tony Romo could be on his way to filling the Favre void in the coming years if he doesn't fall flat on his face.  If Roethlisberger hadn't been such a screw up, he'd be ahead of the curve here as well.  

In the end, I just wish every team had a shot at a night game, even the Dolphins, Lions, Cardinals, etc.  It gets old seeing the same teams over and over again.  I do feel market size is one of the main factors along with previous success, star power and to a lesser extent outlook for that season.  Brian, I do believe storylines are a factor is bringing in the smaller market teams like us for games, but is not always critical.  Jacksonville seems to get a lot of night games and that's because they're usually a pretty good team.  

Good luck with your surgery. No need to rush back...it's the offseason!

I had forgotten that Ralph had limited, to an extent, the night opportunities for the Bills. Good call.

LOL about the refs. I don't even want to get started on that, because refs irritate the hell out of me. I could rant about that for ages.

Surgery went well. My face is number than Pac-Man Jones' brain, but I feel alright. Thanks for the good luck wishes; Brian G is back and ready to roll. I might have another post up later this afternoon, depending on how things go.