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As a friend of mine recently wrote regarding the difficulty of purchasing Buffalo Bills tickets this year: "2015 marks the first year of the Rex Ryan era for the Bills - and despite having the worst quarterback in the NFL, this appears to be all that it took for Bills football games to finally sell out."
It's a fairly apt lede for Monday's headline, just confirmed by team CEO Russ Brandon: the Bills, 15 years into a playoff drought, have just broken the franchise record for season ticket sales. It's a record that stood for 23 years, and which dated back to the middle of the Bills' four-year run of consecutive Super Bowl appearances in the early 1990s.
Brandon says the Bills have passed 57,500 season tickets, surpassing 1992 record.
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) June 15, 2015
Brandon also told reporters that of the Bills' eight home games, only one - the season finale against the New York Jets, on January 3, 2016 - has individual tickets remaining for sale. Additionally, the Bills plan on capping their season ticket sales at 60,000 if interest continues. They have also sold out most of their club suites and seats, as well, per the long-time team executive.
It sort of goes without saying at this point that this is the most-anticipated Bills team that we have seen in years - though, perhaps not ever. Expectations are clearly sky-high, but sales and attendance are not one and the same. Time will tell if the Bills can do enough winning to keep butts in the seats (and ticket prices high) through the winter months.