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Bills' Training Camp Means A Big Economic Impact

buffalobills.com

The Buffalo Bills have started to come into town, gathering at St. John Fisher College in preparation for training camp that starts on Friday. And the event affects this region in ways that involve more than just making sports fans happy.

The just over three weeks that the Bills spend at Fisher getting ready for their season has other types of impact than just the players mixing it up on the practice field.

It's the economic impact that particularly interests Jim Schnell, a partner and chair of the tax department at the accounting Mengel Metzger Barr.  He says training camp brings in busloads of fans from all over the state, and it's not just those people eating at restaurants or staying at hotels that is generating dollars for the community; it's also the business networking that goes on during the event.

"You look at something like the corporate hospitality tents, that's in existence all during training camp; there you have, whether it's local or out of town businesses with a local presence, you have people coming together, scheduling events that are bringing people in from out of town. "

And Schnell says the Buffalo Bills benefit by the additional fan support that training camp generates.  He says new team owner Terry and Kim Pegula realize the importance of regional branding, just the way longtime owner Ralph Wilson did.

"As time has marched on, Western New York has truly come to realize the importance of the presence of the Bills, short, medium and long term, and the Pegulas from day one absolutely always harped on the concept of Ralph Wilson's vision and why it was successful and that they wanted to pick up that mantle and carry it forward. "

Schnell says that regionalizing support for an NFL team is particularly important in the smaller markets like Buffalo.

Training camp runs through August 25th.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.