Bills sue Cumulus

[yugoidar]

From today's Buffalo News.  Another headache for the Dickey boys...

http://www.buffalonews.com/city/police-courts/courts/article922702.ece

[ThePickleReport]

Getcha popcorn ready.

[JustPastBuffalo]

"Michael Schiavone of Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria, who, with Jeffrey F. Reina, filed the lawsuit for the Bills, declined to comment."

Paul Cambria has been an occasional guest on the Shredd & Ragan show. I wonder if that's come to an end. The Dickey clan, usually the plaintiff in legal matters, has in-house counsel and could be in for a rough ride. Cambria's microphone and camera radar are as refined as Senator Chuck Schumer's.

"For the 2011 NFL football season, the reasonable value of the exclusive radio broadcast rights and perquisites was believed to be at least $2.4 million, of which an amount believed to be at least $1 million remains due and owing," according to the lawsuit.

The guess is this issue will be settled out of court. Cumulus could petition the Court to allow access to the Bills books, something the Bills and all NFL teams are loathe to do. It could make for good theater. I only hope it doesn't adversely affect the air staff. The (freakin') intrigue never ends. 

[Bob1370]

What's going to be most interesting is how Entercom stations (especially WBEN and WGR) cover this one.

As the successor to Cumulus in presenting Bills play-by-play, they'll be a more than casually interested bystander (and probably will be re-reading their own contract with the Bills with extra care now to try to avoid any traps down the line). But they'll also be interested in what this does to the profitability and public image of a major competitor....

[SirRoxalot]

I don't see any reason why Cumuless would be allowed access to the Bills books. This is about Cumuless not paying their contractual share of revenue that they collected, not the Bills.

The incentive rights fee equals half the broadcaster's gross revenues from the sale of related programming or advertising in connection with any Bills game, after accounting for certain costs, according to the lawsuit.

In this case, it would be Cumuless opening the books, not the Bills. I'm pretty sure that the Dickey boys wouldn't want to open that can of worms to the public.

It sounds to me like the new Market Manager got sandbagged. Perhaps the old Market Manager didn't build that payment into the budget for 2012. Or, Corporate didn't look carefully at past budgets and didn't notice that extra $1-million+ that Citadel paid in the past.

More and more, it just seems that Cumuless is a small-time operation trying to figure out how to do big-time business. Heck, they STILL haven't got the former Citadel markets listed on their freakin' web page. Talk about small-time...

[Element9]

"We mailed the check in January from Atlanta, you didn't get it?"  The fees were paid in prior years when Citadel owned the stations.  Curious that Cumulus, whose attorneys prepare some of the most restrictive employee contracts in the business, is being held to account for a violation of a contract by one of Buffalo's most prominent, take-no-prisoners law firms.  Hey Lew, how's it feel to have your nuts in a hydraulic vice?

As the successor to Cumulus in presenting Bills play-by-play, they'll be a more than casually interested bystander (and probably will be re-reading their own contract with the Bills with extra care now to try to avoid any traps down the line).

Entercom didn't sign this deal in the dark.  It knows exactly what's required, which could explain the nightly Buffalo Bills show on WGR hosted by PBP man John Murphy.  He and his producer may be 'employees' of the Bills, but even money has Entercom picking up the full tab for this show (production fees, etc.) and splitting the inventory revenue 50-50 with the Bills, similar to the ancillary shows that ran on WEDG/WGRF.