(WBEN) – When Buffalo Bills fans turn on their televisions this Sunday morning, it will take a second cup of coffee before they notice anything too different. The football will still be a prolate spheroid. The use of hands will be required, not penalized. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium field will be one hundred yards, not meters, long.
The Bills and Jaguars will occupy their respective sidelines and battle for fourquarters of NFL football. Although their flights to London were only about an hour longer than to Seattle or Los Angeles, preparations for their journeys were far more complex.
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During my tenure as Director of Football Administration for the Buffalo Billsthrough 2017, I was assigned the privilege of managing certain logistics for the London game in 2015, which was also against Jacksonville. To say it was a challenge would be an understatement.
A few days before the NFL released their schedule in May of 2015, Leagueofficials tipped us off that we’d likely be playing in London in October. Once the date was finalized, selected Bills team officials flew to London to scout out everything, especially hotels. Given the size of the traveling party for any away game, only certain hotels can accommodate the detailed specifications required by teams. Meeting and dining room space is paramount while security and rooming are other important considerations.
Once a suitable hotel was secured with a contract resembling the Magna Carta, a five-month-long business relationship between the team and hotel was ready to be executed and tested for this extended stay. Normally the traveling team arrives just one night before the game, but for an international trip this far away, more time is needed to acclimate to the five-hour time change and to simulate normal working conditions in the days leading up to the game.
Meanwhile, the actual flight across the pond would require a different type ofplane. We used a Boeing 757, with a seating arrangement of 3/aisle/3 for flights shorter than two hours while the equipment was being trucked back and forth. For flights longer than two hours, a larger Boeing 767 with 2/aisle/3/aisle/2 seating was taken as the equipment was stored underneath the plane itself. An entirely new element needed to be addressed for the flight to London. Because the flight would depart in the evening, theteam chartered a special plane with seats that recline into beds providing the semi-normalcy of a full night’s sleep for players and coaches.
The Video, Training, IT, and Equipment departments had particularly heavy liftsas they were required to log and label the make, model, purchase date, and serial number of every camera, medical device, computer, and other equipment brought along for inspection by Customs. All of these tasks, preparations, meetings, etc., occurred during the grind of the already busy regular season.
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A few weeks before the trip, my responsibilities kicked into high gear. First, Iworked closely with the Head Coach’s office to construct a plane seating chart based on player position and League seniority. Secondly, I handled the collection and redistribution of the players’ and coaches’ passports. The purpose was to ensure that passports would always be pre-positioned at the customs checkpoints both in the States and London, eliminating the risk of anyone forgetting or misplacing them. Having previously played several games in Toronto, we had learned some tricks to help make international travel run more smoothly. Although it took less than two hours for five teambuses to drive from Buffalo to Toronto, it was far more difficult than a cross-country flight. In retrospect, while the Toronto series did not provide the home-field advantage the team had sought and was ultimately discontinued, the lessons proved most valuable to our London experience.
On the day of the big trip, I left the stadium at half-time of the Cincinnati game, walked across the parking lot to my One Bills Drive office, and grabbed the players’ and coaches’ passports from my safe. During the twenty-minute drive to our normal airport hangar, I must have rechecked them a dozen times. Some other executives, including Security Manager, Marty McLaughlin, joined us shortly after. About an hour later, we were notified that the first team bus was en route. The body and luggage scanning processprovided some much-needed time to hand out each passport. Every passenger was required to present their passport to the customs agent so they could match the picture with the actual person. We positioned another staff member just past the customs area to re-collect the passports and return them to me on the plane.
The lengthy flight went quite smoothly. However, with about one hour left before we landed at London Heathrow Airport, it was time to redistribute the passports. For all the five months of preparation, this was one blind spot, literally, that we didn’t anticipate. With windows closed and cabin lights off, most players and coaches were still sound asleep in their reclined bed/seats. Having to wake them up for them to acknowledge receiving their passports, it was apparent that many were still in a sleep-induced fog. There was also a hypersensitivity about passports in general. When I asked Cornerback,Ronald Darby, if I could give him the passport of the player sleeping right next to him, he politely refused saying, “I’m sorry, but I’m too worried about managing my own.” I had an unsettling premonition that this could be problematic.
When the plane landed, the flight crew sent me ahead first, along with teamowners Terry and Kim Pegula and Scouting Coordinator, Casey Weidl. The rest of the plane was held up for about ten minutes so that Casey and I could go through customs ourselves and then take a position to collect (yes, again) the passports. We soon learned that our fears had been realized. As players were coming through and dropping their passports into our duffel bags, they were informing us that two players “did not have” their passports. Ugh. I was 100% certain that each player and coach had knowingly accepted theirs back. It was an actual nightmare coming true that I’d experienced in the days leading up to the trip. The team buses departed to the hotel without us and Britishauthorities informed us that losing a passport meant we would have to pay 2,000 pounds just for the opportunity to make our case before Parliament. The first player eventually found his under his seat. After nearly two hours that felt like two days of searching, including the airline disassembling the plane seats, the second player’s passport spilled from an unchecked compartment of his suitcase onto the floor. I almost passed out from relief as the player shrugged and quipped, “How ‘bout that? There it is.”
Once at the hotel (finally), it was good to see the team’s regular Executive Chef, Delaware North’s Andy Altomare, who’d been flown over to feed the team for the week.
Andy had made a special trip a few months earlier to scout the kitchen and dining room layouts. He also ensured that any foods not sold in England were shipped over so that the dietary requirements set by the team’s Strength Coach, Eric Ciano, would continue to be met. Because our offices were in that hotel, I ate all my meals there too, and noticed that Andy managed to add a few tasty, local British dishes that completely met Eric’s nutritional standards. Often at night, after our work was done, Andy would join a few ofus at a local pub for a pint to unwind.
Our brief nightly hangouts were about the only non-work socialization weexperienced that week, which was fine. We fully understood that we were there to win a football game and that our support role was to provide as much normalcy as possible. On Thursday night of that week, after feeling comfortable that our day’s work was completed, Player Engagement Director, Paul Lancaster, Casey Weidl, and I made the one-hour train ride into the city of London for some sightseeing. After visiting Westminster Abbey and Herrod’s Department Store where some of my sister, Tracy’s, crafts are sold, Paul received a call that the mother of Guard, John Miller, had passedaway. We needed to return to the hotel so that Paul could be with John and make arrangements for him to fly back to the States. With Big Ben being on our return route, we each took quick selfies (like the Griswolds nodding at the Grand Canyon) in front of the iconic clock before boarding the subway back to the hotel. A few minutes into the car ride to Heathrow the next morning, Paul called me frantically after realizing that I still had John’s passport. I grabbed it from the hotel safe, ran out to meet the returning car,and John just barely made his flight in time.
To fill John’s roster spot, the team decided to re-sign long-distance kick-offspecialist Jordan Gay. While Dan Carpenter was one of the League’s most accurate Field Goal kickers, Jordan was able to kick further, drilling kickoffs into the back of the end zone regularly, forcing the opponent to start at their 20-yard line (pre-2018 rule change) every time. The team could have elevated someone from the Practice Squad who was already in London, but the Personnel Department wanted who they wanted, even if it meant bringing him over on a red-eye flight less than forty-eight hours before the game.The next morning, Jordan was a no-show for the walk-through practice and luggage check-in. A thrown-together search party soon found Jordan sound asleep in his room after his whirlwind turn of events. Jordan had been with the team before and knew his role well, so missing the walk-through was not a problem.
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While our sole venture to the city didn’t quite play out in full, Terry and KimPegula had ensured that we’d all have at least one night to experience something very special in London proper. On that Friday night, two days before the game, they rented out the Tower of London. You read that right. The entire staff was instructed to dress up and board buses for a cocktail party in an upper chamber of one of England’s most historic landmarks. As we pulled up to the one-thousand-year-old building, we were visually awed by a huge illumination of a charging buffalo on the side of the building. What couldpossibly be a close equivalent – Ted Lasso on the Washington Monument? If there was any question whether London was warm to the idea of hosting an NFL game, this helped dispel that notion in grand fashion. Once inside, there was a collective, “Can you believe where we are right now?” We had a wonderful time congregating in a room that didn’t look much different than a nice downtown Buffalo restaurant – minus the crown jewels and ghosts of beheaded royalty right below our feet.
On Saturday afternoon, twenty-four hours before kickoff, it was time to check in and screen everyone’s main luggage in the hotel lobby. All were advised to keep just one small bag for what they needed that next morning. When Running Back, LeSean McCoy, came through he heard another player mention that he was keeping his luggage because he planned on spending a few extra days in Europe, since the next week was the Bye. LeSean paused and asked the player, “You said you are staying? Hmm. Yeah, I’ll staytoo.” I marveled at the total spontaneity of LeSean’s decision as he didn’t even ask where in Europe or for how many days. Nevertheless, he took his luggage and passport and hung out somewhere in Europe for a few days after the game.
On Sunday morning before the game, just before boarding the buses for Wembley Stadium, I received a text message from Bills Beat Reporter, Sal Capaccio, who was already at Wembley Stadium. He’d forgotten a souvenir gift for his son in the hotel lobby. Sure enough, it was right where Sal said it was, so I placed it in my duffel bag and hopped on the bus. I gave it to him on the sidelines during pregame and he was most thankful. For all that could go wrong on gameday morning, this was a very easy fix.
The game kicked off without a hitch. The feeling of “Phew! Win or lose, we did it. Fifty-three guys are dressed and ready,” lasted about two minutes before the normal pre-game jitters took over. Despite any traveling abnormalities or other unforeseen situations, it’s always about winning the game. Unfortunately, it could not have started worse as we dug ourselves into a 27-13 halftime hole. We stormed back to take a fourth-quarter lead only to yield it back on the final drive courtesy of a very tough pass interference call on Nickell Robey Coleman (note: the call was tough, not the play, unlikethe pounding he famously delivered as a member of the Rams three years later to a Saints receiver during a playoff game that was somehow not called). The loss was a sucker punch to the gut, especially after the effort that started five months earlier. The flight home was predictably all too quiet.
Now, here in 2023, the Bills once again find themselves playing in London and are undoubtedly more prepared than ever under the direction of VP/Football Administration, Kevin Meganck. Kevin was the point person for the London game back in 2015 and when I spoke to him recently about another matter, I resisted the temptation to ask much about London so as not to take his valuable time away from the planning. The team decided to travel to London later in the week this time than in 2015. Whatever their reasons, they are no doubt well-grounded. Hats off to those behind-the-scenes teamofficials hammering out the details and hidden pitfalls of the huge logistical lift involved in moving the Buffalo Bills across the pond.
We all know that this week’s real fun will be with the Bills Mafia! On our “If theWalls Could Talk in Buffalo” podcast, we had fascinating conversations in recent months with Kristen Kimmick, head of the Bills Mafia Babes group, who is organizing some incredible events in London for Bills fans. To grasp the level of excitement, we traded podcast appearances with Charlie Nelson, VP of London Bills Backers. Both were fun conversations as he even offered courtesy chuckles at my Benny Bill references. How big of a Bills fan is Charlie? Well, he attended the game in Washington in Week Three andthe game in Buffalo versus Miami the following week. During the pre-game tailgate on Sunday, he told podcast co-host, Josh Cormier, that every Bills Mafia event that he’s planned in London is sold out! Bills Mafia, whether at or outside planned events, will surely congregate and shout loud enough to be heard – not quite here in the States, but maybe in France.
Go Bills!!!
Don PurdyFormer Bills Front Office ExecutiveCo-host of Podcast, “If the Walls Could Talk in Buffalo” on Cover1 Sports NetworkAuthor of Thunder Snow of Buffalo: The October Surprise Storm
Source: https://t-tees.com
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