“I was disappointed that he was disappointed,”
Bills general manager Brandon Beane said. “There are some things we can do better to the point where Takeo didn’t feel like he needed to put that message out there.”
There is more to Spikes’ photo. Fewer than half of the
NFL teams offer their alumni any suite at all. Former players and fans who’ve watched from the large suite say the image would have looked starkly different had Spikes moved a few feet to his left. Three Bills sources with direct knowledge of the situation say Spikes also was given two seating remedies, but he refused, with one of the sources saying Spikes seemed intent on taking the issue public.
Why would that be the case? Because in many ways Spikes is the perfect conduit to send a message on behalf of Bills alumni who feel the organization has pushed them aside.
“Marv Levy and I — along with several other legends — have had those same seats that Takeo had, and it’s embarrassing,” all-time sacks leader Bruce Smith said. He declined further comment.
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Other prominent former Bills — Hall of Famers, Wall of Famers, Pro Bowlers and captains among them — are upset over their perceived lack of respect from a front office that, at best, has allowed alumni relations to erode and, at worst, insisted upon it. Most are reluctant to speak because they rely on their connections with the team for business purposes or to make their monthly ends meet.
Spikes isn’t one of those. He played only four of his 15 NFL seasons for Buffalo and doesn’t return to Western New York often. Spotrac, a site that tracks sports contracts, shows Spikes earned $46.6 million to play, nearly half of that from the Bills.
“He painted a far worse picture to prove a point,” said a former Bills executive who has been in the suite with alumni. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he still interacts with alumni. “Those guys all talk. This had been festering for a while, and he took the opportunity.
“That’s not to say the Bills can’t do better, but there’s a lot of good being done there too.”
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Then there is the estranged Buffalo Bills Alumni Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. A group of former Bills, mostly from the AFL championship teams, established the foundation in 1998. While not affiliated with the team, it always had Ralph Wilson’s blessing. The foundation’s recent Cure the Blue campaign for prostate cancer research has donated over $300,000 to Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.
But the Bills haven’t met with the Alumni Foundation since 2018, when the front office ordered the group to stop using the team’s trademarked, standing red buffalo and charging blue buffalo logos.
“I don’t like talking negatively, but some things have to be said,” said Booker Edgerson, Bills Wall of Fame cornerback and former Alumni Foundation president. “It’s amazing how it went down the tubes so fast.
“When Ralph had the team, he was 100 percent positive with the alumni. He really did a lot. Since the new ownership, things have changed, and there’s not anything necessarily wrong with that, but …”
Edgerson wonders if the Bills have even considered honoring next year’s 60th anniversary of their first AFL championship. He said he hasn’t heard anything. Edgerson added only 15 players are still alive, and some are in bad health.
After 17 consecutive years with at least one new inductee, the Bills have added only six Wall of Famers over the past 15 seasons and none since posthumously honoring Cookie Gilchrist in 2017, the last year the Bills convened their Wall of Fame committee. The most recent living player inducted was defensive end Phil Hansen in 2011.
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