I've never understood that argument. On game day, everyone in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, and Binghamton all watch the Bills and the 75,000 seat stadium is full.
If all of upstate is watching or attending, how can the market be said to be too small? I understand that's the conventional wisdom, but why is it considered wisdom?
The fact is that any team whose owner dies is liable to be bought by someone in another city if there are none in the hometown. You can't bequeath the team to family members; the inheritance taxes make it uneconomic.
Nonetheless, Erie County [Buffalo] and New York State will now spend great gobs of tax money to keep the team here. Circuses, you know.
If Houston and LA can lose NFL teams, Buffalo can.
The number of people in the seats does not matter to the NFL, but the number of TV sets does matter.