Plans afoot to move more Bills games to Toronto?

BasX · Mar 21, 2009

Western New Yorkers remain uneasy about the Buffalo Bills' decision to export eight of their games to Toronto through 2012.

Organizers and the NFL justified the $78 million arrangement as necessary to keep the Bills viable within their market, but fans felt anxious the deal was a harbinger for permanent relocation.

And for those who've come to grips with the idea of losing one regular-season home game every year, what about two?

Within a week of Terrell Owens proclaiming he was coming to play for "North America's team," a survey conducted on behalf of Bills in Toronto organizers suggests the intention to move two regular-season Bills games to the Rogers Centre, starting as early as next year.

That would leave Bills fans with only six regular-season dates in Ralph Wilson Stadium each year.

The survey was e-mailed Friday to fans who purchased tickets to last year's game. The survey includes the following passage, which hasn't been edited:

Rogers has been listening to its Bills Fans and may be able to negotiate a new deal which will bring an additional Bills regular-season game to Toronto in each of 2010, 2011, and 2012! This now means that a quarter of the Bills home games could be played in Toronto. This would allow us to issue a new 3-Game Ticket Package for the 2010 games in Toronto. This includes tickets to 2 regular season games and 1 pre-season game, at a lower price per game than previously, for most seats. The average price per game for a variety of seating options is shown below. The total ticket prices for the 3-game pack is also shown.

Below the passage is a Rogers Centre seating chart and price options for three-game packages. The Bills' deal currently involves only two games per year, a preseason exhibition and a regular-season game.

The Bills did not respond to a request for comment.

No matter how you slice it, this bit of info will not got over well among Bills fans.

Either event promoters are speaking out of turn and the Bills' front office will need to issue a denial, or Bills fans will be left to ponder that dreadful possibility they might be on the verge of losing even more of their beloved team.

Last year's game in Toronto was panned by fans and the media because of poor ticket sales and an antiseptic atmosphere in the former SkyDome.

The Bills' forfeited what would have been a wintry home-field advantage by taking their Dec. 7 game against the Miami Dolphins indoors. The Bills desperately needed a victory to keep their flagging playoff hopes alive. They lost 16-3.
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http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nflnation/0-6-435/Plans-afoot-to-move-more-Bills-games-to-Toronto-.html

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Plans afoot to move more Bills games to Toronto?

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