Bills to "Takeoff" For Two Games?
The official word from the Bills is that they are seeking permission from the NFL to play two games in Toronto next year in an effort to “boost the regional appeal of the Bills”.
Anonymous sources were cited in today’s Buffalo News as saying the Bills would like to play one preseason game in Toronto next year, and a regular season game in addition to a preseason game in 2009.
Also, according to the article, the Bills need permission from the State of New York, Erie County, and the NFL in order to pull it off.
So how does one balance this:
But what about the fan willing to pay more for stadium comforts? The Bills began the current season with three of their 164 luxury suites unsold. The team also did not sell out its indoor or outdoor club seats.
That’s where Toronto comes in, according to people familiar with the Bills’ interest in playing there. For more than 10 years, Bills officials have talked about the absolute need to regionalize the franchise. In Western New York’s tepid economy, team officials say, they must expand their reach — to western Pennsylvania, the Southern Tier, the Rochester area, Central New York and Southern Ontario.
Whenever the Bills have made a concerted effort in those outlying areas, they have cited decent results. Putting their summer training camp in Rochester, for example, is said to have reaped rewards.
With this?
The 1998 agreement by which the Bills lease Ralph Wilson Stadium has been described as both overly generous and a triumph because it kept the Bills in Buffalo without building the team a new facility. But it put taxpayers on the hook to keep the facility up to date, and its public price tag has been estimated at $125 million. Meanwhile, the Bills receive all revenue from the stadium’s events, including nonfootball use.
And I’m sure it’s just the cynic in me that believes that the Bills and the NFL are just sewing the seeds for a team to move to Toronto. Unfortunately, that team may just be the Bills. Not that I believe that Ralph Wilson will ever sell, but making the Canadian market a possibility sure does open up more potential bidders for Mr. Wilson’s estate.
Just make sure the game is in December. If season ticket-holders have to give up a nice-weather game it would be even more ridiculous.
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Dead on. Couldn’t agree more.
What opens up the Canadian market even more is the strengthening of the Canadian dollar versus the US dollar. Given Forbes’ 2006 value of $756 Million for the Bills, the franchise has become approximately $450 Million cheaper over the past five years to interested Canadian buyers.
Obviously, “Toronto Bills” makes no sense. Would a Canadian owner show any deference to a loyal fan base by calling them the “Toronto Buffalo Bills”? If so, would that be enough to retain the same devotion from Buffalo fans?
Or would a Toronto franchise, in a million-plus metro area, even NEED WNY Bills fans?
Put it this way – if a Canadian owner made an effort to respect WNY fans and the heritage of the Bills, would you still consider them your team? I’m thinking that with the geographical proximity, a Toronto Buffalo Bills could work out pretty well. Keep the buffalo on the helmet with a maple leaf background or something.
I don’t understand moving the team to Toronto at all. One of the advantages of Buffalo is the central location between Toronto and Rochester allowing the team to draw from a pretty large radius of season ticket-holders. Move the team to Canada and the Bills would lose most Buffalo fans and all Rochester fans.
I just cannot help but think this is a huge mistake. To leave a city like Buffalo is an abomination. Cleveland is guaranteed a team but not Buffalo which draws from not just Buffalo but Toronto and Rochester? Ridiculous.
While I love the Bills I will probably never follow them if they moved and I would never pay to watch an NFL game again.
“,,,,respect WNY fans and the heritage of the Bills”
The only heritage or respect is for the all mighty dollar – be it Canadian or US. Don’t kid yourself that the WNY area fans are due any consideration what so ever in this shell game.
Should the Bills move, I’m done… with the NFL. It’d be a disgrace to relocate one of the original AFL teams chasing the international dollar. As powerful as the NFL is, Heir Goodell is going to shoot himself in the foot incredibly soon with his goals of a worldwide game. A game in Mexico City is one thing, a Super Bowl in London is a different beast.
Sure, the upcoming game sold out fast but that’s not surprising. It’s the spectacle of the game (much like Beckhamania, though some Americans actually like soccer) and that there is a huge number of expats in England and Europe who just want to go to a game. Having lived abroad I’ve seen that Europeans will never get the game nor do they want to. They have the beauty and grace of their football and the violence and strength of rugby, where “real men don’t wear armor and don’t take a break every 5 seconds.”
I would think there must be many International-related obstacles for having an NFL team outside of the US, but now that I say that I realize that hockey, baseball and basketball all seem to make it work, so it may be as easy as a change in some charter language of the NFL. While Buffalo Fans would obviously be disappointed, I would have to think the CFL would be against this, too.
The Green Bay-Milwaukee relationship is hopefully the model the Bills are using. One or two games a year to keep a team regional is a sacrifice I am willing to make to ensure the Bills remain at Rich Stadium.
I still remain miffed, however, that no media outlet has done a report on why Wilson hasn’t explored other ways to keep his team here…especially when Art Modell successfully did it in Baltimore (his move from CLE 13 years ago notwithstanding).
I realize that Ralph Wilson’s age and lack of a (public)continuing ownership plan makes the Buffalo situation unique, but I seem to have read that each team is required to hit the international circuit. So why all the doom and gloom?
It may seem ominous, but “it’s the law” in the NFL. Other teams have played outside the NFL’s home stadiums without the locals getting in an uproar. At least Toronto is close, as opposed to England or Japan, if we wanted to go there for the special game.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.