Promotion
Bills roam to Toronto

Bills roam to Toronto

By Chris Brown, Buffalobills.com

Though the naysayers maintain the Buffalo Bills planned eight-game series in Toronto is a prelude to something bigger, Bills owner Ralph Wilson insisted the initiative is to help sustain the team's viability in Buffalo. Wilson believes his loyal fans recognize that.

"They know it's to save the franchise for their city," said Wilson in a question and answer news conference Wednesday at the Rogers Centre. "Buffalo, and it's no secret, is diminishing in size. It's dwindling in population and jobs. People don't have jobs and they move out of Western New York. So I would say to keep the team there a number of years ago we decided we had to regionalize because the team could not be maintained in Buffalo. I did not want to have the team leave Buffalo. We had hundreds of thousands of very passionate fans. I thought it would be a death knell to the city of Buffalo. So we had to increase our exposure."

That began with moving training camp to Rochester and the fan base there has been successfully developed. The Bills see this latest venture as another step in that process.

"We've always been on record saying we were going to try to regionalize our brand north of the border," said Bills Chief Operating Officer Russ Brandon. "The greater Toronto area has five million people. It's the fifth-largest market in North America and we would be remiss if we did not try to capture this market which is in our home marketing territory. We think this is another step in keeping our franchise financially viable in the Buffalo marketplace."

The Bills and the Rogers Communications group believe the eight-game series over the next five years will not only help the team remain financially competitive, but galvanize the entire region making it a better overall support system for the franchise.

Brandon even believes this initiative could help spearhead regionalization on the part of Buffalo itself.

"This regionalization plan could benefit all of Buffalo, and maybe it's something the city of Buffalo should look further into to continue to regionalize and make it a stronger area for all of us to live in," said Brandon. "We've had great dialogue with our county executive and the state. This is hopefully a shot in the arm that our region could use. We hope to continue to play a leadership role on that front in promoting that type of tourism below the border. It could be a real home run for all of us."

The Rogers Centre will handle all the ticketing responsibilities for the game as the Bills will act solely as the entertainment in this venture.

Advanced registration for tickets can be found at www.billsintoronto.com

"We're providing the product and the Rogers Centre and Rogers Centre group will set all the details in the very near future," said Brandon. "We will be supplying our football team, the National Football League will be providing the opponent and we're looking forward to the trip up north."

A limited number of tickets for the games played in Toronto will be made available for sale to Bills Season Ticket Holders. Additional information regarding ticket distribution will be forthcoming from the Bills.

"We're going to go through the same process that the NFL put together for their London game," said Brandon.

As for the team's long term future Wilson chose not to predict the fate of the franchise. He only ensured that the team is on solid ground at this time.

"We're going to play these games up here and what am I going to say to the fans in Buffalo," Wilson queried. "Hey, I can't speculate. I can't speculate what's going to happen in the future. But don't worry right now."

No dates or opponents were provided for the preseason game and regular season game to be played in Toronto for the 2008 season, though the preseason opponent could be named soon. Due to the fact that it is a regular season game the NFL will determine the schedule which is typically released in early April.