Bills consider additional regular season games in Toronto
Rogers seeks to add a regular-season game in 2010, 2011, 2012
Toronto-based Rogers Communications has made no secret that it wants more Buffalo Bills games played in Toronto.
The Bills are always looking for more money.
So it’s not surprising the two parties are exploring the possibility of expanding the team’s presence in Toronto, as early as the 2010 season.
The Bills late Sunday confirmed Rogers’ interest in taking a second regular-season Bills game to Toronto for 2010, 2011 and 2012 — a move that, if approved, would have the team playing 25 percent of its home games away from Ralph Wilson Stadium.
The Bills and Rogers Communications already have a deal that sends eight games — five in the regular season and three preseason from 2008 to 2012 — to Toronto for $78 million. That’s $9.75 million per game.
Last Dec. 6, the day before the Bills-Miami game in the Rogers Centre, Phil Lind, vice chairman of Rogers Communications, tipped his hand about Rogers’ interest in more games for Toronto, while commenting on the National Football League’s possibly adding a 17th game to each team’s schedule.
“Absolutely we’re going to go for that game, if it happens,” he said. “We’re going to look for that one and maybe another one.”
Regardless of the prospect of a 17th game, Lind made the intentions of Rogers Communications clear: “Generally speaking, am I open to a game or two more?” Lind said. “Yes.”
A Bills source indicated Monday that Rogers Communications, which had a tough time selling out its two games last season, went to the Bills to ask for more games and that the Bills were agreeable to the idea of Rogers polling its customers.
The benefit to Rogers, besides increasing its stake in the NFL, would be to earn a bit more profit if it paid the Bills less for the additional games.
The $9.75 million figure for the average Bills game in Toronto represents a windfall profit for the team, or roughly twice what the Bills can gross even from a sold-out game.
The Buffalo News last year reported that the team can realize about $3.8 million in gross ticket sales for an average home sellout in Orchard Park; additional game-day revenue increases that to about $5 million.
So the Bills, if they want to help out their business partner in Toronto, still could make a profit by selling another regular- season game each year to Rogers Communications for anywhere between about $5 million and $9.75 million.
For example, hypothetically speaking, if the three extra games were shifted to Toronto for $7 million apiece, that would increase the total package by $21 million, to $99 million — or $9 million per game.
It’s a win-win for both sides.
Those extra games at a lower per-game price would be a renegotiation of sorts, taking into account the difficulty of selling tickets in Toronto last year, the weakening of the North American economy and the further softening of the Canadian dollar.
The Bills’ statement issued late Sunday followed the weekend news that Rogers Communications sent an e-mail Friday to ticket holders for the Bills-in- Toronto series about the possibility of more games in Toronto.
“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!” the e-mail states in part.
Information available online also claims the proposed three-game ticket package for 2010 — two regular-season games and one preseason — would include “a lower price per game than previously, for most seats.”
Sunday night, the Bills released a statement confirming Rogers’ interest in expanding the Bills-in-Toronto series by one regular-season game per year.
“We have no agreement, nor has there ever been one, to play an additional regular-season game in Toronto,” the statement said in part. “Any such future agreement would require consultation and the approvals of Erie County, Empire State Development Corp. and the NFL owners.”
None of those seems to present insurmountable barriers.
Erie County Executive Chris Collins wouldn’t be opposed to letting the Bills play more games in Toronto.
“I’m supportive of anything we need to do to keep the Bills in Western New York,” Collins said Monday, endorsing the team’s strategy to strengthen its appeal in southern Ontario.
“The key to keeping the Bills in Western New York is making the team more valuable for whomever the owner ends up being,” he said.
Bills Chief Operating Officer Russ Brandon, at the NFL owners meetings in Dana Point, Calif., said Monday that he would prefer to let the team’s official statement released Sunday speak for itself.
Privately, though, the Bills have said they were ecstatic about their business partnership with Rogers, about the sponsorship and ticket-selling opportunities in southern Ontario — and about the team’s profits under the deal.
Still, any deal, which would have to be negotiated with the Bills and other parties, clearly would increase concerns among Bills fans about the team permanently relocating to Toronto.
Buffalo was abuzz Monday about the prospect of the Bills moving another foot out the door toward Toronto.
Andrew Petrinec and Al Keohane, two old high school buddies from East Aurora, weren’t at all happy about news of a possible second regular-season game going to Toronto.
The two friends launched a petition drive late last fall, asking for the Rogers Centre roof to be opened, to let a bit of winter inside and give the Bills some home-field edge for the game against Miami on Dec. 7.
Following this weekend’s news, Petrinec and Keohane talked about whether they want to keep their season tickets.
“We came to the conclusion that if they move another game up there, we’ll probably stop getting the tickets,” Petrinec said Monday. “That would be a quarter of their schedule. At that point, it just doesn’t seem worth it, especially if they give Toronto the better games.”
Petrinec was referring to widespread rumors that the Bills game against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts could be moved to Toronto this season. The NFL schedule hasn’t come out yet, and those reports remain unsubstantiated.
Appearing at a Cheektowaga ceremony Monday, Sen. Charles E. Schumer said his “strong preference” would be to have only one regular-season game per year in Toronto. He also said that he spoke to Bills officials early in the day and that they indicated no knowledge of the survey while assuring him they have no plans to shift more games to Toronto.
“Having one game really didn’t hurt last year; in fact, it increased attendance [through] ticket sales in Orchard Park at the stadium,” he said. “So that’s fine. But we’re always worried about ‘creep,’ and we’re keeping a careful eye on it.”
News Staff Reporters Matthew Spina, Allen Wilson and Robert J. McCarthy contributed to this report. e-mail: gwarner@buffnews.com and mgaughan@buffnews.com
mgaughan@buffnews.com and gwarner@buffnews.com
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