Toronto officials want more Bills games
Rogers Communications exec confirms they are looking to add to schedule
Rogers Communications officials in Toronto have confirmed what observers on both sides of the border have been saying for weeks and months— that the communications giant wants more Buffalo Bills games in Toronto the next few years.
But just how many more games, no one is saying.
“It’s hard to say when and where it will happen, but over time we hope there’ll be more games here, and Buffalo [ownership] hopes there’ll be more games here,” Rogers Vice Chairman Phil Lind told the Toronto Star.
The Bills and Rogers Communications currently have a five-year deal moving five regular- season and three preseason games to Toronto from 2008 through 2012. That includes one game this season, a Thursday night Dec. 3 game against the New York Jets.
“Phil Lind has always been on the record stating his preference that there be more games [in Toronto], but the focus of our company now is on the deal we already have,” said Adrian Montgomery, Rogers’ general manager of the Bills in Toronto series.
How many games per year does Rogers want?
“I can’t speculate on that, other than to say our plate is full with the eight games,” Montgomery told The Buffalo News.
In late March, the Bills confirmed Rogers Communications’ 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.
At the time, sources said that the deal would make a lot of sense for Rogers, allowing it to increase its stake in the National Football League while also improving its bottom line for the games, if it paid the Bills less for the additional games.
The current deal has Rogers paying the Bills $78 million, or a $9.75 million average for each of the eight games. For the Bills, that $9.75 million figure represents a windfall for the team, or roughly twice what the Bills can gross even from a sold-out game in Orchard Park.
Rogers Communications announced Monday that it’s lowering its average ticket price by 17 percent for this season’s one Bills game in Toronto.
In his comments to the Toronto Star, Lind said he has no doubts that the Bills deal is a good one for Rogers, even during the current recession.
“I think that Toronto and southern Ontario is an NFL [area],” he told the newspaper. “I can prove it with all sorts of surveys that we’ve done that the [Canadian Football League], while still important in this market, is not as avidly followed by people under 50. More and more so, this is an NFL market.”
Montgomery took a more middle-of-the-road position than Lind on that point.
“I think this is a football market,” Montgomery said, citing the large number of NFL and CFL fans in the Toronto area. “Whether you play three downs or four, Toronto loves its football.”
Lind’s most recent comments are consistent with what he’s been saying for months.
Last Dec. 6, the day before the Bills-Miami game in Rogers Centre, Lind wasn’t shy about making a bid for an additional game if the NFL added 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.”
And that interest wasn’t confined to just the 17th game.
“Generally speaking, am I open to a game or two more?” Lind asked. “Yes.”
Montgomery was asked about Lind’s comment that Bills ownership wants more games in Toronto.
“The only people who are equipped to answer that are the Buffalo Bills,” he replied.
Bills officials authorized to comment on the issue were unavailable Friday.
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