Bills Not Likely To Play More Than One Game In Toronto

Gambling News - June 29, 2009 - Written by Jimmy

With the NFL beginning to expand operations into foreign countries and overseas, not every one is on board. Since 2007, the NFL has been holding an annual game, in London, from Wembley Stadium, in an attempt to grow the game, in previously untapped markets. Many fans and teams are opposed to this expansion, as it costs one of the competing teams, a very important home game. NFL Franchises depend upon every home game, not just for an advantage on the field, but also for added revenue. By reducing the number of home games to 7, for one team, greatly affects the season income for that franchise.

The NFL also has other venues, in which they play less meaningful games, such as NFL Preseason games from Japan, in the Tokyo Bowl, and other large populous areas, like Mexico City. Previously, games out of the country were only exhibition matches, however now, in addition to the yearly London game, the Buffalo Bills have Regular Season NFL games taking place in Toronto, Canada. In 2008, Buffalo met the Miami Dolphins, from the Rogers Center, a game which they lost 16-3. The game attracted an official number of 52,134 spectators, but that number was deemed to be generous. Those number are a good bit lower than the maximum capacity of the Bills' Ralph Wilson Stadium, which holds 73,967.

Bills' owner, Ralph Wilson, isn't ready to commit to more games, in Toronto, though already being locked into a 5 year deal. The deal guarantees that the Buffalo Bills will at least hold one regular season game, in the Toronto Rogers Center, all the way up until the year 2012. In addition to the regular season deal, it is also in the contract that the Bills we play at least 3 preseason games there, as well. This year, the Bills are slated to host the New York Jets, in a December 3rd match up.

This contract has been brought back into the news with comments made by Rogers Center officials stating that they would like to add an additional regular season game, per year, especially if the NFL goes to an expanded 17 or 18 game schedule. Bills owner Ralph Wilson says "I don't know whether they'll get another game or not. We'll have to see how it works out up there."