ANNOUNCEMENTS

February 6, 2008

First crack at Bills for Argo Fans


THE CANADIAN PRESS (reprinted from sportsnet.ca)

TORONTO -- There's little doubt in Ralph Wilson Jr.'s mind that Toronto is an NFL town.

He'll put his theory to the test over the next five years when his Buffalo Bills play eight games at the Rogers Centre.

"Driving in from the airport and seeing all the buildings, all the construction going on here in Toronto it reminds me of my trip to Dallas (home of the NFL's Cowboys) a few months ago," the Bills owner said Wednesday. "There's building in Dallas, Texas, everywhere.

"Cranes, brand new structures and it's the very same thing here in Toronto."

Wilson was in Toronto on Wednesday to attend a news conference officially announcing that Buffalo will make NFL history later this year when it becomes the first league team to hold a regular-season game in Canada.

The Bills will play one regular-season contest in Toronto each year from 2008 to 2012 as well as staging exhibitions here in 2008, 2010 and 2012.

But specific details, such as ticket prices and Buffalo's opponents, were not immediately divulged. The NFL will dictate which teams the Bills will face while the price for admission is expected to be formally decided in the next week or so.

In fact, there were precious few new details unveiled Wednesday. One tidbit was the revelation that tickets under $100 each will be available after numerous published reports last week said the median price per ticket would be $250.

And Phil Lind, a member of the group looking to land an full-time NFL team for Toronto who attended Wednesday's conference, said fans won't have to pay for their tickets up front.

Toronto Argonauts season-ticket holders will receive priority access to 20,000 tickets to the eight games. A ticket lottery will be used for the general public, which must enter an online registration (www.billsintoronto.com) from which winners will be selected randomly.

There's little doubt, though, getting into Bills game at the Rogers Centre will be infinitely more expensive than watching the team in Western New York. Buffalo had the lowest average ticket price in the 32-team NFL this season at US$46 per seat in the 73,697-seat Ralph Wilson Stadium, the league's sixth-largest stadium. The Bills averaged more than 71,000 fans per game in 2007 but have always had trouble selling out in December because of weather issues as well as the club having missed the playoffs every year since 1999.

Weather won't be an issue at the domed Rogers Centre. However the facility's seating capacity for football is between 51,000 and 53,000 depending on field configuration. That's significantly less than Ralph Wilson Stadium, which could force many Bills season-ticket holders to pass on making the two-hour trek to Toronto considering Buffalo's depressed economic state.

"It's no secret, Buffalo is diminishing in size," said Wilson.

The 89-year-old Wilson maintained his long-standing view that having the Bills play in Toronto is an attempt to expand the team's brand in the vibrant southern Ontario market and thus further solidify its future in Buffalo. However, many football pundits are convinced the plan is the first step in the NFL club's eventual relocation to Toronto.

The Bills attract a solid group of fans from Southern Ontario -- between 10,000 and 15,000 per game, depending on the opponent. The Greater Toronto Area boasts a population of about five million people, compared to just 1.25 million for the metropolitan Buffalo area.

Talk of the NFL coming to Toronto has existed since the 1970s. However, speculation about Buffalo's future has swirled for months after Wilson said he wouldn't sell the club while he's alive but that it will go to the highest bidder upon his death.

That, combined with the strong Canadian dollar and deep pockets of the Toronto NFL group headed up by Rogers, Lind and Larry Tanenbaum has many believing Buffalo's arrival here is just a matter of time.

It was clear Wednesday the Bills' plan to play in Toronto is big news back home. There were at least eight 10 television crews from Western New York present at the news conference as well as representatives from the Buffalo News and radio stations WGR 550 and WBEN 930.

But Wilson couldn't offer any answers about his franchise's long-term future.

"Hey, I can't speculate what's going to happen in the future," Wilson said. "But don't worry.

"Don't worry right now."

Rogers, Lind and Tanenbaum all took the same approach.

"Some of you have asked if this is a prelude to getting an NFL team in Toronto," Lind said. "I have to tell you that our entire focus has been on these games and these games only.

"We don't want to, nor will we, speculate beyond these eight games."

The overwhelming sentiment is if the NFL set up shop full-time in Toronto, it would not only kill the CFL's Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats but also threaten the Canadian league's very existence. But Rogers said his group doesn't want to kill the CFL.

"The CFL is stronger than people think," he said. "Our aim is to be a good partner with them."

Yet it's clear the Argos and Ticats are on different sides of the fence regarding the NFL playing in southern Ontario.

The Argos are partners in the Bills' venture, feeling it's a short-term thing that could invariably net them more season-ticket subscribers while further promoting football in the province. However, the Ticats are having nothing to do with it because the CFL still doesn't have a formal working agreement with the NFL. Earlier this week, owner Bob Young said in a statement that signing on "will lead to unintended consequences, not all of them good."

Argos co-owner Howard Sokolowski was adamant that the Bills' five-year plan wouldn't result in the team relocating to Toronto.

"I personally don't think a team is coming here, ever," he said. "Whatever discussions we've had ... have had to do with eight games in five years and we've had every assurance and been reassured that is the situation.

"David (co-owner David Cynamon) and I took over the Toronto Argonauts out of bankruptcy, we never would've got involved in that situation if we thought there was an opportunity for an NFL team to come here. I believe the NFL will stay away on a permanent basis and so does David."

CFL commissioner Mark Cohon says he's aware of the potential threat the NFL poses but that he's not consumed by it and doesn't feel Hamilton's decision not to support the Bills plan has created division on how the CFL should deal with the NFL team's venture on Canadian soil.

"What I have to do is not stick my head in the sand and be aware of everything that's going on as it relates to professional sports in this city and across the country and that's what I'm doing," Cohon said. "Right now ... I'm supportive of the initiative that involves the Toronto Argonauts. I'm supportive because the Argos fans can benefit from this.

"If they sell more season tickets and get more people to see Argos games and exposed to the CFL, that's a good thing for us. We have to make sure they continually work on that and continually promote our game. Ninety-eight per cent of my time is focused on the CFL. Two per cent of my time is focused right now on the NFL. People need to know my job is to make sure we're getting more kids playing CFL football, making more kids wear Henry Burris jerseys, making sure we're landing more sponsors and that's what we're doing."