Buffalo Bills Reportedly Will Play Games in Toronto for 5 More Seasons

The Buffalo Bills are "very close" to agreeing on a five-year extension with the Rogers Centre to continue the team's Canadian series, according to John Kryk of the Toronto Sun, who cites sources close to the matter.

Kyrk's sources tell him that the new deal will be "significantly" less lucrative for the Bills. Due to that, ticket prices are expected to be "significantly" lower.  

On Tuesday morning, the NFL’s International Committee in Atlanta approved the Buffalo Bills’ intention to extend its deal.

From 2013 to 2017, the Bills will reportedly play one of their eight regular-season home games in Toronto's downtown stadium. Only one preseason game is expected to be a part of the series. 

While it hasn't been welcomed by fans in Western New York—who enjoy ticket prices among the cheapest in the NFL and revel in the famed tailgating scene that's nonexistent north of the border—the series with the Rogers Centre has been wildly profitable for the Bills over the last five years.

According to Kryk, regardless of the amount of tickets sold or how much Rogers charges for the tickets, the team's haul from each of the seven games has been $11.14 million, or double the amount they make on games in Orchard Park, New York at Ralph Wilson Stadium.  

It's easy to understand why this is frustrating for Bills fans. Their team realistically has only seven home games each season instead of eight. 

However, it's become a necessary evil for a team trying to stay afloat in one of the smallest markets in the NFL. They must regionalize their brand and if they can make considerably more profit while doing so, then it's something the Bills must do. 

Bills decision makers would be foolish if they didn't attempt to tap into a metropolis with a population of five million people that's only an hour drive from Buffalo.

Unfortunately, there are a few other ways the team can make money that wouldn't mean the loss of a true home game. 

How about selling the naming rights for the stadium? It's something Ralph Wilson, Jr. refuses to do. 

Playing one game in Toronto is a much quicker way to boost regionalization of the club, but a new stadium in a more centralized part of Western New York could draw more fans from surrounding cities like Rochester and Syracuse. 

Then again, the potential of a new stadium for the Bills is, at the very least, many years down the road, and there are no immediate plans to move the team from Orchard Park to a different Western New York location. 

Bills fans can be slightly upset knowing this series will continue, but I think everyone in Buffalo would rather watch one "home" game in Toronto every year than witness their club move to Los Angeles. 

If the series with the Rogers Centre helps maintain the Bills' viability in Western New York, that's all the Bills faithful should care about. 

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