Let's Hope Bills and Lions Play In Toronto In 2010

The 2010 National Football League schedule will be released in the near future and once again, the Buffalo Bills will play a regular season game at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The big question is what game will the National Football League put in Toronto?

The Bills are slated to host their AFC rivals the Miami Dolphins, New York Jets and New England Patriots at Ralph Wilson Stadium while the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions are also on the home portion of the schedule.

The big question is what game is going to be shifted from Buffalo to Toronto?

The answer should be the Detroit Lions game. It's a no-brainer.

Detroit is close to Toronto, about a three hour drive, and since the Bills already have the $72 million in their cash draw, who cares what team shows up in Toronto. Lions fans might make the trip and take in the game.

It's a safe conclusion that the Lions will not sellout in Buffalo. But as stated earlier, if the Lions show up in Toronto, the money is already in the bank.The five-year deal is done so give Toronto a clunker of a game.  

They had problems selling out the two previous Bills games vs. the Jets and Dolphins.

The Bills and Lions are rivals year after year in the pre-season so putting the regular season game there makes more sense. There'll be about as much interest in the regular season game as there is in the "scrimmage".

Also, our friends to the north get a pre-season game this year. Bring in a "top-tier" team for that exhibition game and add the Lions regular season game versus the Lions so that should suffice.

The National Football League should not put a divisional game in Toronto like they have the past two season as the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins were the opponents. Can you imagine the flack the Bills would get if the NFL stayed to its recent script and completed the AFC East trifecta by sending New England to Toronto in 2010.

Realistically, I don't think it's gonna happen.

Pittsburgh played in Toronto in a pre-season game against the Bills so don't expect them to go north as this game is a sure sellout in Buffalo. It was the first game for Buffalo in Toronto and it was a hard sell even though it was an exhibition game.

Other logical possibilities for Toronto are the Cleveland Browns or Jacksonville Jaguars.

I would dismiss Cleveland as the Browns always bring big numbers to Western New York and this would be another guaranteed sellout. Plus it's a conference game that is more than winnable. Leave it in Buffalo.

Jacksonville is a so-so team and making them trek to Toronto would make sense. Despite being an AFC rival, it's not a game Buffalo fans would miss. Unless it was the season-opener, I doubt it would sell out.

The other choice is the Chicago Bears. With some nice free agent signings, the Bears should be a game left in Buffalo. Plus, the Bears rarely make regular-season appearances in Buffalo.

So, the way I see it, there's only two game choices for the NFL to put in Toronto. The Lions vs. Bills or the Jaguars vs. Bills, with a Browns vs. Bills contest as a darkhorse. Anything different would be a total slap in the face to the Buffalo fans.