Bills, Rogers Communications officially end Toronto series
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - The Buffalo Bills announced Wednesday morning that their Toronto Series is officially a thing of the past.
The team, in conjunction with Rogers Communications, came to an agreement to end the series which began in 2008 and ran through 2013.
'We greatly appreciate the support we've received over the past seven years from all of the tremendous people at Rogers Communications,' Bills team president Russ Brandon said in a statement. 'We will continue to work hard to solidify our footprint in Southern Ontario. Our fan base in this region remains extremely important to our organization and their support has been well documented.'
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The Bills draw about equal numbers of fans from Southern Ontario and the Rochester region on game days at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
The Toronto series was born in 2008, and the Bills received a tremendous windfall of $78 million to farm out one regular-season home game per season to the Rogers Centre. The Bills became the first NFL team to host a regular-season game in Canada. Its intention was to increase the team's fan base in Canada and was an added revenue stream for a franchise that desperately needed an influx of cash.
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That deal was extended for four more years in 2013, and the Bills lost to the Atlanta Falcons in the first game of the new agreement, 34-31, last season. While the Bills were raking in the money, that loss dropped Buffalo's record to 1-5 in the games at Toronto, which generally produced a sterile, neutral site atmosphere which frustrated all of the Bills coaches who participated in the games (Dick Jauron, Chan Gailey, and Doug Marrone).
The series was suspended for 2014 so that both sides could review its viability. But once Terry and Kim Pegula were granted ownership of the Bills, it became clear that they were going to try to get out of the final three years of the extended agreement, and that has proven to be the case.
Maiorana writes for the (Rochester, N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle
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