THE CANADIAN PRESS

HAMILTON -- The Hamilton Tiger-Cats say they won't participate in the plan to bring eight Buffalo Bills games to Toronto.

"We feel that bringing NFL games to stadiums in Canada without a comprehensive agreement between the CFL and the NFL will lead to unintended consequences, not all of them good," Ticats owner Bob Young said in a statement.

"The CFL is Canada's premier professional sports league, as the NFL is the premier sports league in the U.S. We are looking forward to a mutually beneficial agreement resulting from discussions between the CFL and NFL."

Last week the NFL confirmed that eight Bills games would be played at the Rogers Centre in Toronto over the next five years.

The Ticats said that contrary to earlier reports, they will not participate with Rogers Stadium Limited Partnership in the plan. Ticats season-ticket holders -- along with Argos and Bills season-ticket holders -- were to be given priority for purchasing tickets for the Toronto games.

Hamilton fans were expected to have a chance at 5,000 tickets although there was to be no direct financial benefit to the CFL club. The median price will reportedly be C$250 per ticket and fans not only must commit to all eight games but do so financially up front.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed during his state-of-the-union address in Arizona last week that Buffalo would stage a regular-season contest at Rogers Centre each season, starting in 2008, and also play three exhibition games every other year.

The NFL and CFL have been without a working agreement for some time now but CFL commissioner Mark Cohon said last week that he and Goodell are proceeding "methodically" on forming the framework of a new deal.

Ticats president Scott Mitchell says that his team's decision is intended to show support for such an agreement.

"In many ways, we're hoping to empower Mark even more -- that any arrangement with the NFL on a formal basis has to come from our CFL office," Mitchell told the Fan 590, a Toronto all-sports radio station. "I think that Mark has been working tremendously hard on this. I think it's a very difficult issue.

"He certainly tried to help us out as much as he could in this particular situation."

The NFL will determine when the games are played and the opponents. The Bills are expected to provide further details this week at a news conference, which is expected to be held in Toronto.