THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — There will be a football game at Rogers Centre on the final weekend of the CFL’s regular season but it won’t involve the Toronto Argonauts.
The Buffalo Bills will host the Chicago Bears at Rogers Centre on Nov. 7, the same day the Argos conclude the CFL regular season in Montreal.
"We told the Argos what we were going to do," said Paul Beeston, the president and CEO of Rogers Sports & Entertainment. "We have very few dates that we can play, between their schedule and between killing October for the Blue Jays and the other events that are happening in here.
"But our goal was to get a game as early as possible, because I think that’s better for the competitive point of view."
Since the Rogers Centre roof is sealed for the winter by December, Beeston said that having the game in November means there is a chance the teams could meet under open skies.
The Bills-Bears game will be the fifth of eight games Buffalo will play in Toronto through the 2012 season. The Bills will also host the Indianapolis Colts in an exhibition game Aug. 19 at Rogers Centre.
The game against Chicago will mark the first time an NFL regular-season contest will be played in Canada before the end of the CFL regular season. The 2010 CFL campaign ends that day with the Toronto Argonauts in Montreal to face the Alouettes.
The previous two years Buffalo has played a regular-season home game in Toronto but both contests were scheduled in December following the CFL’s Grey Cup game so as to not conflict with the Canadian league.
Michael Copeland, the CFL’s chief operating officer, wasn’t concerned about the Bills playing in Toronto on the same day the Canadian league ended its regular season.
"This doesn’t change our focus, which is on preparing for our season and strengthening our league," he said in a statement. "And I know it doesn’t change the Argos’ focus, which is on building on and off the field."
The Buffalo-Chicago game is expected to again have some Canadian content as the Bears defence features defensive lineman Israel Idonije, of Brandon, Man. The six-foot-six, 270-pound Idonije, who played at the University of Manitoba, signed with Chicago as an undrafted free agent in 2003 after being released by the Cleveland Browns.
Defensive lineman Corey Mace, of Port Moody, B.C., is entering his fourth season with Buffalo.
Update: Colts president Bill Polian said that the plan is for the Colts starters to see more playing time in the preseason game against the Bills in Toronto. The first preseason game against the 49ers will be used to get a look at some young players.
Beeston said there will be a new combined pricing plan and new seating plan, and ticket prices will be reduced in certain sections of Rogers Centre, including a $65 area.
The Bills will play a regular-season game in 2011 before hosting an exhibition and regular-season contest in 2012 to close out the series.
"We are excited about playing the Chicago Bears in this year’s Bills Toronto Series regular-season game," Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr. said. "Our Toronto fans will have the opportunity to see us play against one of the most storied franchises in NFL history with Brian Urlacher anchoring the Bears defence and Jay Cutler, one of the most exciting quarterbacks in the game today, leading their offence.
"This game, coupled with our pre-season game against the Colts, brings two very exciting opponents to the BTS."
The Bears will make their first-ever trip to Toronto for a regular-season game.
"Playing a regular-season game in Toronto will be a great opportunity to showcase Bears football in front of a new market," said Bears president and CEO Ted Phillips. "We have a native Canadian on our roster (Israel Idonije) so it should be a special moment for him and I know the rest of our coaches and players are excited as well.
"We are looking forward to the opportunity."
Rogers Centre hasn’t exactly felt like home for the Bills.
Buffalo has dropped its previous two home games in Toronto. The club lost a 16-3 decision to Miami in December 2008 before losing 19-13 to the New York Jets in December 2009.
And in both instances, neither game was a sellout.
Not even the presence of highly touted Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez and flamboyant Bills receiver Terrell Owens could hide the patches of empty seats last year as just 51,567 fans attended the game. That was less than the 52,000-plus that watched Miami — led by Williams — beat Buffalo in 2008 as each contest was well short of the 54,000-seat capacity the stadium has for football.
Beeston acknowledged the Bears could have more fans in attendance than the Bills.
"They’re one of the original NFL teams, so I think we have to recognize that," Beeston said. "At the same time, I think we did a pretty good job last year of creating an atmosphere when the Jets were here that was, I think, pro-Bills. It was a great game.
"If we get a great game this time, with the same type of atmosphere in here on a Sunday afternoon with the roof open, then we’ve got a chance of giving somebody a very good NFL experience."
None of the three games — Buffalo hosted Pittsburgh in a 2008 exhibition game — in the series thus far has sold out.
And that’s been a major disappointment for Rogers Communications, which paid $78 million to have Buffalo play five regular-season games and three exhibition contests in Toronto. The hope was to showcase the city as a viable home for a full-time NFL franchise.
It also prompted speculation that the series was the first step in the Bills moving to southern Ontario. But Buffalo officials have vehemently stated the games in Canada are part of the club’s plan to expand its regional fanbase and tap into the lucrative Toronto marketplace.
The expectation when the series was first unveiled two years ago was that southern Ontario football fans would clamour to Rogers Centre to watch Buffalo and be willing to pay just about any price to do so.
But that hasn’t been the case, especially when Canadians can drive to Buffalo for Bills games and pay an average ticket price of $51.
After fans complained the first year event organizers, who are paying the Bills an average of $9.75-million per game, slashed ticket prices by an average of 17 per cent. They also offered more than 11,000 tickets for less than $99 compared to just 4,700 for that price the previous year.
And that fuelled talk event organizers were forced to buy up a lot of tickets for the Bills game against the Jets and distribute them free of charge in the hopes of boosting the attendance and making the stadium look much better to an American television audience. The contest was broadcast live in the U.S. by the NFL Network.
