As the Buffalo Bills head over the border for a game at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Business First is taking at other similar situations in major league sports. For example, in the 1970s, the defunct Buffalo Braves of the National Basketball Association played 15 home games in Maple Leaf Gardens. They hoped to expand their fan base. It didn't work. The financially strapped team moved from Buffalo to San Diego in 1978.
The Bills have higher hopes. Team owner Ralph Wilson says he doesn't want the team to leave Buffalo and the Toronto games are designed to increase their exposure. The plan calls for three preseason and five regular-season games in the Rogers centre through 2012. You can read more in this week's Business First.
A new hotel is checking in on Buffalo's waterfront. Plans call for a four-story, 100-room Wingate Hotel next to Shanghai Red's restaurant along the Erie Basin Marina. Former Common Council President James Pitts and Specialty Restaurants have gotten the ok from the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency to move forward with plans. The hotel could open by 2010.
