BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - The Buffalo Bills will receive $78 million
- more than double their calculated 2006 operating income - to play
eight games in Toronto over the next five years.
The payment to the Bills was disclosed for the first time in
Rogers Communications' 2008 first-quarter report released Tuesday.
The Toronto-based company is part of a consortium that negotiated a
deal with the Bills to have them play five regular-season and three
preseason games, starting this year, at the downtown Rogers Centre.
In becoming the NFL's first team to play annual games outside
the United States, the Bills are scheduled to host Pittsburgh in a
preseason match at Toronto on Aug. 14, followed by a regular-season
game against Miami on Dec. 7.
Rogers spokeswoman Jan Innes would not comment beyond the
one-paragraph statement included in the company report, except to
say the $78 million figure was in Canadian currency. The Canadian
dollar hovered around par to its U.S. counterpart during the first
quarter this year.
Innes declined to say whether any portion of the payment has
been made to the Bills.
Bills spokesman Scott Berchtold also declined comment, citing a
policy that the team does not discuss financial details of its
business relationships.
The deal, announced in February, was reached with a group headed
by Rogers CEO and founder Ted Rogers, and Larry Tanenbaum, chairman
of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Toronto
Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors. Rogers also owns the Blue Jays as
well as the Rogers Centre.
As part of the agreement, the Toronto group is effectively
leasing the home games from the Bills. Buffalo will provide the
team, the NFL provides an opponent, while the Toronto organizers
will be responsible for selling tickets, concessions and promoting
the event.
The Toronto group is using the eight-game series to show the
city can support its own NFL franchise. The Bills sought the
agreement to generate additional revenues by expanding their market
to Canada's largest city and financial capital, a 90-minute drive
from Buffalo.
The $78 million payment eclipses what Forbes calculated the
Bills made in 2006, in the magazine's annual financial breakdown of
NFL franchises. Forbes calculated the Bills had an operating income
of $31.2 million after bringing in $176 million in revenues that
year.
Broken down, the Bills will make nearly $9.75 million per game
in Toronto, something they'd be unable to make at Orchard Park,
where the small-market team has perennially had the lowest ticket
prices in the NFL. The Bills' average ticket price for this season
is about $51 at Ralph Wilson Stadium, which has a 72,000 seating
capacity.
Ticket prices for the games in Toronto have not yet been
released, but are expected to average more than $100 at a facility
with a 54,000 seating capacity for football.
Demand is already high after more than 100,000 single-ticket
reservations were made for the eight-game series through a Web site
established by the Toronto group. Tickets will be distributed via a
lottery starting next month.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)