Bills To Receive C$78M From Rogers For Toronto Games

Rogers Communications Paying Bills C$78M For Eight Games In Toronto

Rogers Communications will pay the Bills C$78M for the five regular-season games and three exhibition games to be played through 2012 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, according to Dave Perkins of the TORONTO STAR. The roughly C$10M per game cost "dwarfs estimated per-game revenues from tickets and concessions in Ralph Wilson Stadium" of about US$6M. Rogers Centre will have about 20,000 fewer seats for NFL games than Ralph Wilson Stadium, and part of the Toronto revenue difference will be "made up by tickets that cost several times what they cost in Buffalo," as ticket prices as high as C$350 are likely. Rogers VP/Communications Jan Innes "refused to address whether owner Ted Rogers expected to make a profit on the games in Toronto" (TORONTO STAR, 4/30). Innes declined to say "whether any portion of the payment has been made to the Bills." The AP's John Wawrow notes the Bills have "perennially had the smallest ticket prices in the NFL" at Ralph Wilson Stadium (AP, 4/29). In Buffalo, Mark Gaughan notes the Bills essentially are "leasing the game to Rogers Communications." The team is being paid a "flat fee for the games, and Rogers is handling virtually all of the game operations" (BUFFALO NEWS, 4/30).