Argos Unhappy With Rogers' Plans For More Bills Toronto Games
Rogers Communications Vice Chair Phil Lind "wants to bring more Buffalo Bills games to Toronto, leaving the owners of the CFL's Toronto Argonauts furious about the prospect of potential further NFL encroachment into the market," according to David Naylor of the GLOBE & MAIL. Argos co-Owner Howard Sokolowski: "Phil told us that a limit of eight Bills games would be played over five years. Our reaction was: We're not happy but we understand. ... So I'm more than surprised to learn that Phil is now saying that he -- or the Bills with his co-operation -- are contemplating more games without talking to us. I'm surprised to hear it because we had a gentlemen's agreement." CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon also "has repeatedly stated that the league is steadfastly opposed to more Bills games being played in Toronto." Naylor noted Lind "has in the past angered the CFL by playing down the league's popularity in the Toronto market," and Lind "repeated the assertion in a recent interview with a Toronto newspaper, saying surveys indicate people under 50 in Southern Ontario 'more and more so' follow the NFL rather than the CFL." Argos co-Owner David Cynamon: "The CFL isn't taking shots at the NFL for coming here, so why is he taking shots at the Argos and the CFL? That's what upsets me as a Canadian, not a CFL owner, a Canadian. I won't ask him to endorse it, but to take shots at it?" Naylor noted a Rogers-NFL venture last year "gave Argos season-ticket holders first dibs on tickets to Bills' games at the Rogers Centre," but demand was "less than expected because of pricing, and the Argos drew little benefit from the arrangement" (GLOBE & MAIL, 4/18).
FITTING THE BILL: In Buffalo, Alan Pergament wrote the acquisition of Bills WR Terrell Owens "wasn't that significant when it came to the NFL's prime-time schedule," as the Bills will be featured in only two primetime broadcasts this season. The Bills "figured to get one ESPN game without Owens and they got it weeks ago" when it was announced they would play the Patriots on "MNF" in week one. Based on NFL scheduling history, the Bills "were expected to get either one additional ESPN game or an NFL Network game and not the three games speculated on by optimistic radio hosts," and the team "ended up with an NFL Network game" on December 3 against the Jets at Rogers Centre. The Bills indicated that "no local station owns the rights to NFL Network games and it will be open to bidding." Pergament wrote the game "would seem to be more attractive [in Buffalo] than an ESPN game because whichever local affiliate gets the rights won't have to share the audience with cable, as it does with ESPN games" (BUFFALO NEWS, 4/19).
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