But the closeness of Buffalo to Toronto, which is Canada’s largest city, saw the Bills agree in 2008 to play a total of eight games there over the next five years. The $78 million agreement was for five regular season tilts and three preseason matches to be held at the Rogers Centre, home of Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays. The Bills will play the fourth game of that agreement on Oct. 30 when they take on the Washington Redskins.
Bills safety George Wilson said he likes Toronto as a city because it’s pretty diverse and a nice place to visit, but he’s not really too excited about playing there and lists several reasons for coming to that conclusion. He said playing in Toronto definitely shouldn’t be considered a home game for the Bills since half of the fans over the past three years were there to cheer on the opposition.
Wilson said the difference between playing in Buffalo and Toronto is like night and day because the support the team gets from its home fans is quite passionate and the raucous. He feels the club is losing its advantage of playing at home when it travels to Toronto for a “home” game because the environment inside and outside the stadium is nothing like it is in Orchard Park. Also, the Rogers Centre holds about 53,000 fans for football while Ralph Wilson Stadium packs in about 68,000 and the Bills are 3-0 at home so far this season.
Wilson said Bills fans are pretty good at creating a hostile environment in Buffalo and it makes it hard for their opposition to focus. He added that he’s not criticizing Toronto fans because many of them do cheer for the Bills and the players appreciate it, but it’s just a fact that things are quite different when playing in Canada.
It probably doesn’t help that the 4-2 Bills are 0-3 while playing regular season games in Toronto, but have won their two preseason contests there. There’s also the matter of money. Wilson said that the players have to fork out some additional taxes when playing in Toronto, which are over and above the regular state tax paid in New York.
Wilson said the out-of-market game in Toronto is a good show for the NFL though as fans cheer the good plays no matter which side makes them. But he added that after playing in the three previous regular season games there he and the rest of his teammates know what to expect once the game kicks off. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick agreed with Wilson and said the atmosphere is a lot different, but the team still has to look upon it as a home game and take advantage of it as much as they can.
However, the Bills might be in for a pleasant surprise in Toronto this year since they have a winning record and that could mean more fan support since they have a shot at making the playoffs. Even though the Bills haven’t been very successful in Toronto it’s believed the deal to play more games there could be extended after it expires this year.
