The Bills Toronto Series was a series of National Football League (NFL) games featuring the Buffalo Bills played at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original series began in the 2008 season and ran through 2012. The Bills were originally scheduled to play eight (later reduced to seven) home games over five seasons as part of the agreement, which included one regular-season game each of the five years and one pre-season game on the first, third and (originally) fifth year of the series. This included the first regular-season NFL game played in Canada, which the Bills lost to the Miami Dolphins.[1] The agreement was renewed for five additional years, with an annual regular season game and one preseason game, on January 29, 2013,[2] but following the 2013 contest it was announced that the 2014 game had been postponed for a year.[3] On December 3, 2014, it was announced that a deal had been reached to terminate the remainder of the contract, ending the Bills' experiment in Toronto.[4][5]
The series was conceived by a group that included former Bills owner Ralph Wilson, Ted Rogers of Rogers Communications and Larry Tanenbaum of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.[6]
- ^ "Buffalo loses to Miami in Canada's first NFL game". CTV News. 2008-12-07. Archived from the original on 2008-12-10.
- ^ "Rebuilding Bills will continue to play in Toronto". Yahoo! Sports. Associated Press. 2013-01-29. Archived from the original on 2013-02-17. Retrieved 2013-01-29.
- ^ "Buffalo Bills & Rogers Media postpone Toronto series for 2014". Buffalo Bills. 2014-03-05. Archived from the original on 2014-03-08. Retrieved 2014-03-08.
- ^ "Bills reach deal to terminate remaining Toronto games - Article - TSN". 3 December 2014. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
- ^ Patra, Kevin (3 December 2014). "Buffalo Bills terminate Toronto series". National Football League. Archived from the original on 9 December 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
- ^ "Bills owner won't commit to team's future in Buffalo". USA Today. Associated Press. 2008-02-06. Archived from the original on 2011-04-08. Retrieved 2017-08-24.