Bills In Toronto…It Still Doesn’t Sound Right
December 3rd, 2009 | by armchair31 |Today Buffalo is in Toronto playing a “home game” against the New Jersey Jets, that’s right I still refuse to refer to them as New York as they are anything but. Although I can respect Buffalo’s interest and creativity in generating new sources of revenue, I am still against the idea that Buffalo playing a regular season home game outside of Ralph Wilson Stadium is a good idea. When the idea was first formulated and was leaked to the media, many Bills fans were concerned that their beloved team would be headed north of the border and become the Toronto Bills (most likely later renamed something dumb like the Toronto Moose or the Toronto Maple Syrups or maybe go the route of the Raptors and call themselves the Toronto Stegosaurus because they allowed the public to vote).
So far it has not materialized as being more than what it is; an overrated, poorly advertised, expensive and lack of a professional football atmosphere, source of revenue. I am not in tune with what the Bills financial situation was when they made this deal, and maybe it was a necessity. But, the Rogers staff as well as the Bills staff have yet to understand how to properly promote this event to the general public. With ticket prices being so high, many Bills fans from Buffalo are against making the 2 to 3 hour trip to Toronto in order to see the Bills take on which ever team they happen to be playing. While Buffalo has a strong following from Toronto and the Niagara Region, their ticket prices rival those of the Toronto Maple Leafs and even though it is very hard to get your hands on a Leafs ticket, 9 times out of 10 a fan living in Ontario will rather go see the Leafs play…and they’re in last well so is Buffalo I guess.
It almost appears that Buffalo is trying to create a tradition with this game being played in the north. It feels very similar to the route the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies took when they would play annually for the Naismith Cup. The Naismith Cup was a marketing invention in order to create some form of excitement when both Canadian teams played. The problem was that the players did not care because they weren’t actually Canadian and did not receive any form of bonus for winning. The fans did not care because they were smart enough to understand that the only time a trophy should be won is for a championship, and not for an annual meeting between (usually) two mediocre or bad teams. Although it has not been marketed, it almost appears that the Rogers group is trying to make this into Canada’s Super Bowl as it is the only regular season NFL game that is played in all of Canada.
The problem is that fans, for the most part, are not stupid. This seems to be the biggest obstacle in creating a successful event so far for the Buffalo Bills in the Rogers Center. Fans are willing to pay to watch mediocrity because of the atmosphere, which is why games at Ralph Wilson Stadium work so well. Even the truest of fans are less likely to pay for those tickets if you remove that atmosphere from the game. What makes the games so enjoyable at Ralph Wilson Stadium are the people. The problem we have already established is that many of those people are unwilling to either pay the obscene amount of money to go to Toronto, or are upset that one of their home games is being played in Toronto to begin with. When those fans are removed it really does take away from the overall experience. From tailgating to heckling, it is all about the fans. In this case the game seems more about trying to make it a spectacle.
What the Rogers people fail to understand is that the average Bills fan is a blue-collar, hard working, and loyal person. We are not interested in going to a Bills game to see entertainment, we are going because we love the Buffalo Bills and more importantly we love the game of football. We do not need a Grammy or Juno (Canada’s version of the Grammys) nominated singer to sing the national anthem. We would rather have a member of the U.S. service belt out the National Anthem or a 7 year old local singer. We do not need to have a pre-game ceremony to see winners of a radio contest or to see what celebrities made it out to the game. We would rather see the honouring of the many local military members who’s sacrifices and contributions many times go overlooked. We don’t need a half time show. This is the time we go to the Bathroom as you never go to the Bathroom while the game is actually being played.
This game may have helped save the Bills franchise because of revenue, but it is killing the enjoyment of the game because of not having a real understanding or appreciation of the actual Bills fan. Worse is that the Bills will have difficulty retaining new fans at the Toronto event because the atmosphere is just not close to a real Buffalo Bills game. Even though we come from all walks of lifiume we all dress the same and share the same passion on game day when we go to the stadium. I am not saying that the NFL can’t survive in Canada, but I am saying the Bills will have a tough time surviving in Canada. In the end, while the Bills can generate revenue with this move, they cannot generate or manufacture tradition which is what they are failing miserably to do.
I am Canadian and I approve this message. Go Bills.
