As the Bills now have a firm commitment to play pre-season and regular season games in Toronto, speculation about the team's future is swirling. Amidst the concern that the Bills might be destined to head north, the team announced that they surpassed 50,000 season tickets sold for the upcoming season - the highest amount sold since 1993. And there are still four months before the season opener so it's likely that number will climb.
That's the good news.
While Western New York continues to show strong support for the franchise through season ticket purchases, lingering questions remain as to whether Ralph Wilson and the NFL are interested and/or committed to keeping the Bills in Buffalo when Mr. Wilson - or more likely his estate - sell the team. Mr. Wilson has said everything he is doing is being done to keep the team 'viable' in Buffalo, but the fact that large markets - like Los Angeles and Toronto - are without a team makes every football fan in the region a little nervous.
Mike Tanier at FootballOutsiders has a compelling post addressing the potential future of the Bills. In his article, Tanier writes:
Buffalo has long been one of those in-between cities: small by international standards, but large enough to host the Bills and the NHL Sabres. Now, Buffalo is close to losing some of its big-league luster. The Bills will play three preseason and five regular season games in Toronto, starting this year and ending in 2012. The so-called Toronto Series is a likely precursor to a permanent move to Canada. The Wilson family plans to sell the team after patriarch Ralph Wilson passes away, and the deep-pocketed conglomerate led by telecommunications mogul Ted Rogers is the most likely bidder.
A Bills move to Toronto could cripple Buffalo, a city already on the economic ropes. But ironically, it would make the whole Buffalo region stronger.
Things are tough all over, but the economy of Western New York has been stagnant for years. “The economic expansion of the mid- to late 1990s passed Buffalo by,” according to Buffalo News business columnist Dave Robinson. Robinson painted a grim picture of a city that was unable to replace old-line manufacturing businesses with high-tech, high-growth industries. The only major corporation now headquartered in Buffalo is M&T Bank, which spent its stadium-naming money down in Baltimore. While cities like Baltimore and Pittsburgh, historic industrial towns like Buffalo, rebuilt their downtowns into cultural centers in the last 20 years, Buffalo lacked the resources to do the same. “They’re working like the Dickens to get something going downtown,” Robinson said. “But the city lost its critical mass 20 years ago.” There’s no rush hour in downtown Buffalo anymore; a motorist can cruise through the metro area in a matter of minutes.
But while the city of Buffalo is dying, the nearby region is flourishing. This region spans two nations: the Buffalo-Rochester area in western New York, and the Toronto metro area in southern Canada. Toronto is the financial capital of Canada, and if you yoke its economy onto Buffalo-Rochester’s, you get a powerhouse mega-region.
He continues:
Buffalo and Toronto are just a few hours apart; Maple Leafs fans often travel to Buffalo when their teams play the Sabres, and Buffalo baseball fans often take day trips to watch the Blue Jays. By moving across the border and closer to the center of the TBR mega-region, the Bills can acquire a much-needed influx of corporate-caliber cash. “The Bills are like your parents who bought their house 50 years ago,” Robinson explained. “Their mortgage is paid off, so they don’t need a lot of income to get by.” The Wilson family can turn a tidy profit on television revenues, but the next owners will cough up as much as $800 million. They’ll need luxury box revenue and other income sources to offset their initial debts. “We don’t have a deep stable of companies,” Robinson said. “The Bills couldn’t dream of selling a PSL.” Ideally, Toronto would provide the companies, with Buffalo providing the loyal fan base.
It’s one thing to embrace macroeconomics, but quite another to root for a team that sings a different national anthem before games. While Bills fans are among the most loyal in the NFL, Robinson is not sure how many would follow the team to Canada, not when the Steelers, Browns, Jets, Giants, and Patriots offer attractive regional rooting interests. “Over time, it would settle into the relationship locals have with the Blue Jays,” Robinson said. “The Bills would be a nearby team to go to.”
Read the entire post here and check out the follow-up post on Richard Florida's creative class blog here.