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To expand fan base Buffalo Bills would like to play a few games in Toronto each year

They already draw around 10,000 Canadian fans at each home game in Buffalo so they do have a foothold at least with Canada. I think this
makes sense.


ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson frequently has lamented how difficult it is for his team to fully tap into Toronto, the metropolis considered the NFL franchise's northern - and, by far, largest - market.

Turns out, the Bills might have finally come up with a solution. If they can't lure Toronto's vast cache of corporate dollars, then the Bills intend to go north twice a year.

That's part of the pitch the Bills will make at the NFL fall meetings in Philadelphia today, when the team unveils its plan to host an annual regular-season and pre-season game in Toronto starting next year.

Brian McCarthy, NFL vice president of corporate communications, said yesterday the Bills' bid to play annually in Toronto is viewed as both "logical" and "necessary" steps to secure the small-market franchise's long-term viability.

"They do need to further regionalize both fan and corporate support in their home territory," McCarthy said. "So this would help the team further successfully operate in the future in western New York."

Toronto represents the final and most lucrative frontier for the Bills, who insist they have reached their revenue-generating limits in a rust-belt region with a perennially struggling economy.

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