The Bills will no longer play regular season and preseason contests at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, the team announced today in a press release. According to the team, the Bills and Rogers Communications have agreed to terminate the Bills Toronto series, which began in 2008.
“We greatly appreciate the support we’ve received over the past seven years from all of the tremendous people at Rogers Communications,” said Bills CEO Russ Brandon. “We will continue to work hard to solidify our footprint in Southern Ontario. Our fan base in this region remains extremely important to our organization and their support has been well documented.”
The agreement between the Bills and Rogers resulted in six regular season games and two preseason games played at the Rogers Centre, the home of MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays and the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts. However, Toronto’s enthusiasm for the series appeared to have dimmed in recent years — even after the team and Rogers renewed their agreement in 2013, the 2014 Toronto regular season game was postponed.
The move out of Toronto is the first major change made by Terry Pegula and Tim Pegula, the Bills’ new owners. The Pegulas dismissed any speculation about a move to Ontario when they bought the franchise earlier this year, and the decision to terminate the Toronto series further solidifies the franchise’s place in Western New York.