TORONTO - Walking around the Rogers Centre in Toronto, two things struck me.
First, at 6:30 p.m., there was a "tailgate party" going on outside the dome. And approximately 60 people were present when I was there. The Rogers Centre is located in the heart of downtown Toronto and there is no true parking lots for an Orchard Park-sized tailgate party. The surrounding sports lounges were not full and fans were not walking around the area getting each other excited for the game like you would see in Orchard Park.
That leads me to my second observation. People in Toronto don't care about the Buffalo Bills.
The Toronto Sun, a major newspaper in Toronto, had Terrell Owens on the front cover of the newspaper. However, you had to dig into the S section to find any story about the Bills. Even then, the first Bills story was found on page S4 mixed in with features about the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts and Montreal Alouettes.
Still don't believe me Toronto could cares less about the Bills?
"Torontonians are fans of the National Football League - not the Buffalo Bills," Mindy Lambert, a Toronto resident who had no ambitions of attending the game, said.
While sitting at St. Louis Wings and Ribs, a restaurant across the street from Rogers Centre, roughly 20 percent of the patrons were wearing Bills gear, 30 percent were wearing gang green and the other 50 percent were talking about the Maple Leafs' road game at Columbus against the Blue Jackets in the National Hockey League.
The waitress told me most of the television screens would televise the Maple Leafs' game or the poker tournament. When I asked her if they would have the Bills game on, she said, "If someone really wants to watch it, we will put it on, but no."
While both teams are accustomed to playing in inclement weather during December, this was a game the Bills would desperately love to have at Ralph Wilson Stadium where there is no question the 12th man is in favor of the Bills.
With that said, why have the Bills insisted on having Divisional games played at Toronto? If they are trying to sell this game to the Toronto base, doesn't it seem logical to have the game against the Indianapolis Colts and Peyton Manning or the New Orleans Saints and Drew Brees played in Toronto? That way fans in Orchard Park get all their home divisional games played at the Ralph and Toronto gets to see some of the league's elite.
Whether the Bills will admit it or not, the plan was set up perfectly. Ted Rogers, founder and CEO of Rogers Communications in Canada, was going to buy the Buffalo Bills once Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr. passed away. Then, Rogers would move the Bills to Toronto. Problem is, Wilson outlived Rogers, who passed away Dec. 2, 2008.
Rogers was not around to see the first Bills game at Rogers Centre which was a huge bust attendance wise, similar to Thursday's game. And though officials are calling the game a sell out, plenty of good seats were available Thursday for the price of a trip to California and back. Thus, the Bills are stuck playing one game a year for the next three years in a city where no one cares about the final score.
As a fan, try recruiting an average NFL fan to become a Bills fan. I found out first hand it's nearly impossible.
"Why would Toronto want another mediocre professional team," Mark Reynolds, a Toronto resident asked. "We already have the Raptors. If Toronto gets a NFL team, I want it to be a team that shows some promise. The Bills don't have that."
Canadian investors are quickly learning Toronto is not a logical home for a NFL franchise and the Bills belong in one place only - Buffalo.
