The Bills and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment plan to announce a marketing relationship in Toronto on Tuesday, marking the start of the NFL team’s most concerted effort to develop its Canadian fan base since its last regular season game there in 2013.
The event, slated for 2pm ET at BMO Field, will include remarks from both organizations’ top brass followed by a youth football clinic. Bills COO Pete Guelli, MLSE President & CEO Keith Pelley and Bills/CFL legend Doug Flutie will be there, along with new Bills LPs and retired Toronto sports greats Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and Jozy Altidore. After speeches, the Bills will co-host a youth football clinic for 200 children with the Toronto Argonauts CFL team.
It’s the culmination of lengthy strategic planning inside the Bills’ organization to more fully develop southern Ontario, Guelli said. “It’s the second largest media market in North America and part of our home territory,” Guelli said. “There are reasons to put those two together. We think we’ve transcended Buffalo with the quality of football we play.”
The Argonauts’ Oct. 4 game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will carry a Bills theme and a Toronto bar, Real Sports Bar & Grill, is on board as an official watch party destination for the Bills, Guelli said. They are also discussing a Bills-themed Raptors game, and the Bills have arranged a retail activation plan with Peace Collective, a Canadian clothing brand.
Alongside annual regular season games at Rogers Centre from 2009-2013, the Bills at the time undertook similar fan development efforts in Toronto. But the context today is much different. With a new stadium under construction in Buffalo, the Bills are no longer seen as a threat to relocate, and the 2021 creation of the NFL’s Global Markets Program formalizes teams’ rights outside the U.S.
For the Bills, Toronto has always been within the 75-mile radius determining a team’s home marketing area, but in the past, some other teams and league executives questioned exactly what that meant in a foreign country. Now, with all 32 teams owning marketing rights in at least one foreign country, there is a clear framework for team fan development activities abroad. The Bills’ inclusion in the new program allows them to expand outside of Toronto into the rest of Canada.
There are no announced plans to bring games back to Toronto. This effort, Guelli said, is a “grassroots approach” with a “365-activation calendar” focused on connecting new and prospective fans with the high-powered Bills team led by MVP QB Josh Allen.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.sportsbusinessjournal.com ’
