The Buffalo Bills have brought an end to their six-year experiment playing one home game a year in Toronto, negotiating a buyout four years early.
The move was no surprise, for multiple reasons. The Bills are 1-5 in the series' six games. Attendance ranged from spotty to awful, with many games featuring a majority of the opposing team's fans. And new Bills owner Terry Pegula bought the team with a promise to keep it in Buffalo, despite rumors of the team's move to Canada depending on the owner.
"We greatly appreciate the support we've received over the past seven years from all of the tremendous people at Rogers Communications," Bills president Russ Brandon said in a statement released by the team Wednesday. "We will continue to work hard to solidify our footprint in southern Ontario."
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The Bills initially received $78 million to play eight games, five regular-season and three preseason, in the Rogers Centre, far more than the team would have received were those games played in Buffalo. However, that payday resulted in higher ticket prices, averaging $180 a game, which in turn resulted in poor attendance. The series bottomed out last year with a game against the Atlanta Falcons which had an attendance count of 38,969.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.
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