BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Bills will be making one fewer trip north of the border after announcing Tuesday that they won't be playing their scheduled preseason "home" game at Toronto this summer.
The game will instead be played at Orchard Park as a result of what the team described as "scheduling conflicts" at Toronto's downtown Rogers Centre. It was unclear what the conflicts are.
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It was supposed to be the third and final preseason game the Bills were scheduled to play in Toronto as part of a five-year, $78 million agreement the team reached with Toronto-based Rogers Communication in 2008. The deal, which expires after this year, was supposed to include three preseason games and five annual regular-season games.
"We continue to have dialogue, just as we did at the Super Bowl in Indy, and we're optimistic that an agreement could be reached," Rogers president Keith Pelley said. "We're definitely interested in continuing the relationship with the Bills in Toronto."
The Bills said they will still play their annual regular-season game at Toronto this year. The date and opponent of that game will be determined once the NFL releases its schedule in the next two months.
Bills CEO Russ Brandon said the team is in negotiations with Rogers to extend the series beyond this year.
"Our core goal is to continue to regionalize our franchise and continue our series in Toronto, which has served us so well," Brandon said. "We will provide more information once terms are finalized."
The Bills also announced Tuesday that there will be no increase to their season-ticket prices, and have dropped prices for certain sections by as much as $15 per seat for the upcoming season.
The Bills already had among the NFL's lowest ticket prices. And they're coming off a season in which they failed to sell out their final three home games last year.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press
