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TORONTO — The Buffalo Bills will kick off their eight-game stint in Toronto this summer with an NFL exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to a published report.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported in today's editions that the Steelers and Bills will square off at Rogers Centre sometime in August. The newspaper said the game will be played between Aug. 14 and Aug. 18 when the Toronto Blue Jays are on the road.
The CFL's Toronto Argonauts will play host to the Montreal Alouettes at Rogers Centre on Aug. 15.
The Bills will play eight games (five regular-season contests, three exhibitions) at Rogers Centre over the next five seasons. The NFL club says the move is an attempt to tap into southern Ontario's lucrative corporate base but many football pundits believe this is the first step in the Bills eventually relocating to southern Ontario.
Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson, 89, certainly fuelled speculation the NFL club could be on the move when he said last summer he would not sell the franchise while he was alive and that once he died, the Bills would go to the highest bidder.
With the Canadian dollar relatively on par with its American cousin, that would allow a Toronto-based group headed up by communications mogul Ted Rogers and Larry Tanenbaum of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment to certainly be a player in the Bills sweepstakes.
But talk the Buffalo club would face the Steelers in Toronto this summer was certainly news to the Bills. A club official said Thursday the NFL has not yet informed the Bills of their opponents for '08 and isn't expect to do so until some time next month.
There has also been no indication regarding how much tickets will cost. Argos season-ticket holders this year will receive priority access to 20,000 Bills' tickets but will have to purchase tickets to all eight games.
An Argos official said the CFL club hasn't been told when the Bills will play at Rogers Centre, who they will play or what the price range will be for game tickets.
Buffalo is also scheduled to play a regular-season game in Toronto this year. The expectation is that contest will be played in December after the Grey Cup in Montreal.
It wouldn't be surprising if Buffalo and Pittsburgh were to meet in an exhibition game this summer. A source requesting anonymity said there was talk during Super Bowl week in Arizona that the Steelers and Bills would play at Rogers Centre in August.
If the Steelers do face Buffalo in Ontario, it will be the Pittsburgh club's first game in this province since beating the Argos 43-16 in an exhibition game Aug. 3, 1960.
It would also be Pittsburgh's first international game since it played the Indianapolis Colts in Mexico City in 2000.
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