Bills Toronto Series The Bills Toronto Series is a five - year deal consisting of a series of National Football League games featuring the Buffalo Bills played at the Rogers Centre in Toronto , Ontario , Canada . The series began in the 2008 NFL season and will end during the 2012 NFL season . The Bills are to play eight home games over those five seasons which include one regular - season game each of the 5 years and one pre - season game on the 1st , 3rd and 5th years of the series . This includes the first regular - season NFL game played in Canada which the Bills lost to the Miami Dolphins . The series was conceived by a group that includes Bills owner Ralph Wilson , the late Ted Rogers of Rogers Communications and Larry Tanenbaum of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment . Background . Although NFL exhibition games have been played in Canada since 1950 , it was not until the Bills Toronto Series that a regular - season NFL game was played north of the border , on December 7 , 2008 . NFL games have been played outside the United States regularly since 2005 with Fútbol Americano ( a one - off regular season game in Mexico City ) and the 2007 debut of the NFL International Series , which has promoted regular - season games in London . Both of those events were separate from the Toronto Series , in that the Toronto Series was orchestrated by an individual team while the other regular season games were orchestrated by the league . Toronto is about 60 miles by air from Buffalo and 86 miles by car via the Queen Elizabeth Way . Much of southern Ontario is within the Bills ' marketing territory as defined by the NFL . About 10 - 15 , 000 attendees ( 15 - 20 % of the total ) at the Bills ' home games at Ralph Wilson Stadium come from southern Ontario . Rogers Centre ' s capacity ( 54 , 000 seats ) currently is slightly lower than the number of seats for a stadium to be a viable venue for a permanent Toronto team as all other NFL stadiums have at least 60 , 000 seats as of 2011 . It is typically configured at 49 , 500 seats for Blue Jays baseball , though more were added for the 2008 Bills games for a total of 54 , 000 . Toronto Series games are the only NFL games not subject to the league ' s blackout restrictions . For instance , the 2010 Toronto Series preseason game had nearly 15 , 000 available seats but was still seen on television within the stadium ' s blackout zone . History . In September 2006 , Tanenbaum and Rogers held a news conference , where the two men discussed bringing an NFL franchise to Toronto . Neither specified whether a potential Toronto team would be a new franchise or a team moved from another city . Tanenbaum was quoted as saying , “ I ’ m highly interested in an NFL team and Ted is , too . We hope to pursue it more rigorously as soon as the NFL gives us the word . ” In October 2007 , Bills owner Ralph Wilson petitioned NFL owners to allow his team to play one “ home ” game per year ( over five years ) in Canada . NFL commissioner Roger Goodell approved the plan , which also allowed the Bills to also play a pre - season “ home ” game at Roger Centre every other year of the Series ( 2008 , 2010 , 2012 ) for a total of eight games in Toronto . In February 2008 , Wilson avoided questions about a possible permanent move for the Bills to Toronto while discussing “ high rates ” for Series ticket prices . The deal Wilson struck with the Toronto group allows them to bid on and relocate other available NFL franchises up for sale . Rogers Communications reported a Series payment of CA $ 78 million to the Buffalo Bills in their Q1 2008 financial report , which , according to " Forbes " , is more than the team earned ( in operating income ) in 2006 . The series set the record for the largest gate revenue for a single event in the history of the Rogers Centre , at C $ 8 million , although this was later surpassed by UFC 129 . 2008 . The Bills played two games ( one pre - season ) in 2008 at Rogers Centre . The pre - season opponent was the Pittsburgh Steelers . The Bills defeated the Steelers 24 - 21 on August 14 , 2008 . In the regular season , the Bills played ( and lost to ) the Miami Dolphins 16 - 3 on December 7 in front of 52 , 134 in attendance . The Rogers Centre ’ s roof was closed for the game , which meant the region ' s normally cold and windy December conditions wouldn ’ t influence the game . Ticket prices for the Series were announced in May , and averaged C $ 183 per seat . In Buffalo , Bills tickets averaged C $ 51 per seat . 2009 . The Bills lost to the New York Jets , 19 - 13 , in front of 51 , 567 under the roof at Rogers Centre on December 3 . There was no pre - season game at Rogers Centre in 2009 . In 2009 , the Bills Toronto Series also announced a ticket price reduction plan , cutting prices by an average of 17 percent and offering more than 11 , 000 tickets for less than C $ 99 . Rogers Communications offered partial refunds to ticketholders who had purchased seats in 2008 and who were affected by the price reduction . 2010 . The preseason game , which took place August 19 , featured the Bills hosting the Indianapolis Colts . The Bills defeated the Colts 34 – 21 . For the first time , the 2010 regular - season Toronto game took place during the 2010 CFL season and not after it ; it was played on November 7 , the last week of the CFL ' s regular season , with a 1 : 00 p . m . start ( the Toronto Argonauts played the Montreal Alouettes in Montreal on the same day , but with a 4 : 00 p . m . start ) . The Bills faced the Chicago Bears , marking the first time a team from the NFC appeared in the series . As part of the NFL Television Contract the game was broadcasted by Fox for the first time and not CBS . The Bills relinquished a five - point mid - fourth - quarter lead , falling 22 – 19 to the Bears . 2011 . The Bills played host to the Washington Redskins for the 2011 Toronto Series on Sunday , October 30 , at 4 : 05 p . m . The Bills , in their first regular - season win in the series , defeated the Redskins 23 – 0 , the first time Redskins coach Mike Shanahan had been shut out in his career . The game marked the peak of the Bills ' fortunes that season , with the Bills reaching 5 – 2 ; a series of key injuries led to the team collapsing over the next several games to fall out of playoff contention for the twelfth straight year .