BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and state
Sen. Charles Schumer will meet with Bills owner Ralph Wilson to
explore ways to keep the team in Buffalo.
With NFL approval, Wilson scheduled some Bills preseason and
regular-season games at the 50,000-capacity Rogers Centre in
Toronto. The decision has led to speculation that the franchise
will one day move north.
"Commissioner Goodell is committed to doing anything he and the
league can to keep the Bills in Buffalo," Schumer, D-N.Y., said
Wednesday after meeting with Goodell in Washington.
The league approved the deal to send the Bills north for one
game per season through 2012. They will also play three preseason
games in Toronto during that period. The Toronto partners are Blue
Jays owner Ted Rogers and Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of Maple Leaf
Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs and
Toronto Raptors.
"Hey, I can't speculate what's going to happen in the future,"
Wilson said last week when asked about the Bills moving north.
"But don't worry. Don't worry right now."
Rep. Brian Higgins, from Buffalo, also met with Goodell. In a
letter to the commissioner, Higgins asked the league to consider
amending its constitution to either allow full community ownership,
modeled after the Green Bay Packers, whose fans bought the team
before the NFL prohibited such arrangements, or at least a minority
stake.
The team's lease with Erie County extends until 2012.
Wilson, 89, says his family is not interested in running the
franchise after him.
"Ralph's heart, I have no doubt, his heart is in keeping the
Bills in Buffalo. If money were his only goal he would have moved
them a long time ago," Schumer said.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)