If the Buffalo Bills relocate to Toronto “we’re going to war with Canada,” late-night host Jimmy Kimmel joked (we hope) in an interview with actor Daniel Radcliffe.
The Bills are up for sale following the death earlier this year of owner Ralph Wilson. One of the interested parties is a Toronto-based group led by Larry Tanenbaum, chair of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, and the Rogers family.
The team has gauged interest and potential support in the Toronto market with a series of exhibition and regular season games at the Rogers Centre since 2008.
Earlier this year, that arrangement was put on hold for at least a year over less-than-capacity attendance levels and complaints from players of neutral crowds that detract from what is supposed to be their home-field advantage.
In an interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” that aired Tuesday, Radcliffe told of how he nearly didn’t make it to New York for the interview after being unable to get a visa printed at the U.S. Embassy in Toronto.
The “Harry Potter” star drove to Buffalo, where he made small talk with a local official who was helping him sort out the visa problem. When he mentioned the speculation that the team may move north of the border, he said that the woman told him: “’I really don’t know what this town will do if they ever leave.’”
Kimmel immediately replied: “If the Bills go to Toronto, we’re going to war with Canada. We are.”
Radcliffe laughed and joked: “I’ll join you.”
Investment firm Morgan Stanley, which is handling the private sale of the team, says 10 potential ownership groups submitted nondisclosure agreements ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. However, not all are expected to put in firm bids for the team.
The Tanenbaum-Rogers team also includes rocker Jon Bon Jovi, but other prospective buyers include Donald Trump, as well as Terry and Kim Pegula, who own the Buffalo Sabres.
Trump said earlier this week that he will be bidding for the team, but said “the chances are very, very unlikely” that he will be successful “because I’m not going to do something totally stupid.”
The team is valued at about $870 million, but could sell for upwards of $1 billion.
"I'm ... somebody that likes to buy for the right price," Trump said. "Right now you see pricing of certain types of assets - including real estate assets - they're going through the roof."
The team’s new owner could be selected by Labour Day weekend. NFL owners would have to approve the sale, and a vote could happen at NFL meetings scheduled for October.
Any talk of moving the team would have to wait a few years, however. In 2012, the team signed a 10-year lease agreement to play at Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson stadium and the deal includes a non-relocation clause. According to the terms, the team would be slapped with a $400 million penalty for even proposing to move before the lease is up. A one-time exception allows the team to break the lease in the year 2020 for a mere $28.4 million penalty.
With files from The Associated Press
