[SteelTown]

Cats and Bills teaming up
Clubs look at joint efforts to promote football in Hamilton and Buffalo

Ken Peters
The Hamilton Spectator
(Mar 25, 2008)

Buffalo is located just over 100 kilometres from Hamilton.

But the two cities' professional football teams have never been closer.

For the first time in the history of both the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Buffalo Bills, the two teams are close to a joint marketing partnership to strengthen each other's grasp in their respective markets.

Ticat owner Bob Young said yesterday that while details are still being worked out, both franchises are committed to helping each other survive.

"It's one thing for us to say nice things about each other in the occasional newspaper article. It's something again, for example, to do joint promotions," Young said. "Get, say, (former Bills star quarterback) Jim Kelly and Danny McManus to do autograph signings together.

"The conversations have started and we're both optimistic we can do some interesting things together."

He also raised the possibility that Tiger-Cat games might be aired on Buffalo television for the first time.

The announcement is a bit of an eyebrow-raiser, given that the Tiger-Cats pulled their support from a Bills plan announced in January that will see the NFL club play eight games over the next five seasons at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Young said he believes the Canadian Football League will continue to flourish, even with the Bills playing some games in Canada.

"We have finally got off our duff, and instead of sitting back and waiting for the Bills to encroach on our league, we have actually opened a dialogue with the NFL and the Buffalo Bills," the Ticat owner said, adding he sat down and talked with Bills management last month.

Young said there is a huge Buffalo Bills market in southern Ontario that the Bills have not capitalized on. But there is also a huge CFL market in both southern Ontario and northwestern New York that remains untapped, he added.

Young said the Cats-Bills discussion reveals both franchises have much in common.

"The lack of dialogue between the CFL and the NFL generally, and between the Buffalo Bills and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, for the last 50 years is scandalous," he said.

"So we're going to fix that and you will be hearing, over the course of the next six months, some interesting initiatives coming out of that partnership.

"We're both in the same business. And we want to see each other prosper. There is no downside here."

Young said the only downside from the Bills' perspective would be to see another NFL club set up shop in Toronto.

"They want to make sure they are the NFL team of choice for football teams in southern Ontario."

And the Bills seem to be prepared to help the CFL teams in southern Ontario as a way of strengthening their own grip on that market.

Young insisted that the Cats haven't changed their tune.

"My interest isn't in helping them be successful in Toronto," he said. "My interest is seeing them be successful in Buffalo."

Young said that while he "had nothing to announce today," the marketing plan between the two teams would be to encourage fans in each market to attend the other's games.

"You are going to see some initiatives between us and the Bills just because their interest and our interests are aligned. They want to be successful in Buffalo and we want them to be successful in Buffalo. But equally, they want to see football be successful in southern Ontario and that's what our interests are."

Young said Bills football in Toronto is only a problem if the CFL isn't proactive and doesn't try to work with the organization.

"It turns out the guys in Buffalo are really good guys. We see many more opportunities to collaborate. The other people I love are the Bills fans. They are our perfect allies because the Bills fans want the Bills and are desperate for the Bills to be successful in Buffalo."