Bills' decision to play Canadian anthem is "all about the business"

The Bills christened their new stadium with both the American and Canadian national anthems, with the quartet known as Barenaked Ladies singing O Canada before kickoff. It was not a political statement, at a time of plenty of friction between the respective governments.

“For us, it’s all about the business,” Bills chief operating officer Pete Guelli said, via Tim Graham of The Athletic. “This is part of a broader marketing effort into Southern Ontario and Toronto. It’s been a critical part of our business model, and it’s going to continue to be. This has been in the works prior to anything that’s come up on the [geopolitical] front.”

At one point, the Bills played a small handful of regular-season games in Toronto, with the goal of expanding the team’s footprint.

“Buffalo’s a small market, but when you combine it with the Greater Toronto Area, it’s a top-five NFL market,” Guelli said. “Somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 percent of our PSL holders are Canadian. Our waiting list is closer to 20 percent.

“We’ve built a multibillion-dollar stadium and firmed up this team in our market for the next 30-plus years; Canada was an important part of that and always will be.”

The Bills will play the Canadian anthem before every home game, to the likely chagrin of those who inexplicably have beef with our neighbors to the north.