Toronto is scheduled to host five Bills regular season games in the coming years, but many Buffalo fans are worried that the words on this Rogers Centre banner could soon be inverted. (J.P. Moczulski/Canadian Press)

The National Football League makes its long-awaited regular season debut in Canada on Sunday when the Buffalo Bills take on the Miami Dolphins at Rogers Centre in Toronto (4:05 p.m. ET).

Toronto has hosted NFL pre-season games — most recently a Bills-Pittsburgh Steelers exhibition in August — but never before has a meaningful contest been played north of the border. In fact, just three previous regular season games have been held outside the U.S. — Mexico City hosted one in 2005, and London had a game this season and last.

Sunday's affair is the second installment in the eight-game "Bills in Toronto" series, which will see the club travel 90 minutes up the Queen Elizabeth Way for five regular and three pre-season contests through 2012.

The Bills will get $78 million US for the series under a deal struck with a group led by Canadian telecom giant Rogers Communications. Ted Rogers, the company's founder, died this past week at 75.

Rogers didn't build his considerable empire by not knowing how to recoup an investment, so tickets for Sunday's game at the 53,506-seat domed stadium bearing his name were priced just short of an arm and a leg. They range from $105 Cdn (plus taxes and service charges) to a whopping $575 for VIP passes. The average price of $183 US dwarfs the $118 charged by the New England Patriots, who have the NFL's most expensive tickets.

At the bottom of that list? The Bills, who ask an average of $51 US to see a game from the aluminum bleachers at Ralph Wilson Stadium, the venerable 74,000-seat venue in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park.

Toronto football fans know this, and many initially balked at paying such a hefty fee to attend a game that will be devoid of the kind of revelry you can experience in Orchard Park eight Sundays a year — Rogers Centre lacks both the outdoor parking space and generous liquor laws required for proper tailgating. There were thousands of unsold tickets for the Bills-Steelers pre-season game, and the Bills-Dolphins didn't sell out until the 11th hour, sparing organizers the embarrassment of a television blackout.

That's cold comfort for Buffalo, the economically troubled town on the northeastern shore of Lake Erie where many citizens are convinced their beloved football team is eventually headed for a ritzier home.

Bills owner Ralph Wilson, who just turned 90, is committed to keeping the club in the city as long as he lives, but says it's going up for sale after his death so his heirs can reap the windfall and get help paying the estate taxes.

"I don't know what a new owner would do," Wilson told USA Today this week. "I can't predict the future."

First step out the door?

While there's nothing stopping Buffalo investors from buying the team — hall of fame quarterback Jim Kelly has said he's like to put a group together — a megamarket would be in position to make a much bigger offer. It's speculated that a move to a city like Los Angeles or Toronto could push the value of the franchise upwards of $1 billion, higher than the $885 million that Forbes currently estimates the Bills are worth.

"I don't think the team is going anywhere, to be honest with you," Kelly, ever the optimist, told the Associated Press this week. "As long as I have anything to do with it, they're going to stay in western New York."

Forgive Buffalonians, though, for thinking Sunday's game is the first step toward their team heading over the Peace Bridge for good. The city that witnessed four consecutive Super Bowl losses in the early 90s has earned the right to be pessimistic despite Wilson's insistence that the Toronto series is simply a way of increasing the team's cashflow to keep it viable in western New York.

Buffalo fans have other reasons to gripe. Sunday will mark the first time their team plays a "home" game indoors, negating the climate advantage the Bills have enjoyed for December games against warm-weather Miami at blustery Wilson Stadium.

Then there's the guys on the field. After a surprising 5-1 start to the season, Buffalo (6-6) has lost five of six to all but fall out of the playoff picture in the AFC.

On Sunday, the Bills will try to spoil the post-season plans of archrival Miami (7-5), which is just one game back of the AFC East-leading New York Jets and one behind wild-card leaders Indianapolis and Baltimore.

More good news for the Dolphins: with Bills quarterback Trent Edwards doubtful to play due to a groin injury, erratic backup J.P. Losman is likely to play. Wildly unpopular as the No. 1 passer before Edwards arrived, the sack-prone Losman is 10-21 as an NFL starter. The Tulane product could be an easy target for Miami pass-rush specialist Joey Porter, who ranks second in the NFL with 14½ sacks.

Buffalo will be without cornerback Jabari Greer, who'll miss his third straight game because of a knee injury. Defensive end Aaron Schobel (left foot) returned to practice this week, but remains sidelined. Starting strong safety Donte Whitner (separated shoulder) and Robert Royal (hamstring) are both questionable.