Does the NFL belong in or have a future in Canada (1 Viewer)

[Saintman2884]

As many of you know already, the Buffalo Bills are playing games or will be playing games in Toronto's Rogers Centre by the approval of the NFL's owners, The CFL is a fledging enterprise but my overall question is to Canadians themselves on the board. I have long felt that Canada would one day get either an NFL team or a team to play games in that country, with that comes the question: Do they belong their? Does the NFL have a future in the Great white North? Many Canucks like the NFL, they like the CFL too but since the border is so close, the overflow is enormous.

and many Canucks I have talked too would not mind a NFL presence in their country, the NBA and MLB exist in the country already, why not the NFL?

Does the NFL belong in Canada, the money that is being made is too much to be not ignored forever, sooner or later Mr. Rogers, the Blue Jays owner will get want he wants and thats a team. He already his wish partly with the Bills, CFL be damned or not.

I think if the MLB and the NBA can survive in Canada, so can an NFL franchise even if it just one or two.
But thats just me, I don't live in Canada or anywhere near their, I just see an audience that is untapped and a majority of fans who want it secretly to come there

 

[bowlb4idie?]

toronto might as well be detroit or buffalo, when it is a road game...

it is a world class city, and much more like america than other parts of the country...

other places might be a harder sell...

london is a problem, because that road trip for seattle? they would lose that game and the next one too because of readjusting to a 6 time zone leap...

 

[Treybad]

Canada taxes will keep the NFL out, that and the CFL is pretty big in Canada...

 

[natedog]

I am really hoping that it could work and hopefully someday I can watch a Saints/Buffalo game in Toronto.Although it is still a 12 hour drive from where I live I could see me making it there before I will ever be able to affrord a trip to New Orleans.

Doesn't the Owner of the Bills prefer when he dies that the team is put up for sale rahter than giving it to his kin?

 

[wamland]

Each time I go to Toronto it is usually in November and you can listen to Bills games on the radio. Everyone there I spoke with would love an NFL team but realize that would never happen while the Bills are so close. It seems like a win/win if they get to play some of their games at the Rogers Centre. The only problem I see is that it is now required to have a passport to cross the border and that may be an extra pain in the ... fo anyone wanting to travel.

 

[longtime lurker]

Here's how I would handle Canada and overseas games. The NFL should go ahead and shorten the preseason to 3 games. This would make the season 17 games long. The extra regular season game is then marked as a foreign game. That way teams don't lose any of their 8 home games and the NFL can tap into markets all over the World.

You can hold 3 or 4 games all over Canada, a couple down in Mexico, some in Asia, and some in Europe.

Can Canada have a team of their very own?! I say let the 3 or 4 games a year there be the test. If they are soldout and supported..then this should open the door to a team of their own a few years down the road.

Jusy my two cents...

 

[RJ in Lafayette]

Toronto is the only possibility. And the better solution is the one that is being attempted--Buffalo playing in Toronto, much like the Packers in past years playing games in Milwaukee. I can see in future years the Bills playing a second and possibly third game in Toronto. It simply makes too much sense. It gives Toronto in particular, but even a nice chunk of Canada, an emotional investment in the Bills and the NFL, and it offsets any arguments about Buffalo being too small of an NFL market.

Plus, given the proximity of the two cities, Buffalo fans really wanting to see all home games can buy tickets in Toronto, and playing in Toronto will increase the Bills' season ticket base there for games in Buffalo.

 

[longtime lurker]

Here's an interesting article that says the owner of the Broncos is looking to play a future game in Edmonton:

http://www.edmontonsun.com/Sports/Football/2008/02/02/4809123-sun.html

I really think we are going to hear more noise about shortening the preseason when teams begin to pull home games from the US market....

 

[ErikH]

I'm not Canadian (I'm a NOLA native) but I now live within a short drive of Canada and have made a couple of visits to Toronto and Vancouver.
While I was there after Thanksgiving last year there were many articles written in the Canadian press about the state of the CFL. The gist of it was that putting a team in Toronto would essentially kill the CFL.
The CFL is very popular in Western Canada (Saskatchewan, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Vancouver); in Eastern Canada it lags behind the NHL and hoping for an NFL franchise in Toronto. The CFL needs the larger Eastern markets (Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal) to be successful; they don't want to become a west-only league.

 

[BCSaint]

As a Canadian I certainly welcome the initiative and the brilliance of the Buffalo Bills playing in Toronto AFTER the CFL season is completed. I grew up in about 60 miles from Toronto (but now a proud western Canadian). There is enough population in southern Ontario to sell out an NFL regular season game even without the support of Buffalo fans travelling north to see a 'home' game on foreign turf.

I would however be concerned for the health of the CFL if an NFL team was permanently located in Toronto.

 

[stadanko]

I like the idea of games in Canada before Europe, at least it's the same time zones.

 

[guillermo]

THis is my seventh year living in Canada, some of you may remember that I stated that there was no chance fo Toronto getting an NFL team while the bills were in Buffalo, but the situation has changed dramatically:

1) Ralph Wilson have stated that the team will be sold after his dead. No new owner would keep the team in Buffalo and the closest big market is Toronto.

2) More important, now we have parity on the exchange, and seems that this is not going to change in a long time. It was almost impossible to handel the NFL business when the canadian dollar was 65% of the value, but now it is the same. Only difference now is taxes.

3) Ownership has changed in the big CFL markets that would be affected: Toronto and Hamilton, but the new owners seem to be open to the NFL if this would bring an economic benefit for them.

I do think that there is space for both the CFL and NFL in Toronto. To start it is a very different game, played in different seasons. If you like the CFL now you will continue liking it even if there is an NFL team in your city. Only thing is that both the CFL teams (Toronto and Hamilton should not play the same day as the nfl team).

Another important difference is the cost per ticket. CFL tickets are way cheaper than the expected price of NFL teams (and yes, Toronto can afford high prices, if not ask the Maple Leafs season ticket holders). If I was leaving in Toronto I would not have the $2,000 dollars for season tickets of the NFL team but would try to continue assisting to the CFL games. BTW, The Argonauts now play in crowds of around 20-25,000 people and I don't think that would change with an NFL team.

Finally, I don't think that the biggest thread for the CFL is NFL. It is the opposite. What the CFL strongly needs is strong ownerships with people with enough cash to gamble in new markets like Quebec City, Halifax and Ottawa. New teams would make the league stronger and more fun.

Now, the point against is if the new ownership in Toronto would ask for money for building or rebuilding a stadium. That game does not goes well here in Canada. I don't see the federal or provincial government making any kind of investment for getting a pro-team of any league in Canada.

So time will tell...

 

[Capn_Morgan]

I'd rather see the NFL expanding into Canada and Mexico rather than all the way over in Europe. A North American league would at least share the same time zones.

 

[RazorOye]

The CFL is a fledging enterprise

the CFL has been around for nearly 150 years in one form or another

and I think the trophy - the Grey Cup - is the oldest trophy awarded for a professional sports championship on the continent.

It has struggled lately because the appeal of high scoring games and potent offenses has changed - offenses in the CFL are struggling. I've heard the argument made often here that the CFL appeal has dwindled as NFL games are more increasingly showcasing high scoring offenses with dynamic plays and a wide open passing game for more and more teams.

The CFL is not as strong a product. It lacks the marketing and the financial support and the athletes that the NFL has.

If the NFL does make its way to Canada, the local Argonaut franchise would suffer, but I think it would likely not be a death knell.

The league has far more pressing concerns than NFL encroachment. A strong CFL product will survive a single NFL franchise on Canadian soil, but the product is simply not strong.

I think many people I've talked to watch the CFL out of loyalty and history and nostalgia - but how far can that sustain?

Of course, this is all relative to Toronto. I imagine the tenor of the discussion in Saskatchewan, for example, would be very different.

Ultimately, though, the CFL leadership is going to have to work on making a stronger product on their own - rule changes, new teams in new cities, etc - before they should be worrying about a single NFL franchise moving to Toronto.

 

[TheDeparted]

What if the CFL and NFL merged into a mega "_FL"?