His other note to me:
" Been there. Done that. Took their (our) ball and went home.
I think I once counted 20 metro areas in the US over 1 million people that don't have NFL teams. But that wouldn't mean that a CFL team in any of those particular cities would be successful.
Plus you'd need enthusiastic owners for those American franchises. People with deep pockets, good marketing skills and a love for the Canadian game. You'd be hard-pressed to find a half-dozen.
Going just from memory, Shreveport averaged 17K per game. San Antonio about 22K. Memphis was about 12K. Birmingham was 23K before the start of the college season then 5K after. I refuse to talk about the Las Vegas franchise. Baltimore was 30K, which is why the NFL moved the Browns to Baltimore the day after the Stallions won the Cup so as to kill the franchise and the expansion efforts.
If you're a prospective owner of a newly-minted CFL franchise in the US, expect to lose a lot of money for the first 10 years. And DON'T try and and charge NFL prices. The AAFL tried that in 2019, and had virtually zero seasons tickets sold. They never published the attendance figures for the Arizona franchise because it was regularly under a thousand (as shown in pictures of the stands from the endzone upper deck).
PLUS diluting the money paid to the league by TSN would harm the existing teams. Both the AAFL and the XFL paid for their airtime in the US, which drained the coffers quickly, so the expanded CFL shouldn't expect US television money.
After 10 years of team and league stability, I could see the American teams drawing good crowds and making money. And, if there were 10 such teams, perhaps regional sports channel contracts. But can any owner justify losing around $40 million to get to that point? I think not.
I want Canadian football to grow into a worldwide first or second tier sport with decent coverage and crowds. I just don't see any super-wealthy people lining up to get an expansion franchise.
Stuart
Biggest metro areas without a team: San Diego (3.3 million), St. Louis MO (2.8 million), Orlando FL (2.6 million), San Antonio TX (2.5 million), Portland OR (2.5 million), Sacramento CA (2.5 million), Austin TX (2.2 million), Columbus OH (2.1 million), Virginia Beach/Norfolk VA (1.7 million), Providence RI (1.6 million), Oklahoma City OK (1.4 million), Raleigh NC (1.4 million), Richmond VA (1.3 million), Louisville KY (1.3 million), Salt Lake City UT (1.2 million), Hartford CT (1.2 million), Rochester NY (1.2 million), Grand Rapids MI (1 million), Tucson AZ (1 million)
I ignored Memphis and Birmingham because they showed that they didn't really want a CFL team."