New Argos Owner 'The NFL is coming to Toronto - eventually'

There re those here who said a couple of years ago that the NFL would definitely be in Toronto within 5 years so we might as well get used to the idea. That prediction was altered to 10 years when the clock continued to tick and a couple of years went by on the 5 year timeline with no move to Toronto in sight. But that was just from a poster here who was speculating like most of us do. Now Larry T , who actually owns part of the Argos and has real money, "predicts" that it will happen "eventually". Eventually is a long time, probably a very long time. I may live to see the day, but I hope not... and I plan to live a long time.

Toronto is to the NFL what Hamilton is to the NHL.

It is a city that gets thrown into the mix when another city is getting its arm twisted over an infrastructure investment.

The NFL doesn't give a lick about Toronto.

It brings nothing to its revenue stream via broadcast dollars (the NFL's backbone).

But I don't think anyone with any brain would question that the NFL would have preferred that the Bills are located in Toronto rather than Buffalo. I mean that's a no brainer and I don't even like Toronto all that much but have to admit that. Image wise Toronto or Buffalo as "big time" cities? Not even close.

I agree with all the posters here about the extremely slim odds of the NFL putting a team in Toronto, given that they would need a billion dollar stadium, and there is no appetite to publicly fund even part of one.

On the other hand it sure does not help to have an prospective owner of a CFL team talk about a competing league coming to one of our markets as being "inevitable" the day after the announcement of a tentative deal.

Everyone in the CFL needs to be united in understanding that the CFL simply cannot co-exist with the NFL. The issue is the NFL is both the wealthiest sports league on the planet and they got that way by being the most aggressive.

Mr Tanenbaum's belief in the inevitability of the NFL coming to Toronto is the equivalent of saying he does not believe in the long term viability of the CFL. He is wrong of course, but it sure doesn't help to have him publicly speculate about it.

Earl: The Bills have already been to Toronto. They were a total disaster. Many people went to the games to cheer for whoever the Bills were playing. The fans knew they were being used. They knew they were paying sky-high admission prices to watch a bad team…in many cases playing another bad team. Many tickets had to be given away. It was an embarrassment.

I’m sure Rex Ryan did not sign on to move to Canada. The owner says he is staying in Buffalo. Roger Goodell is running out of excuses not to award an NFL franchise to Toronto. In fact Goodell is the best non-CFL,friend the CFL has.

Rogers here in Canada on the other hand, would willingly sacrifice the CFL and the Blue team to get an NFL franchise. But after the failed Bills experiment.I don’t think the NFL wants their name and Rogers mentioned in the same sentence.
Now…why would would say that the NFL would rather have the Bills in Toronto?

What have I missed? :slight_smile:

Well tell me Rogers right now wouldn't rather have an NFL team than an MLB team, an MLB team that loses millions every year (ok, it's branding and marketing for Rogers, we know that line from Rogers) while every NFL team every year, small markets included, make millions after millions in total profit?

If Rogers could do it, they'd trade right now the Blue Jays for an NFL team without even having to think about it. IMHO.

Earl - you need some higher-quality glue to sniff. Your current stuff isn’t doing any good.

Something tells me some stern words will be spoken at the next owners meeting

(That is, if they even have owners meetings)

yes… :thup:

LT has been trying to lure the NFL to Toronto for over 20 years. I think it was more his EGO answering that reporter than anything. I'm not quite sure his motivations behind buying the Argos :? But since he has and the governors agreed to that well, he's now an equal partner :lol:

Well said, Bob.

The NFL coming to Canada would be the death knell for the CFL. I hope it never happens. To keep them out requires strong operations across the CFL, which we are seeing more of thanks to people like you.

Buying the Argos and in the same breath predicting the competitor will win the contest for the Toronto market is ridiculous. Larry T needs to be told to shut up and get on board with the CFL in its battle to restore interest in the league in Toronto, and to build the league as a whole. If he can't do that, if he isn't committed to doing that, he should turn over his shares to Bell. His latest statement is not far removed from sabotage. It is certainly no way to start his involvement in the CFL.

Let’s look at the prospective owners for a NFL franchise in Toronto.

First off, the Bills in Toronto series was to run 5 years and only lasted 4, when the Bills themselves canceled it. Not only did their management not like it, they canceled it before the agreement ran out, even though 78 million was received out of the deal.

The Buffalo players complained and were quite vocal about having to go to Toronto and did not like the “fans” there.

Ticket buyers in Toronto did not respond as expected. There were often stories of Rogers “papering” the attendance with free or highly discounted tickets. Fans, who did go, often cheered for the opposition.

The ink had not dried on the sale agreement for purchasing the CFL team, and Tanennbaum was already declaring his desire to bring in a competitor. Not very loyal.

His track record with MLSE for running sports franchises in three different leagues and sports is much less than spectacular.

His value is just over a billion. Not nearly enough to buy a NFL franchise. His likely partner would be Rogers or MLSE, sports franchise owner failures themselves.

Would you want him buying into your league??

Well he bought in the Argos (CFL), when NOBODY would touch this with a pole. Even Arash Madani on friday said the Argos had a 4 to 5 year life span at BMO !

According to Yahoo sports, Braley had other suitors…

“Toronto Argonauts fans hoping for a new owner to take over from accused penny-pincher David Braley might be in luck soon even without a deal with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment—at least according to Braley. While the team still faces stadium issues, there are apparently groups interested in buying them. In a piece published Tuesday, Curtis Rush of The Toronto Star writes that Braley said he has two non-MLSE offers for the team, including one that would take the team to a non-profit model similar to the ones used by CFL teams in Edmonton, Winnipeg and Saskatchewan.”

Within what time frame Mr. Young?
Will it happen within five years? Absolutely not. Will it happen within ten years? Probably not. Will it happen within twenty years? I wouldn’t bet against it.
There is no sense pretending that this can never happen. The GTA and southern Ontario is a very attractive market for the premier sports organization in North America which is committed expansion internationally.

The Rogers/Tanenbaum group just made a very serious bid for an NFL franchise knowing that it would ultimately require construction of a new $750M+ stadium. In my opinion, there will be funding available to construct a stadium if an NFL franchise is made available to the GTA.

Tanenbuam was a member of a panel including other sports business executives who were asked to comment on the future of sports and pro football in Toronto. What would you expect him to do… ignore the possibility of the NFL ever coming to the GTA at some point and pretend it doesn’t exist?
It is a credible threat and a real possibility. Any sports executive who chooses to dismiss the possibility and fails to plan accordingly does so at his/her own peril.
Perhaps the CFL should engage in some longer-term planning and begin to visualize creative ways in which the league may be able to co-exist with the NFL in this market in anticipation of that eventuality. Refusing to face-up to the reality accomplishes nothing.

Much ado about nothing. The NFL has been "coming" to Toronto for the last 40 years. After the Bills in Toronto debacle, the odds of that happening are more remote now than ever before. Some reporters in Toronto are so upset that that the Argos are going to have a new home to flourish, that they have to flog this "dead horse'. Had to laugh as McClown almost blew a gasket on Friday, as he spewed out his hatred to the Argos. For a man, who said he thought that watching soccer was like "watching paint dry", he sure has falling in love with TFC. Sad, pathetic (everything American is better than Canadian) media. They just can't see anything be any good, unless it is American.

Rogers is just pissed they couldn’t bully BCE on this one and they are going to pout like babies. It’s par for the course for them. BCE and LT are now also in the good books of the NFL and should the possibility of the NFL to Toronto come near a reality, it will be BCE and LT at the helm and Rogers most likely on the outside, again has to peeve Rogers off. They think they can control everything about sports in Toronto, but the Argos to BMO proves they have their weaknesses, they were unable to prevent it. Looks good on them and they can spew all the hatred they want at Bell, LT, the CFL, the NFL whomever, it makes them look weak and vulnerable not being able to accomplish what they want.

Tanenbuam was a member of a panel including other sports business executives who were asked to comment on the future of sports and pro football in Toronto. What would you expect him to do... ignore the possibility of the NFL ever coming to the GTA at some point and pretend it doesn't exist? It is a credible threat and a real possibility. Any sports executive who chooses to dismiss the possibility and fails to plan accordingly does so at his/her own peril. Perhaps the CFL should engage in some longer-term planning and begin to visualize creative ways in which the league may be able to co-exist with the NFL in this market in anticipation of that eventuality. Refusing to face-up to the reality accomplishes nothing.
Tend to agree seymour. I do think though that it will be because of the success of the Argos at BMO if a new stadium for gridiron football along the lines of what the NFL expects is to be built. Without this "gridiron type momentum" I doubt there will be any appetite for an NFL type stadium to get going. Just what I think. We know the NFL doesn't like the RC with Goodell saying Toronto has stadium issues and the NFL won't play out of BMO as a permanent site. I don't think.

And LT is just making football talk and replying to reporters. All good in my books, it’s football talk and that is good, both the CFL and NFL have a lot in common, of course.

McCown jumps from one side of the fence to another and sits on it faster than an Earl does I would say. :wink: :o

Lot better chance that the Argos are successful at BMO than anything you spewed in this post. That’s saying something !

"The Rogers/Tanenbaum group just made a very serious bid for an NFL franchise knowing that it would ultimately require construction of a new $750M+ stadium. In my opinion, there will be funding available to construct a stadium if an NFL franchise is made available to the GTA."

After taxpayers took such a financial bath on the sale of the skydome, and with the poor attendance during the Bills in Toronto series, you honestly think there would be an appetite for such spending??

You must be from the land of wishful thinking!!!

" BCE and LT are now also in the good books of the NFL and should the possibility of the NFL to Toronto come near a reality"

They would be in the good graces of the NFL ....for what???