INDIANAPOLIS—For all those who remain hopeful that Toronto will either buy an existing NFL franchise or receive a future expansion club, the message coming out of Indianapolis on Friday was depressingly clear: “Toronto who??
… It’s now clear that Toronto was never more than a life-support system for the Buffalo Bills in Roger Goodell’s mind. The city has been a mild success in that regard.
… Goodell is thinking about the world.
In that regard and in his mind, Toronto is no different than Rochester — a burg on the outskirts that can’t help him unless it’s funneling fans to one of his existing clubs.
Toronto sports fans: Embrace your inner Canadian! And don’t forget, live sports beats televised sports hands down. fortunately, there is a professional football team in your very own city.
There are some real sports fans in Toronto. Their numbers are few. but there is a sports subculture'
What they do have aplenty are "Event" fans.
So, the Bills will continue to get fans to their one game per year, because it's an "Event."
The Maple Leafs sell out because their games are considered "Events", not because they are hockey fans.If Torotonians were hockey fans, they would support Junior and even AHL games, which they don't
Similarly with the Blue Jays. Opening Day sells out. It's an "Event". But everyone knows it's not likely the best game of the year. When the Yankees or Red Sox come to town later, the stands are not full, and many of thse present are from Buffalo and Rochester, there because it's so hard to get tickets to see those teams play at hone.
Apologies to the Rock, which may be the exception that proves the rule.
But, by and large, the NFL has it right, Toronto would be a dead zone for them. No apologies necessary!
I read through the article twice and I don't see anywhere that the NFL said it was not interested in Toronto.
The article is all about the Star writers own opinion and frankly it's terribly written, you would expect something better from a sports writer. No the comish didn't mention Toronto at all in the press conference but does that mean that the NFL is not interested in one of the largest and richest markets in the US? They have better things to deal with this weekend. This writer did a lot of reading between the lines and he's very naive.
The NFL is coming to Toronto so get used to it. I think the Argos will be gone by 2014 when Ottawa enters the league. The NFL may take longer to get to Toronto but it's coming.
I think the CFL can be stronger especially with Ottawa in a new stadium and Hamilton in their new stadium. We will live with an NFL team in Toronto and it shouldn't effect the CFL.
mikem wrote:
The NFL is coming to Toronto so get used to it.
For that scenario to occur, an NFL specific stadium must be constructed, and after the colossal fiscal error of the Skydome/Rogers Centre debacle, it is highly unlikely local council or the other two levels of government will approve the exorbitant subsidies required to fund such a tremendous and expense riddled project.
At the present moment, the Rogers Centre is still the newest stadium in the league (only 22 years old) yet has been the largest albatross in the league for quite some time.
This fact still lingers and stings among many and will not be soon forgotten.
And unless Toronto is granted/guaranteed an NFL franchise beforehand, the City would be foolish to spend a dime on construction costs anyway.
(We should have asked for the same guarantee from the NHL before proceeding with Copps)
Why do you assume Toronto would get an expansion team? There are many teams that the league and owners of these teams are considering re-locating. You do not have to expand to give a city a new team.
Houston to Tennessee
Atlanta to Winnipeg
Hartford to Carolina
Cleveland to Baltimore
etc
none of these moves EXPANDED the league, just moved one team from one city to another.
With that being said, I don’t think the NFL will be coming to Toronto with a permanent team. It was well said above, Toronto
Sports" fans come out to events, the NFL in Toronto is an event, nothing more, nothing less.
There was a story on the wires this afternoon quoting Roger Goodell as saying the reason the NFL is not expanding now is that Los Angeles (which the NFL dearly wants for its next franchise) is in a squabble over two sites for a stadium. Sound familiar?
Goodell says even if LA gets a franchise, the NFL will have to award another one at the same time to keep the number of franchises even.
There was nothing about Toronto in that story but reading between the lines I got the sense he was talking about another U-S franchise.
I don’t want the NFL in Toronto…ever. The more I hear Roger Goodell, the more he shows a complete lack of interest in seeing an NFL team there. Good for him and to hell with the NFL-loving Rob Ford and his brother.
Sometimes I think you think too much. Do you really think Senator Braley is going to close down Argos franchise or move it to another city…only two years after the Argos turn a $15 million profit on the 100th Grey Cup? Braley made that much money or more in the 99th GC in Vancouver.
Then there’s the little matter of Toronto officially being part of the Buffalo Bills regional market. As long as the Bills exist, no team can move or expand to Toronto. The Bills are negotiating now for a new stadium and the state has already offered $83 million in infrastructure funds. I doubt the comish will idly stand by and ever let his beloved Bills move from Buffalo. :thup:
There has been speculation an LA stadium could house two NFL franchises
I don't agree with [b]mikem[/b]'s argument about the size of the Toronto market. The NFL is a TV product and as such there are three main reasons why the NFL will not put a team in Toronto.
the NFL already has a TV deal with Canadian networks.
Why would an NFL owner, who has 1/32 of the TV revenue pie, agree to have smaller slice when a Canadian team would not only not add to TV ratings, it would most likely decreases TV ratings in the US as Americans are not as interested in watching Canadian teams.
Buffalo and WNY has strong support from Roger Goodell and the league and Toronto has already be pegged as Buffalo territory.
Toronto would do nothing for the NFL and its owners.
One story is over 4 years old, and we all know NOW how the Buffalo/Toronto dynamic has played out since then.
“Well …? Goodell started, then paused.
This is a terrible sign. Goodell does more prep than Bill Belichick. When he can’t launch into a long, polished answer right off the hop, it means it matters so little it didn’t fit his broad definition of “everything I might possibly be asked.?
“… As a guy from western New York …?
Those were the next words out of his mouth. Goodell is from Jamestown, N.Y., about 90 minutes from Buffalo.
Translation of that short preamble — “I’m here representin’ the 716, y’all.?
“We know how important the Bills are (wait for it) in western New York,? Goodell went on to say. “The series has been very helpful (wait for it) for the Bills. For building that fan base. We’ve seen that kind of response and what it’s done for tickets sales for them (wait for it) down in Buffalo, and to try to help that franchise broaden their appeal.?
It’s now clear that Toronto was never more than a life-support system for the Buffalo Bills in Roger Goodell’s mind. The city has been a mild success in that regard.
In addressing a question specifically about Toronto, Goodell barely mentioned the city.
You don’t want to put too much into the semantics of an off-the-cuff answer, but with Goodell no word goes misplaced.
I see the Toronto series as expanding now into southern Ontario where I think the Bills are selling 15 percent of their tickets into southern Ontario, again that’s helping make the team here be more successful and more stable here in Western New York.
Mexico is clearly something that we’ve been focused on. We actually had our first regular season international game in Mexico several years ago, with the Cardinals and the 49ers. So we will continue to focus on that, but the expansion of the regular season series is focused on the UK.
On the Bills being “Canada’s Team?:
What I think it does, is it regionalizes the team. We had an effort to do that in the 90’s as you know, which I was involved with prior to becoming commissioner which is to reach out to the whole Western New York region, and encourage people to come to the stadium and support the Bills, both from a fan standpoint and a business standpoint and that was very successful. I see the Toronto series as expanding now into southern Ontario where I think the Bills are selling 15 percent of their tickets into southern Ontario, again [b][u]that’s helping make the team here be more successful and more stable here in Western New York[/u].[/b]
Maybe we should invent a new word for people who are still thinking that the NFL is coming to TORONTO. :lol:
It must be some kind of sickness. Denial can be a dangerous thing.
