The biggest reason the NFL will never come to Canada is TV money... The NBA has the Raptors on welfare to the tune of over $20 million because the Raptors dont generate enough TV revenue in Canada.... Thus every NBA team gives the Raptors over 600K just so that the Raptors can have a team
A TO NFL team faces a much bigger battle.... A TO NFL team would litterally need each Team in the NFL to give them 4 million dollars in order to have a team... Dont forget NFL Europa was shut down because it cost each NFL team 1 million dollars to operate the league. If NFL owners cant dish out 1 million each to gain a foothold in Europe.... Why would they pay 4 million to expand to a market that they are already exposed in.
Basicly each NFL generates 130 million dollars in TV revenue. A Toronto CFL team would be lucky to generate 10% of that.
A good example is that CBC pays the NHL 100 million anually to show two games every week plus a playoff game almost every day and exclussive Canadian rights to the Stanley Cup final. If a TO NFL franchise could average even 2 million viewers a game.... there is only 10 games a year...... The seven games of the Stanley Cup final last year drew more then 20 million viewers by itself.
Realisticly... The most a TO NFL team could get in additional TV revenue for the NFL would be none....considering the NFL already recieves revenue from Canadian TV... The fans who already watch the NFL would simply watch Toronto.... Meanwhile you would have removed over 3 % of your US based teams and thus the TV networks would probably want a discount.
It simply will never happen because of this... The stadium issue and the corporate ownership thing are moot points.
The only way this flys is if the NFL could convince the TV stations to pay the same for rights even though there would be only one team to draw ratings from.... Somehow Im doubtful.... This is the exact reason The Blue Jays and the Raptors are never seen on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN or the national telecasts of the NBA on NBC. It simply does not make economic sense to have only one place to draw ratings from... A TO franchise would NEVER be on Monday or Sunday night football ...other then maybe the first game that it EVER played.
I think the NFL has potential to succeed in TO. The biggest issue with any team playing there is that the SkyDome blows to watch games in. It is just not a football stadium.
being the lone Canadian NFL team, I believe, would draw in viewership. It is never going to be the Cowboys, but what is...welll...other than the Cowboys
Not in the US it wouldn’t and that’s all the US networks care about.
actually, the biggest reason is that I will not allow it. I just wont.
What does the NFL recieve from CTV/TSN/Sportsnet anyways.... I remember seeing a number close to 20 million..... More then the CFL gets(15 million) ,but there is no production costs...
This rases a really interesting point..... Is it possible that a TO franchise could actually decrease the value of the Canadian TV package?
I would imagine that the TO franchises games would not just simply be simucast in Canada...but that an entire production staff would have to be ensembled for just 10 games a year.... You would have to pay an entire staff for a TO franchise.... And this is the NFL we are talking about here people...You could not have a measily five camera crew that TSN does for CFL games..... And forget using your CFL panel ...You would have to hire Americans from the USA to come up and talk real football... just like the Jays and Raptors do
If the leafs are the best draw in Canada and draw about 1.6 million on hockey night in Canada(usually playing another Canadian team) then it would be un realistic to think that a TO NFL team would draw 2 million.... However just to give them the benifit of the doubt lets pretend that the TO NFL team would draw 2 million a game and thus 20 a season.....
The CFL generated 60 million viewers this season for about 15 million dollars...... The Raptors generate next to no TV revenue because they have trouble getting 10 million viewers for an entire season.... Ditto for Canada's MLS clubs.
The Blue Jays generate 20 million from around 80 million viewers...... From what I can fathom an NFL team would recieve about 5 million to televise 10 games.... The real kicker is that you would have to hire no less then 5 on Camera personalities(2 in the studio) and a 3 man panel) Maybe you could steal one or two guys who already work for TSN or Sportsnet.... but you would have to hire one marquee American. Then you would have dozens people more employed in production..... Obviously the NFL would demand that the coverage be as close to possible as NBC or ABC.... However.... NBC gets 20 million viewers a game.... They can bare any expense... TSN or Sportsnet would be doing it for 2 million people...TSN inovated the CFL virtual first down line.... A much cheeper version of the NFL virtual first down line.... Im sure the 10 K TSN saves every game would be spent to have a "World Class" first down line...
In essence unless the NFL continues to Simulcast all games in Canada.... A TO franchise would actually DECREASE the amount of money that the NFL recieves from Canada. A TO franchise it self would generate little to no TV revenue (like the Raptors) whatsoever in that any money would be sure to be eaten up in production costs....Furthermore a TO franchise would steal viewers from games in Canada that are the profitable simulcast games.
Buffalo keeping their team which is what will happen if The Ralph undergoes it's $100 million plus reno that is being studied.
The biggest reason you won’t see an NFL team there is that no one, expect MAYBE a few people in Toronto would switch their current NFL team to become a Toronto fan in Canada. I wouldn’t for a second abandoned the 49ers or my backup Steelers for a Toronto team, and being within driving distance of both Buffalo and Toronto, I think that says something and I don’t know of a single person who is an NFL fan who would change their allegiance. It would become the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay of the NFL, with people only going to games to be able to watch their team play.
The television revenue is already there for the NFL in Canada, you aren’t going to increase NFL viewership by putting a team in Toronto. The Jays only got away with it because after a decade of somewhat expected mediocrity (being an expansion team) Skydome came along and was brand new & civic owned entity so there was a sense of pride behind it at the exact same time the Jays turned the corner and won the world series, all while the CFL was financially suffering and about to engage in the ill fated US expansion.
So now that the TV revenue is out, we look at the gate revenue and it would a joke as you need only look at any other Toronto sports franchise except the Leafs (which is hockey in Canada) and TFC (which is able to capture the international market that is less inclined towards Football as it is soccer) and see the other franchises are well bellow their league averages.
I honestly wouldn’t be opposed to the new MLSE buying the Argos now. Sure they corner the Toronto market for sport, but the crossover potential for a minimal amount of investment needed (compared to an NFL team) would be able to easily put an end to the Argos financial and marketing woes. That and it would serve to intensify the Hamilton rivalry and fuel Hamilton and the surrounding area’s as well.