I'm surprised I haven't found a thread dedicated to the NFL playing 2 regular-season games outside of the States.
Anyway, obviously they're saying they're trying to grow the sport of football. Well, why do THEY need to be the ones doing this in Canada?!? To me, the only reason they're coming to Canada is to try and grow support for the NFL - not football in general - in Canada. Thanks a lot, guys.
How nice of you to come and invite yourself in to a country where the local league ALREADY struggles for attention against a league that has no Canadian teams and very few Canadian players.
The NFL circus is going to come to Vancouver or Toronto - and it's likely going to be during the CFL season, just to make it that much worse - and people are going to see ALL the hype that the NFL has, versus the CFL. I bet you this one NFL game gets as much attention as the Grey Cup.
I really hope that the result of this is more people saying, "ooh, I like football, now I'm going to go to a CFL game", but I suspect it will result in more people comparing the CFL to the NFL, and choosing the NFL because of all the extra hype. The NFL game will almost certainly sell out - a lot of which will probably be due to the novelty factor. Still, I fear people will go to the NFL game, see a sold-out stadium, lots of people on the sidelines, etc, and then go to a CFL game and see fewer people, less noise, etc. They might not find the CFL experience as fun as the NFL experience. And, this may result in the loss of the many NFLsnobs who may have finally given the CFL a chance.
A big reason the NFL is as popular as it is in Canada is because of the CFL (think of how we don't have our own basketball or baseball league). I understand the NFL has enough money to bully just about anyone, but why can't they just help the CFL promote football in general ... it would lead to more NFL fans in Canada, I'm sure ...
Stupid NFL. This just seems like another example of Americans taking over Canadian culture.