Let's assume that you had the money to buy an existing NFL team and re-locate it. Which of these 3 cities would you coose?
In the US, there is Los Angeles. The greater LA area has a population of 13 million. Football there is extremely popular. An LA team would definitely boost American NFL TV ratings and thus make the whole league more profitable. There are 2 existing stadiums that are large enough for NFL football. The Rose Bowl seats up to 103,00 people. The LA Memorial Coliseum seats 92,000 people and is the current home of the USC Trojans.
If you choose to locate outside the US, there is Mexico City. The metropolitan population of Mexico City is 28.5 million, the largest city in the western hemisphere. The fans there are rabid for NFL football. A regular season game has already been played there and sold out. Aztec Stadium was built in 1986 and has already hosted 2 major World Cup of Soccer events. The stadium seats 115,000 and it is the 4th largest stadium in the world. A Mexico City team would likely be popular on American TV, partly because of the large number of latinos in the southern states. These high game ratings would add to the NFL's main source of revenue, television.
Then, there is Toronto. There is no stadium of NFL size requirements. The Rogers Centre seats only 53,000 for football. The GTA area has a population of 5.5 million people. Americans in general don't like to watch Canadian-based sports teams. Thus, the value of the NFL's TV contracts would be lowered.
In which of these 3 cities would you choose to locate your team ? Where would you make the most money?
By the way, there would be competition from such other American cities as Portland OR, San Antonio TX, Las Vegas NV, Salt Lake City UT, Albequerque NM, Birmingham AL, Orlando FL, and Omaha NE,
I'd choose Toronto because as a resident of southern Ontario I wouldn't be interested in buying a team for someone else. If I was the NFL I'd rank the 3 LA, Toronto and Mexico City last. Why? Revenue streams.
Well wouldn’t you want to make money, there’s no money in any of those markets. I’ve lived in L.A and I can honestly tell you that they don’t want a team there, I don’t know why but they just don’t care about it. The only sports teams they care about are the Trojans and Lakers, all the other teams are pretty much ignored.
I wouldn't invest in anywhere but a Canadian city. If I had the money to invest in pro sport the NFL is the only sport I'd invest in to guarentee a profit. I agree about LA but even with relative non-interest they'd be profitable
I'd bring a Team to Toronto for sure.
I'd still keep my Seasons tickets in the Hammer, but come on people stop being so anti-NFL and become "Football fans".
ticats1950:
I think you have addressed this issue perfectly.
There are many cities in the U-S (add Columbus to your list too) in the line ahead of Toronto.
When it comes to "developing Markets" I am afraid Toronto won't count for much there. Soccer is where the growth will be in Toronto. That will come over the next few years at the expense of high school football.
In the end though, the expansion issue will have to be decided by the team owners. I would think they would rather see more teams in the U-S than having to deal with cross-border issues every week. Maybe it works in the NHL but I believe it would be a negative for the NFL.
Los Angeles followed by Chicago would be my choices.At one time, both the Rams and the Chargers were in L.A.. The city deserves a franchise. Chicago, like New York, could support 2 teams playing out of Soldier Field. Toronto doesn't deserve a team but perhaps they will serve as a second home like Milwaukee did for the Packers.
Pat Lynch (the old guy in section 7 )
Los Angeles followed by Chicago would be my choices.At one time, both the Rams and the Chargers were in L.A… The city deserves a franchise. Chicago, like New York, could support 2 teams playing out of Soldier Field. Toronto doesn’t deserve a team but perhaps they will serve as a second home like Milwaukee did for the Packers.
Pat Lynch (the old guy in section 7 )
You guys are of course aware that LA has had NFL football teams in recent years that subsequently bolted for greener pastures. If LA is the great promised land for the NFL, the NFL would be there.
If you want to argue the incremental revenue argument, yes, LA has a huge population and economy, but it is already mostly folded into the NFL's pan-American economic model. Los Angelinos watch ESPN and Fox and NBC and shop at the Gap and WalMart and McDonalds and Chevrolet just like every other American - the NFL is not going to get a separate licensing agreement with ESPN LA or Nike LA or WaLmart LA or McDonalds LA or Ford LA.
And Columbus - where did that come from? Columbus has a metropolitan area less than 1/3 the population of Toronto's, and they already have Pittsburg, Indianapolos, Cinti and Cleveland less than four hours away - it might be great for fan rivalries but what does the NFL need with more fan rivalries. If there was ever a place more economically indistinct from the rest of America, it's Columbus. And that's from someone that really likes Columbus (great brewpubs/Go Buckeyes). Putting a franchise there would be like putting a second one in any prosperous existing NFL city.
I've heard the "no incremental revenue" argument used against Toronto. Which is crazy talk. Does anyone think that the revenue coming out of Canada is maximized, that the licensing agreements currently in place wouldn't be renegotiated for 5 to 25 times more money if a team was located here. In Toronto you get a much more lucrative agreement than currently exists for TV (Rogers and Rogers Sportsnet) and Air Canada and BMO and Labatts and so on, not to mention Ford Canada and McDonalds Canada and IBM Canada and every other US-based NFL fixture corporation that has a separate coporate entity in Canada. And the pitch will be, because the pitch has always been when shopping the merits of Canada to big league sports America, that a team in Toronto will be Canada's team, not Toronto's team. Always overstated but always somewhat true - anti-"centre of the universe" parochialism aside, I was in Winnipeg the day the Jays won the World Series and the bars spontaniously emptied out to form a street parade toward Portage and Main. And even where the fans don't care much, the rights are packaged that way - I catch a lot more Raptors games on the tube across Canada than the local fan interest would suggest I should be able to.
IMO, it will still come down to the will of very rich men more than demographic models and the "logical" prognostications of journalists - if an extremely rich man that has an NFL franchise wants to sell it to another extremely rich man bad enough, and that extremely rich man wants to locate in Toronto, there will be a franchise in Toronto, LA, Columbus and South Mumphries be damned.
1 would be LA for the purchase and relocation of an existing team
#2 & #3 I could see 2 expansion franchises setting up in Toronto and Mexico City. Logic beign the NFL could then boast a full North American presence and it would take years for an expansion team to potentially challenge for the Stupid Bowl whereas an existant team might do so much quicker.
Remember in 1992 and more specifically in 1993 the MLB's dread when there was a possibility of a Blue Jays vs Expos World series. Jays won both and the Expos finished in 2nd both years. The NFL would want the money that the expansion would bring in but would try to put off a non-US team from being in "the show" as long as possible.
section8: I saw Columbus mentioned in either the National Post or the Globe a couple of weeks ago.
Here’s the problem as I see it…people trying to justify an NFl team in Toronto are trotting out all kinds of reasons why it could work. Well maybe they have a point but the owners who make the decisions are not in Toronto. They could make the same compelling arguments for many of the cities in line for an NFL team. I think the cross-border thing is a big psychological barrier that has to be crossed and I am not sure the NFL biggies are ready for that…yet. Especially when its much easier to let other U-S cities and the many rich NFL wanna-be owners into their “club” first.
I think having a thriving CFL in Canada with ties to the NFL would serve the NFL much better than putting one of their teams here.
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