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Report: Argos, CFL looking into an NFL team for Toronto

Don't reports like this turn up every few years, never having a single shred of truth other than someone with a lot of money wondering "what if?"

The wolf will have to be gnawing at my leg before I believe that an NFL team is coming to Toronto.
 
The Bills would like to play 2 games in Toronto in 2008

Everyone: I saw a report recently that the Buffalo Bills owner would like to play two games in Toronto in 2008. I have no other specifics other than that.
How would this affect the Argonauts? Do the Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills have any substantial Ontario fan base? Or for that matter the Seattle Seahawks in British Columbia? How will the CFL fare? Anyone want to comment or know anything about this? LI MIKE
 
^
The Bills would like to play an exibition game and a regular season game in Toronto. I think Ted Rogers and/or MLSE are trying to get the games here as well. The games will be succesful (attendence wise) but I don't wish to have a NFL team here permanently. I think football fans should support the Argos and the CFL more. If a NFL team were here, it would kill the Argos and have a big impact on the whole league (CFL).

As for there being Bills or Lions fans here? Yes, there are a lot of Bills fans. Not sure about Lions fans, at least not around Toronto. There may be a big Lions fan base around Windsor and maybe out to London, but I don't know for sure. I have a lot of friends who go down to Buffalo at least once a season to watch a Bills game, and some of them who live on the Niagara Pen.(Hamilton, Niagara, Welland, etc), they go to several games a year.
 
Bills to play 8 games in Toronto: Sources


TheStar.com - Sports - Bills to play 8 games in Toronto: Sources

January 30, 2008
THE CANADIAN PRESS

The National Football League has reached an agreement with the Buffalo Bills that will allow them to play eight games in Toronto over the next five years, starting in 2008.

Two sources requesting anonymity said Wednesday that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will make the announcement Friday at his state-of-the-union address in Arizona. The Bills, as well as the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL, would then hold a joint news conference in Toronto next week to officially unveil the details.

That, though, was news to Argos co-owner David Cynamon.

"I have no idea, I swear," he said when contacted Wednesday. ``I know about the Bills potentially coming here for games, but that's it."

Brian McCarthy, the NFL's Director of Corporate Communications, had no comment on the issue.

"The Commissioner's annual news conference is Friday," McCarthy said in an e-mail. "We anticipate this will come up during the news conference along with many other matters."

News of the NFL's approval isn't surprising. Last week ESPN reported Buffalo would "almost certainly" get approval from league owners to play a regular-season game in Toronto in 2008.

The sources said the Bills will play a regular-season game at Rogers Centre in 2008 after the CFL season, avoiding possible conflicts with both the Argos and Ticats. As part of that deal, season-ticket holders with both clubs will be given some sort of priority at purchasing tickets to Buffalo's game here.

However, The Fan 590, a Toronto all-sports radio station, reported the Bills' agreement only ensures that the 2008 game won't conflict with the CFL schedule and that it wasn't clear whether that stipulation would also apply to the other four years of the deal.

The Fan also reported tickets would be done via lottery, with first crack going to Argos and Ticats season-ticket holders, then Bills season-ticket holders. The average price would reportedly be C$250 a game and fans would have to purchase all eight tickets and pay for them upfront.

In October, Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr. asked the NFL for permission to play eight home games in Toronto over five years, beginning in 2008. Buffalo would play one regular-season contest each year at Rogers Centre, with three exhibition contests sprinkled in over the five-year span.

The plan, Wilson said, was to an attempt to expand the Bills market as well as its fan base by playing games in a more vibrant Toronto marketplace. The hope would be that playing games in Canada might result in more Canadian businesses purchasing the high-end seats at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

The Bills attract a solid group of fans from southern Ontario – between 10,000 and 15,000 per game, depending on the opponent. Metro Toronto boasts a population of about five million people, compared to just 1.25 million for the metro Buffalo area. Another factor, too, is the strength of the Canadian dollar and the health of the southern Ontario economy compared the economic sluggishness currently plaguing Western New York.

That has prompted many to see the Bills' plan as their first step towards relocating to the richer, more financially appealing Toronto marketplace. Wilson, 89, fanned those flames last summer when he announced he wouldn't sell the Buffalo franchise in his lifetime but that it would be sold the highest bidder upon his death.

Talk of the NFL coming to Toronto has existed since the 1970s. But the combination of Wilson's statement, the Bills' playing regular-season games at Rogers Centre, the strength of the Canadian dollar and deep pockets of the Toronto NFL group headed up by Ted Rogers and Larry Tanenbaum has many believing the NFL's arrival here is inevitable.

Cynamon and Argos co-owner Howard Sokolowski obviously think so, too. They reportedly spoke to CFL commissioner Mark Cohon and the other league owners about buying an NFL franchise for Toronto to ensure the Argos' long-term survival in the city.

The overwhelming belief is that if the NFL does come to Toronto, it will not only spell the end of the Argos and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, but ultimately kill the CFL. But in November Cohon said he has a strong line of communication with Goodell and that the NFL commissioner's top priority is protecting the CFL's eight member franchises.
 
ya Bob McCown reported this last night on PTS. It looks like the Argos could make some bigtime money. It'll also test the Toronto market just in case when Ralph Murphy dies, the team ends up moving here.
 
Perhaps they may be the Toronto Bills...

Everyone: Interesting info on the Buffalo Bills agreeing to play games in Toronto. I also wonder how it will affect the CFL Argonauts and Tiger-Cats for that matter. I wonder that if the NFL enters Canada that the CFLs small-market teams would be in danger upon a takeover-I can picture the NFL in Vancouver,Calgary and Montreal as well as Toronto.

I also wonder if the Buffalo Bills-if Ralph Wilson sells the team-eventually will move to Toronto and become the TORONTO BILLS? I recall that the Bills had made remarks about a new stadium in Buffalo during the NFLs "Musical Teams" era-the 90s-and perhaps moving the team in search of a stadium deal. I was never a fan of that stuff-and I am a football fan. Interesting news here...LI MIKE
 
I think a "time-share" Bills team has merit in a decade or so... it would be a shame if Buffalo lost their franchise entirely and a double shame if Toronto was the beneficiary. The Bills need Golden Horseshoe cash and the CFL needs to survive. The major obstacle to a one-of-a-kind hybrid franchise down the road is the squeezing at the border... otherwise it might work. I don't think an NFL franchise of any kind could be bought or maintained in any other market in the country.
 
A "Time Share" for the Bills in Toronto might work...

3D: I agree- a "time share" agreement for the Bills playing in Toronto might work fine. I agree-WNY losing the Bills would be a big blow indeed but will the NFL coming to Canada endanger the CFL? That's the big question...LI MIKE
 
If the NFL comes to Toronto the CFL here is all but finished. That's unfortunate.
 
The CFL won't be finished if the NFL enters Toronto.

Their seasons take place at different times. When the CFL season is over the NFL is just about started its season.
 
Also, anyone who has followed this closely knows that the NFL and CFL (or more importantly the Argos) have worked closely and will continue to do so to ensure the CFL will remain viable. The NFL, and the owners of a Toronto NFL team would not want to be known as the group responsible for the demise of the CFL. The 5 regular season games won't be played during the CFL season, and I don't think there's any reason to fear that pre-season NFL football would have a bigger profile than the final weeks of the CFL season.

If you look at how this deal was designed, the Argos could end up with 30,000 season ticket holders when tickets for the NFL games go on sale. People won't want to enter a lottery along with a few hundred thousand others just for the chance to have a ticket. Instead they'll pay for the Argos season ticket, and then get the NFL ticket since Argos ST holders have first dibs. The team will be in a far better financial situation, and they're gaining 20,000 more ticketholders that they can win over with an exciting product. Variations of this could continue if the Bills ever moved to Toronto.

Hamilton is another story, but I was pleased to see that their ticket holders have been offered tickets as well. I'm unsure what the price difference is between Argos and ti-Cats season tickets, but if Ti-Cats tickets are cheaper I'm sure some people will buy them so they can have a cheaper means of getting NFL tickets.

I think the most interesting question is where would a new NFL stadium be located in the GTA? If anyones ever been to Bills games, the highway to Orchard Park is packed on game days, and Orchard Park itself is at a stand still for much of the day. What farmland in the GTA would be best for a stadium? Could we put it somewhere in Toronto? What about the Tailgating culture and its impact?
 
What farmland in the GTA would be best for a stadium? Could we put it somewhere in Toronto? What about the Tailgating culture and its impact?
Click to expand...

You can still have the stadium on the waterfront and have a tailgating culture. Pittsburgh's Heinz Field, located on a riverfront, attracts a lot of tailgating boaters on game days.
 
I think the Rogers Centre is going to be a more long-term solution than most people think. Even as is, with the tiny NFL field, it could easily accomodate I would guess around 65,000 fans for an NFL game.
 
What about putting a new stadium where the proposed 2008 Olympic Stadium was suppose to be?

And on the issue with the Skydome - capacity could be jacked up to around 80K if they do every possible renovation to increase capacity, but it would involve likely getting rid of the CFL field - and the Jays may not like it eithier.
 
There are several downtown NFL stadiums - Ford Field in Detroit (though there's enough vacant land there for parking), Soldier Field in Chicago, Heinz Field as mentioned, M&T just outside Downtown Baltimore (and next to the Light Rail and MARC Camden Station/Yards), Browns Stadium in Cleveland.

That said, I don't care for NFL coming here. I see though that the one game/year will be super-expensive, so I bet everyone involved - Rogers/Godfrey, Wilson, and the Ti-Cat and Argo owners will come out fine in the short-to-medium term.
 
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