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Attendance at Argo games is not a factor.
Of course it is. As is support (or lack thereof) for football at lower levels. The NFL doesn't want to be in cities that look down on other leagues. Baltimore got the Ravens in no small part because of how well they supported the Stallions.
 
If the NFL had any interest in Toronto they'd be here already. The NFL wants to be in cities that are passionate about football. That's not Toronto. We barely support the Argos, the university teams are all but invisible, and high school football might as well not exist. Toronto is the opposite of what the NFL wants.

To play devils advocate, there was a time this was true with the NBA. It took a lot of promotion from MLSE to turn it into the top sport for Toronto millennials. However, I still don't want an NFL team in the city.
 
If the NFL had any interest in Toronto they'd be here already. The NFL wants to be in cities that are passionate about football. That's not Toronto. We barely support the Argos, the university teams are all but invisible, and high school football might as well not exist. Toronto is the opposite of what the NFL wants.
Drat.
 
I know this whole NFL debate is off topic but I feel like this needs a response.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/08/22/nfl-expansion-team-draft-cities sports illustrated doesnt agree with your assessment but what do they know?
"The NFL has tapped into that base in the past, taking a Bills regular-season game to Rogers Centre every season from 2008-13.

One issue with that: attendance dwindled over the course of that arrangement, from 52K for the ’08 game down to just 38K in ’13. The Toronto Star’s Bruce Arthur also wrote recently about issues the city’s CFL team, the Argonauts, has had drawing a crowd (just 13,583 at last week’s opener)."

I don't think they disagree with me quite as much as you think. Yes I know, there are lots of excuses about why the Bills series in Toronto didn't work. But London and Mexico City have been far more promising all the same.
 
I know this whole NFL debate is off topic but I feel like this needs a response.


"The NFL has tapped into that base in the past, taking a Bills regular-season game to Rogers Centre every season from 2008-13.

One issue with that: attendance dwindled over the course of that arrangement, from 52K for the ’08 game down to just 38K in ’13. The Toronto Star’s Bruce Arthur also wrote recently about issues the city’s CFL team, the Argonauts, has had drawing a crowd (just 13,583 at last week’s opener)."

I don't think they disagree with me quite as much as you think. Yes I know, there are lots of excuses about why the Bills series in Toronto didn't work. But London and Mexico City have been far more promising all the same.
by no means am I saying that those numbers are great but the fact that we already have a million fans in Toronto says that we can support a team. We can do it numbers wise. Also part of those numbers being so low was because of the insane prices of the tickets. Toronto NFL fans know what ticket values are because they go to buffalo to see games themselves. Of course London did better selling tickets. One they have no option to cross a border and watch games half the price at any time. Two they have 10 million people in their city. Three it is a bit of a novelty there where we do have some sort of Football here. Anways you can point to one thing but I think it is far more complex why we dont have a team, TV deals, Exchange rates, Crossing borders, Not many people with deep enough pockets to buy a team nor government interest to help build a stadium for Billionaire owners. Anyways they would need to add ramps at dufferin and at bathurst for this to even be a possibility which according to some say is impossible based on how far ramps are supposed to be from each other.
 
by no means am I saying that those numbers are great but the fact that we already have a million fans in Toronto says that we can support a team. We can do it numbers wise. Also part of those numbers being so low was because of the insane prices of the tickets. Toronto NFL fans know what ticket values are because they go to buffalo to see games themselves. Of course London did better selling tickets. One they have no option to cross a border and watch games half the price at any time. Two they have 10 million people in their city. Three it is a bit of a novelty there where we do have some sort of Football here. Anways you can point to one thing but I think it is far more complex why we dont have a team, TV deals, Exchange rates, Crossing borders, Not many people with deep enough pockets to buy a team nor government interest to help build a stadium for Billionaire owners. Anyways they would need to add ramps at dufferin and at bathurst for this to even be a possibility which according to some say is impossible based on how far ramps are supposed to be from each other.
Lol...like I said, lots of ready made excuses. None of what you say excuses the fact that Toronto has shown that it doesn't support football at all levels. It's just not a football city.
 
There is a thread for NFL in Toronto if Mods want to move this I am perfect fine with that...

Billion dollar decisions are complicated. That is not a made up excuse. As for Toronto not being a Football city. I would argue that Toronto is a professional sports city and if it appears like an inferior product then Torontonians dont support it. The CFL does not have a great reputation and I do not know anyone in my under 40 circle which supports them. The only reason MLS works is because Premier League is an ocean away. If premier league was in the states I am sure just like the Argos people would ignore our local TFC and start supporting the better league in the states. Torontonians are elitest. I am one of them. We want the best and no substitutes.
 
There is a thread for NFL in Toronto if Mods want to move this I am perfect fine with that...
Can't argue with that.

Billion dollar decisions are complicated. That is not a made up excuse. As for Toronto not being a Football city. I would argue that Toronto is a professional sports city and if it appears like an inferior product then Torontonians dont support it.
And this is exactly why the NFL isn't interested. The NFL doesn't want fans who are only interested in the absolute peak of the pyramid; it wants fans who love football, period. You're right, billion dollar decisions are complicated. And it's pretty risky to make that kind of investment in a fan base that's proven so ready to abandon their teams for whatever's new and flashy. It's kind of ironic, by looking down on forms of football that they deem inferior, Toronto fans are just ensuring that they'll never get the league they want so much. In every other country the local sports fans are fiercely proud of their local teams, whether they play in leagues that are considered the "best" or not. But not here for some reason.

The only reason MLS works is because Premier League is an ocean away. If premier league was in the states I am sure just like the Argos people would ignore our local TFC and start supporting the better league in the states. Torontonians are elitest. I am one of them. We want the best and no substitutes.
MLS isn't even the best soccer league in North America. You don't have to cross an ocean to see better soccer, you just have to cross the Rio Grande. If Toronto sports fans really wanted the best and no substitutes they'd ignore TFC and push for a Liga MX team.
 
And this is exactly why the NFL isn't interested. The NFL doesn't want fans who are only interested in the absolute peak of the pyramid; it wants fans who love football, period. You're right, billion dollar decisions are complicated. And it's pretty risky to make that kind of investment in a fan base that's proven so ready to abandon their teams for whatever's new and flashy. It's kind of ironic, by looking down on forms of football that they deem inferior, Toronto fans are just ensuring that they'll never get the league they want so much. In every other country the local sports fans are fiercely proud of their local teams, whether they play in leagues that are considered the "best" or not. But not here for some reason.

Toronto fans want NFL? Maybe NFL fans in Toronto would want NFL but I doubt that Toronto sports fans in general actively desire NFL.

I sure don't and I am the poster boy of a mayweather Toronto sports fan. I'll watch Raptors, Leafs or Jays if they are doing well. Yet, if an NFL team was here and was doing well, I think I still wouldn't watch.

MLS isn't even the best soccer league in North America. You don't have to cross an ocean to see better soccer, you just have to cross the Rio Grande. If Toronto sports fans really wanted the best and no substitutes they'd ignore TFC and push for a Liga MX team.
I think it is a bit different with MLS. People following TFC know that the league is a work in progress. While TFC may not have the marketshare that Premier League does within Toronto (and frankly, that is the case continent wide), within MLS, Toronto is regarded as a very well supported club with high attendance figures and strong local interest. It really isn't that weird nowadays to see people wearing TFC jerseys outside.

Also FYI, TFC knocked out two Mexican teams, including Liga MX's champions on their way to the final of CONCACAF champions league before losing to a third Mexican team after two tight games. Not that it implies that MLS>LigaMX, just that we do have some bragging rights on that point. ;-)
 
I somehow doubt that Amazon would be able to pull off the same antics here in Toronto (unless we allowed them to walk all over us, of course).

In Seattle, they are an oversized fish sucking up all the oxygen from a medium-sized pond. In Toronto, they would be just one large fish among many.
 
I somehow doubt that Amazon would be able to pull off the same antics here in Toronto (unless we allowed them to walk all over us, of course).
In Seattle, they are an oversized fish sucking up all the oxygen from a medium-sized pond. In Toronto, they would be just one large fish among many.

Our city doesn't levy corporate taxes anyways - and besides it wasn't like you don't hear our home grown corporations playing hardball in the same way - think the 90s suburban office rush. We need to know that we are a higher cost jurisdiction that offers advantages that others cannot match - and play that game accordingly. If we don't get it, meh, not the end of the world.

AoD
 

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