Toronto - Bills series not a hit

[denfromoakvillemilton]

I think you misunderstood me. They're CFL fans first but they follow both. Their passion for their local teams drives their interest in NFL football. Just like the popularity of MLS soccer is increasing the popularity (and profits) of the big European leagues in North America. A bankrupt CFL would mean a lot fewer Canadians following the NFL, even if they had a team in Toronto.

OK.

I disagree with this heavily but each to his own.

 

[gei]

I was there when the Jays were winning Championships. I found that the atmpshere was just not the same. Torontonians by nature are much quieter. I'd rather watch a game at old Yankee Stadium and Fenway (yes, even when they weren't selling out) over the Concrete scrap that is the Rogers Centre. They need to either renovate or get rid of that ugly hotel.

You gotta be kidding me. I actually went to Fenway back around that time and it was relatively DEAD. When your team sucks (as Boston did back then), there's no reason to cheer and get excited. Whereas the atmosphere in the skydome back in those days was absolutely electric.

Actually the last time I was at old Yankee stadium (the year before it was demolished), it was drizzling and the experience was pretty terrible. Made me really appreciate what we have here in Toronto.

 

[Jonny5]

Speaking of an NFL expansion or moved team, everything I have read suggests the NFL has their sights on Mexico, not Canada. Has this changed?
I have read that Mexican interest in the NFL is many times higher than Canadian.

 

[gei]

Putting aside that the chances of Rogers extending the Bills deal beyond 2012 are questionable at best, the chances of Ralph Wilson and the Bills agreeing to a much lower price are exactly zero.

Are you for this just to be for this?

Care to provide some references of "everything you've read". Because literally everything I've read suggests interest in Toronto. Toronto has been specifically mentioned many times when talking about NFL expansion outside the US... and this was long before the Bills in Toronto series started.

And considering that before the Bills in Toronto series, the Bills were already averaging over 15,000 Canadian fans per game (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/19/AR2007101900608.html), you'd be hard pressed to say interest isn't high here too.

 

[GenerationW]

Care to provide some references of "everything you've read". Because literally everything I've read suggests interest in Toronto. Toronto has been specifically mentioned many times when talking about NFL expansion outside the US... and this was long before the Bills in Toronto series started.

And considering that before the Bills in Toronto series, the Bills were already averaging over 15,000 Canadian fans per game (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/19/AR2007101900608.html), you'd be hard pressed to say interest isn't high here too.

At that now infamous and fantastically embarrassing press conference, Ted Rogers arrogantly sneered that people would be lined up all the way out to Queen Street to buy tickets for these games. Guess your 15,000 Canadian fans per game didn't get the message since Rogers (the company) has had to paper the house big time for every game so far, and will, no doubt, have to do the same for the remaining games.

All the stars were aligned and this was THE shot to show the NFL what a future team in Toronto could be, and guess what -- they blew it! This has been a near-biblical catastrophe. Larry Tannenbaum slinked off into the backgroud when he saw what a disaster it was, and Paul Godfrey, the spearhead behind an NFL team in Toronto for some 25 years, is also nowhere to be seen. You can't embarrass the NFL and then expect to get a pat on the back from them.

To quote Rambo's commanding officer, "It's over Johnny. It's over!"

 

[gei]

I think it's the exact opposite actually. It's amazing that they managed to get so many people in there at such high prices, with such a crappy team playing. I don't think anyone doubts that a full-time NFL team in Toronto would be anything but a huge success.

 

[GenerationW]

I think it's the exact opposite actually. It's amazing that they managed to get so many people in there at such high prices, with such a crappy team playing. I don't think anyone doubts that a full-time NFL team in Toronto would be anything but a huge success.

That's nice revisionist history, but hardly anyone was saying that (except for those who already were skeptics) until the truth about tickets sales came out. The clear assumption was that the cache of the NFL and actual regular season games would be more than enough to guarantee this being a success.

You're also missing the point that this was a calculated step towards getting a full-time NFL team, and it failed spectacularly. Only the Bills will come out of this smelling like a rose.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Because the Bills wanted to make money.

Toronto has 6.3 million people, a large corporate sector.

And people just want reasonable prices. That's not a big deal

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

From the Bills' perspective, the series has been a huge success. They're making nearly $9.75 million per game in Toronto, more than twice the amount the small-market franchise generates from playing home games in economically challenged Buffalo.

Their foothold in Toronto has also paid off in an increase of Ontario fans buying season tickets.

Without providing an exact number, Bills chief operating officer Russ Brandon said Ontario residents now account for about 15 percent of the team's season ticket-holders, which marks a 44 percent increase in two years.

"It's continuing to regionalize the brand and strengthening our franchise in Western New York," Brandon said.

NFL vice president of international business ventures Chris Parsons considers the Toronto series to be a success, though not perfect. The series meets the league's long-term objective to internationalize its game and has also allowed the NFL to gain a new partner in a communications giant such as Rogers.

"Clearly, with any of these things here, you have your teething troubles," Parsons said. "From what I think we've set out to do in terms of this game, we've learned a lot. I think if you stack up everything that we thought might have happened, some things are better, some things we have to work on."

To Support GenW

At this point, officials say, there have been no talks to extend the series beyond the five-year run.

"It's premature to go down that road," Brandon said.

D'Addario agreed.

"There has not been any discussion this year whatsoever on anything other than the two games in 2010," D'Addario said. "We haven't even thought about 2011 yet."

Then again, organizers still have a long way to go.

As reporters waited outside a Toronto hotel for the Bills to arrive Wednesday, a passerby asked what celebrity was scheduled to arrive.

When informed it was the Bills, the man in his mid-50s said, "Who's that?"