National Football League in Toronto
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The National Football League, the dominant professional competition in American football and one of the leading U.S. professional sports leagues, has considered placing one of its franchises in Canada's largest city, Toronto, Ontario.
Toronto is one of the largest markets and the fifth most populous city in North America,[1] making it an intriguing city to operate a franchise. Despite being in Canada, it is actually further south than existing NFL franchises in Minnesota and Seattle. Furthermore, NFL executive Dean Spanos stated in January 2008 that "the long term goal is globalizing our sport" and that "it is possible that within five or 10 years, the league will have franchises outside the United States."[2]
There has been speculation that current NFL franchises, most commonly the Jacksonville Jaguars and the nearby Buffalo Bills, may possibly be relocated to Toronto.[3] There was also speculation that the New Orleans Saints or Minnesota Vikings could be moved to Toronto.[3] However, a new stadium in the works has all but silenced the Vikings rumors. Similarly, ramifications resulting from Hurricane Katrina have reduced the prospect of moving the Saints. The Jaguars are often mentioned due to the fact that they struggle to sell out Jacksonville Municipal Stadium even with its capacity reduced by covered-up seats. The Bills, on the other hand, are mentioned not because of attendance problems but because of the team's proximity to Toronto; the advanced age of Bills owner Ralph Wilson, who has no apparent successor; and the persistent economic and population problems that plague the Buffalo region, forcing the Bills to keep their ticket prices the lowest in the NFL.
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[edit] History
The NFL has had a presence in Toronto since 1959, when the Toronto Argonauts played (and lost to) three NFL teams in a three-season span. These games, which had been first tried in Ottawa in 1950 and would be imitated by Montreal, were played by CFL rules in the first half and NFL rules in the second. Injury problems led to many of the Argonauts' losses; the Argos at this time were in a rut and had missed the playoffs several times since 1953.
The Bills themselves, then an American Football League team, tried their hand with a game against the nearby Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Unprepared, and suffering from some injuries, Buffalo lost the game 38-21.
After several years, the American Bowl series brought three preseason games to the city between 1993 and 1997, two of which featured the Bills.
Toronto Blue Jays CEO and President Paul Godfrey has been interested in pursing an NFL franchise for Toronto since 1988.[4] Before recent developments, most skeptics believed that it would be too expensive to bring an NFL team to Toronto and most possible investors may shy away from the approximately US$1 billion price tag that an NFL franchise comes with.[4]
[edit] Buffalo Bills
For many years, the Bills have had a large market in Southern Ontario. In fact, the Bills draw 15,000 Canadian fans to Ralph Wilson Stadium per game.[5] On October 18, 2007, the Bills announced plans that they were seeking approval to play a pre-season and at least one regular season game in Toronto in an attempt to capitalize on the Canadian market.[5] Currently the team has a Canadian sales office and a radio affiliate in Toronto, CJCL. The NFL's television rules have also been applied in a similar manner to secondary markets in the U.S., so that nearly all Bills games are televised in Toronto (on CFTO), except for home games that do not sell out (the Toronto television market extends to the Canadian border in Fort Erie, Ontario, well within the 75-mile radius of Ralph Wilson Stadium, and is thus subject to the league's blackout policy).
On January 30, 2008 it was announced that the Bills reached an agreement to play five regular-season and three exhibition NFL games over the next five years in Toronto. The first of these games are to take place in the 2008 NFL season.[6][7] The first game in the series was announced April 3 (although it had been leaked through various sources throughout March) and will feature the Bills facing the Pittsburgh Steelers in an exhibition game August 14; this date is one day before the Toronto Argonauts play in the same stadium, and it is the same date and time as a Hamilton Tiger-Cats game (although the latter game is in Winnipeg). The regular season game will take place on December 7 against the Miami Dolphins, after the end of the 2008 CFL season. Ted Rogers is effectively leasing the team from Wilson at a cost of US$78,000,000.[8]
There is speculation that when Ralph Wilson, Jr. dies, interests may bid for the franchise in hopes of moving the Bills to Toronto. [6]
[edit] Recent developments
Ted Rogers, owner of Rogers Communications, and Larry Tanenbaum met and discussed the possibly of an NFL franchise in Toronto. Tannenbaum said that he and Ted Rogers were "highly interested" in bringing an NFL franchise to Toronto. He also stated that he was going to "pursue it more rigorously" as soon as the NFL gave him word.[4]
On Thursday, April 3rd, it was announced that the Bills will play the Pittsburgh Steelers in a pre-season game on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at Rogers Centre. On April 15, the regular season match was revealed, with the Bills hosting their division rivals, the Miami Dolphins, on December 7. Both games will have ticket prices ranging from C$55 to C$295.[9] The average ticket price of C$183 is more than double the highest priced average in the NFL, that of the New England Patriots, at US$88.
[edit] Roadblocks
The Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts currently play in the city and have in the past been protected from American competition. The World Football League intended to place its own franchise in Toronto known as the Toronto Northmen, but then Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau threatened to pass a Canadian Football Act to prevent such a move. The WFL backed down and moved the team to Memphis, Tennessee, where it became known as the Memphis Southmen and later the Mid-South Grizzlies in a failed bid to join the NFL. American teams that have made their home in Toronto include the Continental Football League's Toronto Rifles (1965-67) and the Arena Football League's Toronto Phantoms (2000-02). Any NFL team that entered the Toronto market would have to deal with the Argonauts as well as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who play in nearby Hamilton, Ontario and have vehemently opposed any presence of the NFL in Canada.
The Tiger-Cats responded to the Bills' move to play games in Toronto by making an April Fool's Day mock announcement on April 1, 2008 that they would move one of their home games against the Montreal Alouettes to Ralph Wilson Stadium, and would be challenging the Bills to a rematch of their 1961 contest, which the Tiger-Cats won, in June 2008 (when the Bills would be in minicamp and the Ti-Cats would be playing preseason).[10] Tiger-Cats fans, while acknowledging it was a hoax, reacted positively to the idea.
The other major issue would be stadium. Although Paul Godfrey believed that the Rogers Centre could be home to an NFL franchise,[4] it is unclear if the Rogers Centre could be the home long-term. The Centre, a retractable roof stadium, has a maximum capacity of 54,088 when configured for CFL football; in comparison, the smallest NFL stadium in terms of capacity (excluding the exhibition-only stadiums in Canton and Honolulu) is Chicago's Soldier Field, which has 61,500 seats. While extra seats could be added near the end zones as a result of the shorter NFL field, a large-scale expansion would be very difficult because of the stadium's design. This means that a new football specific stadium would have to be built. David Miller, mayor of Toronto, has stated that funding for a new stadium would not come from the City of Toronto and would have to come from private funding.[4] Counteracting this small capacity is the large number of luxury boxes in the stadium, which count as "unshared" revenue in the NFL's revenue sharing and collective bargaining agreements.
[edit] Game history
[edit] CFL interleague games in Southern Ontario
| Date | Visitors | Score | Home | Score | Stadium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 5, 1959 | Chicago Cardinals | 55 | Toronto Argonauts | 26 | Exhibition Stadium |
| August 6, 1960 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 43 | Toronto Argonauts | 16 | Exhibition Stadium |
| August 2, 1961 | St. Louis Cardinals | 36 | Toronto Argonauts | 7 | Exhibition Stadium |
| August 8, 1961 | Buffalo Bills | 21 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 38 | Ivor Wynne Stadium |
[edit] American Bowls and NFL exhibitions
- All games in the Rogers Centre except the 1960 game, which was in Exhibition Stadium.
| Date | Winners | Score | Losers | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 15, 1960 | Chicago Bears | 16 | New York Giants | 7 |
| August 14, 1993 | Cleveland Browns | 12 | New England Patriots | 9 |
| Date | Visitors | Score | Home | Score |
| August 12, 1995 | Dallas Cowboys | 7 | Buffalo Bills | 9 |
| August 16, 1997 | Green Bay Packers | 35 | Buffalo Bills | 3 |
| August 14, 2008 | Pittsburgh Steelers | Buffalo Bills |
[edit] Regular season games
| Date | Visitors | Score | Home | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 7, 2008 | Miami Dolphins | Buffalo Bills |
[edit] References
- ^ City of Toronto: Toronto Overview. City of Toronto (2007).
- ^ Acee, Kevin (2008-01-27). Sources confirm Oct. 26 game, probably at Wembley. San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved on 2008-01-27.
- ^ a b Smith, Michael David (2007-10-13). NFL Up North? Toronto Owners Have Eyes on Bills, Jaguars, Vikings and Saints. AOL. Retrieved on 2008-01-17.
- ^ a b c d e Care, Tony (2006-10-19). Is Toronto ready for some NFL football?. CBC. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
- ^ a b Wawrow, John (2007-10-18). Buffalo Bills May Play Game in Toronto. Associated Press. Retrieved on 2008-01-18.
- ^ a b Huras, Adam (2008-01-30). NFL: Bills reportedly playing games in Toronto for next five years. National Post. Retrieved on 2008-01-30.
- ^ Gaughan, Mark and Jerry Sullivan. Bills have deal in place for Toronto games. Buffalo News. 30 January 2008.
- ^ Warzala, Steve. Bills to be paid $78 Million. WGR. 29 April 2008.
- ^ Bills Tickets for games in Toronto average $183. Associated Press. 7 May 2008.
- ^ TICATS TO HOLD TWO GAMES SOUTH OF THE BORDER. Hamilton Tiger-Cats press release. 1 April 2008.
[edit] See also
- National Football League International Series
- History of National Football League in Los Angeles
- Professional sport in Toronto
- CFL USA
