The NFL in Toronto

Landing a National Football League team has always seemed a remote possibility for the city of Toronto.

After all, with a new NFL franchise estimated to be worth $1-billion US these days, who can blame the skeptics who view Toronto’s continuing fascination as mere rhetoric.

While these few exhibition and regular season are nice (for now) they're still not "Canada's own" we only have them on loan

New stadium a hurdle

The NFL’s head office, has reiterated on numerous occasions that the cities within the United States remain its only priority for an expansion team in the foreseeable future.

Even if the league were to consider Toronto, the Rogers Centre is currently not up to NFL standards with its seating capacity. The stadium currently holds roughly 55,000, significantly less than the 65,000 the league mandates.

Many also believe that the NFL will require any prospective owner to pour millions more into a new stadium if Toronto is to be granted a franchise.

“We’d like to try and convince them that we can adapt the Rogers Centre to house a National Football League team,” said Godfrey. “We think that adjustments can be made to the facility. But I also think a new facility can be built by personal seat licenses the way they’ve been done in the United States.”
- Paul Godfrey

Don't count on the city's help: Mayor Miller

Should Toronto land an NFL franchise, the funding for a new stadium may have to come out of the owners pockets.

Toronto Mayor David Miller has made it clear the city won’t help with any public money for a new facility and remains adamant of the area's loyalty to the CFL's Argonauts.

“If private people want to raise a billion dollars for the NFL franchise, good for them,” Miller said. “But the health of the CFL is very important to this city and to the country and I don’t want to see anything happen that’s going to risk this league."

Miller, who lived in Boston for a time, also doesn't see the NFL expanding into Canada under any circumstances.

“I understand how Americans think, and there’s no way on Earth that a team in Toronto is going to come before a team in the U.S., it just won’t happen,” he said.

"So if somebody has the money to buy a franchise it may be different, but it certainly won’t be an expansion team, not in the next 10 or 20 years.”

For his part, Howard Bloom, publisher of sportsbusinessnews.com, backs Godfrey on the expansion issue, but on a much larger scale. Based on the continued financial bonanza the NFL receives through the major television networks, Bloom sees four cities, including Toronto, added within the next 10 years.

"Four billion dollars in expansion fees is a tremendous source of revenue," he contends.

Bloom also predicts the NFL will expand its television coverage to include games from Thursday to Monday on a weekly basis.

"In order to be able to successfully play from Thursday to Monday, the NFL needs a strong presence with more teams. It’s not going to work any other way."

Billion-dollar bill for Buffalo

Some, however, are convinced Toronto's only hope lies with a neighbouring team about 130 kilometres west along the Queen Elizabeth Way.

Since Ralph Wilson has been the owner of the Buffalo Bills, the franchise has been a stabilizing entity in an otherwise struggling economy.

But there are growing fears in Western New York that the team will be sold and moved once the 87-year-old Wilson passes away. Moreover, no other local Buffalo,NY business owner has shown an interest in purchasing the Bills.

"It’s not going to stay in Buffalo unless you have the most amazing philanthropist in the world who’s got a billion dollars, and I can’t image who that would be," said Brunt.

"The team will be sold, and outside of L.A., there is no other market left where you can max out sponsorship and stadium advertising like Toronto.”

It not expansion, may not necessarily be by purchasing and moving the Bills either, The other teams currently in danger of losing there franchise in the NFL include : The 49ers, The Jaguars, The Saints, The Raiders, The Vikings, The Chargers, The Bengals and even The Falcons.... so a Toronto - Buffalo NFL game may even be a possibility some day! (a great rivalry waiting to happen!)

With the NFL continuing to avoid the issue, debates over the city's chance of landing a team carry on, but the question of whether Toronto can afford a franchise has been answered.