Toronto Bills

[cyberbard]

Does Toronto ever get an NFL team?

First off, the pros of Toronto...
1. Outside of LA and Mexico City, it is the largest North American market without a team.
2. Canada (and yes, even Toronto) has ridden this poor economic wave better than the US.

The cons of Toronto...
1. Maple Leaf town. NLL and MLS seem to be doing okay, but generally not even other hockey teams do well in this town.
2. If Toronto can't support a CFL franchise, how could it be expected to support an NFL team?
3. Difficulty selling out Buffalo Bills games at the Jolly Rogers Centre
4. Rogers Centre is not big enough and is in a horrible location for transit and parking.
5. Fluctuating currency makes $Cdn v. $US unpredictable.
6. Buffalo Bills, assuming they didn't move, would be devastated.

My vote would be a 'not bloody likely'. Pat Bowlen, Denver's owner, said the league should not come to Canada...and I think they should listen to him.

 

[Brill]

I hope not.
Building the SkyDome white elephant was a bad enough, we don't need to be on the hook for another stadium for yet another welfare sport.

 

[dj1470]

No need for an NFL team in Toronto.
No needed or wanted by the majority of Ontarioans.

 

[C Dick]

I don't think people in Toronto support the Argos because it is perceived as being small-time. Who wants to see a Toronto team beat Winnipeg, we have to play New York and Chicago. I know a lot more people that follow the NFL than follow the CFL, or the Raptors, let alone TFC or Rock.

So my belief is that an NFL team would do very well. Skydome is not so bad, the location is as good as any.

 

[mbaileyajc]

I don't think people in Toronto support the Argos because it is perceived as being small-time. Who wants to see a Toronto team beat Winnipeg, we have to play New York and Chicago. I know a lot more people that follow the NFL than follow the CFL, or the Raptors, let alone TFC or Rock.

So my belief is that an NFL team would do very well. Skydome is not so bad, the location is as good as any.

I know a lot of guys that play fantasy football, a lot of guys that bet on football , a lot of guys that say they are football fans but when it comes time to sitting down and watching games they rarely do. Its disappointing because I love the sport but it seems to me at least that there arent many people in this city that does, certainly not enough to support an NFL team. There are people in this city that dont know Haloti Ngata, there are people in this city that dont know Steve Hutchinson, there are people in this city that dont know Kevin Williams or Jon Beason. These are not no-name players, these are legit stars in the league. I find it hard therefore to accept that there are a lot of football fans in this city. A lot of people know QBs, WRs, RBs , the skill-position players because of fantasy football. They are fans of fantasy football but not fans of football. There is a HUGE difference. Just my opinion for what its worth. Im sure a lot of folks will disagree with me and thats fine. I stand by my opinion.

 

[robycapone]

I agree with you except with the point of Toronto not supporting the Argos.

Toronto Supports the Argos just fine when they are winning...LIke the Raptors, the team must win or be competitive for people to show up in the seats. 30,000 for the last Argo home game last year was enough to show that Toronto does support the Argos enough ... but the team has to be competitive...

The Rogers Centre is still a fantastic facility. You can see the play from all angles of the stadium. People that say the dome is caverness, havn't been to other parks around the US or in Europe. WHen the Dome is full, as it has been on several occasions, its as good as atmospher as any Baseball or Football stadium in the United States.

I've photographed pretty much every national sport in most of the Major Stadiums in North America, when the Dome is full its a spectacular site!!!

 

[Ironhead]

I certainly want an NFL team for Toronto. I would grab a pair of season tickets for myself or with a friend of mine who is a football fan. In fact, I am sure he would suggest it first.

I am a fan of and support the Argos also. I had season tickets a couple of times in the 90s.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I don't think people in Toronto support the Argos because it is perceived as being small-time. Who wants to see a Toronto team beat Winnipeg, we have to play New York and Chicago. I know a lot more people that follow the NFL than follow the CFL, or the Raptors, let alone TFC or Rock.

Put the Argos in a smaller outdoor venue similar to Percival Molson Stadium in Mtl and you could quite possibly get a CFL revival in Toronto. I'm somewhat of a CFL fan (Toronto being my favorite team), but i have no use to go watch a game at the spacious Rogers Center. It's simply not made for football.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I certainly want an NFL team for Toronto. I would grab a pair of season tickets for myself or with a friend of mine who is a football fan. In fact, I am sure he would suggest it first.

It'll never happen as long as Toronto doesn't build itself a bigger stadium (outdoors preferrably) with natural grass. The NFL would never go for a new franchise with fake turf. Fake turf is on the way out in most pro sports (NFL, MLB) and the excuse that you can't have natural grass in Toronto is b.s. when you consider that Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Milwaukee/Green Bay, Philly, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, NY and Boston have pretty much the same weather Toronto does.

 

[gcostanza]

It'll never happen as long as Toronto doesn't build itself a bigger stadium (outdoors preferrably) with natural grass. The NFL would never go for a new franchise with fake turf. Fake turf is on the way out in most pro sports (NFL, MLB) and the excuse that you can't have natural grass in Toronto is b.s. when you consider that Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Milwaukee/Green Bay, Philly, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, NY and Boston have pretty much the same weather Toronto does.

Artificial turf is on it's way out ?

Of the cities named above, only Cleveland, Chicago, and Pittsburgh have full natural grass fields. Recent Stadiums built (or renovated) seem to predominantly have artifical surfaces.

The New York Jets/New York Giants (opening 2010) new facility has Field Turf, Detroit's Ford Field (2002) has Field Turf, Lambeau Field (renovated 2003) is a combination natural grass/artifical surface (Desso GrassMaster), Cincinnati's Paul Brown Stadium (2004) has Field Turf, Foxboro's Gillette Stadium (2002) has Field Turf, Pittsburgh's Heinz Field (2001), while natural grass, is considered by some players to be the worst field to play on in the entire league.

Why you involved Milwaukee in the discussion is beyond me. NFL football has not been played in Milwaukee since 1995 .

 

[Doc Holliday]

Thanks for the update, very informative. I had no idea some of these new fields had fake turf & must admit i'm quite surprised. As for why i included Milwaukee, i was referring to both MLB & the NFL in my post.