There's long been talk that the NFL wants to have a team in Toronto. Whether that means moving a team there (Buffalo Bills?) or an expansion club down the road is unclear, but there's little doubt that the league wants to expand beyond American borders, and that Toronto would be one of the most attractive options. But what would happen to the Canadian Football League in that scenario? According to British Columbia Lions President Bob Ackles, the CFL would go under:
"No question in my mind a team could be successful in Toronto," Ackles told Sun Media. "But it would take southern Ontario and immediately kill Toronto and Hamilton and therefore it would kill the Grey Cup and the CFL. I don't think there's any question about that."I don't think the NFL will have a team in Toronto any time soon, but I do think it'll be there eventually. And I find it hard to believe that one team going to Canada would kill the entire Canadian league. Especially considering what a bad PR move that would be for the NFL. If anything, having the NFL move to Canada would probably be a good thing, at least in the short term, for the CFL, because the NFL would pump money into it to keep from looking like American imperialists.
But saying the NFL could kill the CFL is a good strategy for keeping the NFL out, if that's your goal.
Via Fark.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. As a Canadian NFL fan from Edmonton, a city kilometers away from Toronto on more levels than just physical distance, there's a lot to be said about these statements. I'm not a CFL diehard by any stretch, but it's hard not to develop some connection to it. Especially with a team (the Eskimos, where Warren Moon actually got his start) in your home town.
Would a NFL franchise in Toronto conceivably "kill" the Canadian league? No.
Would it alter the CFL's prominence and further relegate it to little more than another NFL farm league? Probably.
Believe me, there's a large portion of CFL fans that prefer their league to the NFL. Also there's a number of jaded Canadian sports fans in BC due to the failure of the once-upon-a-time Vancouver Grizzlies. These are likely the Chicken Littles of this argument, however, a huge number of this crowd is in the higher age categories. This lends to the idea that the NFL would be warmly welcomed into Canada further in the future.
I personally regard the CFL as little more than a quaint tradition and a second-gasp for fizzled NCAA stars. I doubt my contemporaries hold an opinion as skeptical as that, but it's pretty clear that the CFL has already lost a chunk of its fan base to the slicker, more competitive NFL. It's not floundering at any rate though...
The most likely scenario here is that CFL owners feel that the league is slipping in popularity (however minute the change). This slip, in the long term, may be due to younger demographics leaning to the NFL. Compounding this more immediately is the fact that the NFL's schedule has just begin to hit its stride as the CFL comes to an end, getting jostled into the fall sports frenzy that is the NFL kicking into high gear, the MLB playoffs, and the BCS soap opera. Sun Media is widely regarded as a muckraking news corporation so it's very possible that an owner took an interview opportunity to stir the pot a little bit and regain some attention to the Motherland's league.
Posted at 5:06AM on Oct 8th 2007 by LGWGreen
2. Pardon me but the Buffalo Bills are not for sale.
Suggesting that the Bills would move in premature; given the fact that there owner is very much alive.
Suggesting that the Bills would move is just as much offensive as the Saints leaving New Orleans since that market lost more than half its population.
It's not PC to suggest that the Saints move - and it's deeply disgraceful and not PC to suggest the Bills move; especially given the fact that that team is the urban fabric of Western New York, Central New York, Southern Canada, and Northwest PA.
Small market? No way.
Leave the Bills alone.
Long live Ralph Wilson.
GO BILLS!
Posted at 11:53AM on Oct 13th 2007 by GO BILLS