NFL team in Toronto.... Could it actually happen?

[Yads]

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Anyone else puzzled as to how Toronto could possibly get a team before Los Angeles??

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I am.

[gusmahler]

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If they had to build a new stadium, where would they put it? I heard that the 49ers are going to be building a new stadium in the suburbs (Freemont, I believe?)

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The As are going to Fremont. The 49ers are going to Santa Clara.

But the distinction between playing in the actual city and playing in the suburbs is arbitrary. The Redskins, Cowboys, Jets, Giants, Patriots, and Cardinals (and probably several more) all play in a "suburb" of a main city.

[jstnrgrs]

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Toronto won't get a team because the TV ratings would be awful in the states. The NFL doesn't really care about how many people show up for the games, it's all about TV ratings. A foreign team, even in Canada, would kill the TV ratings for every game they were involved in.

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I really doubt this. The other sports manage with teams in canada, and I think people are more inclined to watch an out of marked football team than any other sport.

If a team from canada was good, I think people would be happy to watch them. If they sucked, I don't think they would get lower ratings than the sucky teams do now.

[grando]

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5. Yes, an NFL franchise in Toronto would pretty much ruin the CFL. Except for maybe Saskatchewan lol.

[/ QUOTE ] <font color="green"> GO RIDERS! </font>

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SHIP SHIP

[SBR]

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Toronto won't get a team because the TV ratings would be awful in the states. The NFL doesn't really care about how many people show up for the games, it's all about TV ratings. A foreign team, even in Canada, would kill the TV ratings for every game they were involved in.

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I really doubt this. The other sports manage with teams in canada, and I think people are more inclined to watch an out of marked football team than any other sport.

If a team from canada was good, I think people would be happy to watch them. If they sucked, I don't think they would get lower ratings than the sucky teams do now.

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The ratings for Toronto sports teams are much lower than they would be if Toronto was south of the border. Americans just don't care about Canadian teams no matter what sport they play or how good they are. It's ok in baseball and basketball that don't care about TV ratings to the extent that the NFL does but it really wouldn't fly with the NFL. Given the choice between a team in Buffalo and a team in Toronto the NFL would pick Buffalo easily.

[damaniac]

Yeah. People care about their own team, local rivals/division foes, and then teams that are good/fun to watch. If the Toronto team gets good, which in a league with this kind of parity isn't unlikely, people will care. They get put in a division, they'll have rivals, people will care, etc.

[jstnrgrs]

I don't mind a team in Canada, but I do mind 33 teams. If they move a team to Canada, that's fine with me (but it had better be a team that has no fan support). If they want to expand, they need to go to 40 teams. Anything between 33 and 39 teams doesn't schedule well. If they went to 40 teams (10 divisions of 4), then the proposal for 17 games, one played on a neutral site overseas would make much more sense than it does now.

[MikeyPatriot]

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The ratings for Toronto sports teams are much lower than they would be if Toronto was south of the border. Americans just don't care about Canadian teams no matter what sport they play or how good they are. It's ok in baseball and basketball that don't care about TV ratings to the extent that the NFL does but it really wouldn't fly with the NFL. Given the choice between a team in Buffalo and a team in Toronto the NFL would pick Buffalo easily.

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The other leagues aren't as concerned about ratings because their seasons aren't really built for massive TV viewing game-in, game-out. The NFL has an advantage only playing on Sunday, with a marquee game on Monday, and only playing 16 games/year. You also have to factor in that in baseball and basketball, there hasn't been a dominant team or a really marketable player that interests fans. There might be a Catch 22 somewhere in that though.

Still, if a team like Buffalo moved to Toronto, do you really think the ratings would be impacted? Are fewer fans going to watch a Patriots/Toronto game compared to a Patriots/Buffalo game? Even if fewer fans are watching in the states, you're gaining a HUGE market in Toronto, and likely a large contingency of Canada.

[SBR]

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Yeah. People care about their own team, local rivals/division foes, and then teams that are good/fun to watch. If the Toronto team gets good, which in a league with this kind of parity isn't unlikely, people will care. They get put in a division, they'll have rivals, people will care, etc.

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I really hope you're right. And I'm not saying a NFL team in Toronto wouldn't do very well or make money. Rather I'm saying that there are quite a few markets in the states (i.e. more than most people would initially think) that would do better from the NFL's perspective.

A team in Toronto compared to a hypothetical identical team in the states would receive much less media attention and American fan interest due to the fact that its in Canada. If you look at how the Raptors or Jays are covered (granted the Jays haven't been relevant in a while, but the Raptors last year are a good example) compared to similar teams in the states this becomes pretty apparent. It's ok in basketball and baseball because these sports aren't as TV oriented as football. But I really believe the NFL won't put a team in Toronto for a long time because of the poor expected performance on TV.

[MicroBob]

Is 80k really a mandatory requirement.
That doesn't make a lot of sense to me as currently there are 2 NFL stadiums that hold 80k or more:
Fed Ex Field = 91.7k
Giants Stadium - 80.2k

You have 7 more that are between 72k and 80k:
KC, DEN, MIA, BUF, CAR, CLE, GB

And a whole bunch that are 71k or lower.

The smallest 10 are 66k or lower:
IND, CHI, OAK, ARI, MIN, DET, CIN, TB, DAL, STL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...eague_stadiums