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Originally Posted by pocketkangaroo
I think it is silly to say that the NFL won't go to Canada because of some secret handshake. If the NFL finds a city that would be profitible, they'd take it in a heartbeat.
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Not without Canada's and the CFL's approval they wouldn't. Sorry.
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Originally Posted by pocketkangaroo
The problem is this. The NFL makes money on two things, stadium sales and TV. Right now most of the Canadian teams would have to play outdoors, which means sub-zero temps most of the season. Sounds like fun, but it's not easy to sell out a city in 10 degree weather if you aren't good. Some cities like Chicago, New York, New England, Buffalo, and Green Bay can do it because of long storied history and football being so popular. However, could Toronto draw 60,000 in 5 degree weather if they are 3-9? Probably not. In that case, they'd need a new stadium, much like the ones you are seeing built like Ford Field. These stadiums provide big revenue and lots of luxury boxes.
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We do have a few domes up here, but I agree in that your NFL goes until well into January, whereas our Grey Cup game is played in November. Unless we had every franchised city having an indoor dome it wouldn't work, but like I said earlier it won't work anyway because Canada wants to preserve it's league, not have yet another thing of ours absorbed into the US. In that light the sport of football is unique, for Canada.
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Originally Posted by pocketkangaroo
Second is the TV. There just isn't a huge following in Canada like there is in the US. You also won't have fans in the US being fans of a Toronto team like you do here. Go to any major city and you'll find people who are fans of all different teams. Without a history, it won't help.
So unless a city like Toronto decides to build a state of the art stadium for football, and keeps the Argonaut name for it along with the history and following, it will never happen.
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You're right, it will never happen.
And there is more of a following for both the CFL and the NFL up here than you might think. We may not get 50,000 fans out to each game like the NFL does, but millions of Canadians are watching both the NFL and CFL on the tube every week. Millions. We are cheering, betting, following the stats and injuries and coaching changes, everything. Just like you.
There are still plenty of US cities that the NFL could expand to, the CFL is just fine where it is, as it is, in Canada.