RIP Ralph Wilson Bills Owner

[VC-INJURY]

The Toronto Bills would also have a huge geographic advantage since most players from opposing teams would be denied entry into Canada because of their criminal records

[TANKNATION]

i just can't see 60,000 people coming to watch football in Toronto. Then again, if we do get a team the culture will grow. But its just hard imagining it at the moment.

Of course they will. & it makes perfect sense. Toronto is a sports city, look at the leafs, raptors, blue jays, FC. they are all widely supported by fans. The Argos are completely different because the CFL is a 2nd tier league, whereas the NFL is one of the tops. There's only 8 home games per season in the NFL, so I fully expect a near sell out if we do build a 60,000+ stadium. Toronto is fully capable of running an NFL team, it just depends on who in the city wants to spend 2 billion dollars in getting one.

[Shock Defeat]

Goodell will do anything for the money which works in Toronto's favor.

[Roland Brice]

Was it Stevie Johnson who said he'd prefer to play in Toronto over Buffalo?

[kidr1211]

Apparently an 80,000 capacity NFL stadium is planned to be built?

http://www.torontomike.com/2014/03/toro ... nfl_s.html

[joseph235]

RIP one of, if not the greatest NFL owner.

Hopefully the NFL comes to Toronto. Leiweke, do ya thang.

I doubt the NFL ever comes to Toronto. They are all about ratings and we don't count towards that because we're in Canada. Not to mention the fact that we don't have an NFL ready stadium.

[Roland Brice]

Apparently an 80,000 capacity NFL stadium is planned to be built?

http://www.torontomike.com/2014/03/toro ... nfl_s.html

2020? But we need it NOW!!!

Where's there enough space for this? It would probably have to be in the burbs, like where the Woodbine Live was supposed to be located.

[Yosemite Dan]

This will be the last season the Bills will be playing in Buffalo. And the season after the Bills will be the Toronto Bills (they better change the name).

TL has a severe hard on to bring the NFL full time to Toronto. And very few conglomorates have more money than MLSE. They have been planning this for awhile and Tannebaum will be set up as the majority owner with MLSE backing. The heirs are selling to the highest bidder and MLSE will not be out bid by anyone. The NFL would rather have them in Toronto and this is the best way to do it. The NFL states this is out of thier hands and the heirs can do what they want so they can't force them to stay in Buffalo. Toronto, the NFL and the heirs all come out winners. The only loser is the city of Buffalo.

It's no coincidence that the Bills-Toronto deal was cancelled last month. I'm sure MLSE was aware that Wilson was near death and cutting all ties with the Bills and not being part of thier "market' was the best thing to do so they can outright buy the team. Don't kid yourself the Bills weren't the ones to back out of the deal. It was free money for them.

They can simply reconfigure the Rogers Centre for a few years to add a few more seats, get an arena built within 5 years and the team is good to go. I'm sure right now the final blueprints are being created at this very moment for a new stadium.

[Yosemite Dan]

RIP one of, if not the greatest NFL owner.

Hopefully the NFL comes to Toronto. Leiweke, do ya thang.

I doubt the NFL ever comes to Toronto. They are all about ratings and we don't count towards that because we're in Canada. Not to mention the fact that we don't have an NFL ready stadium.

That's Bob McCowan ranting and it's total verbal diarhhea, he has no idea what he is talking about and he has already been embarassed by knowledgeble people on his show who told him he doesn't know what he's talking about. If that was true then the Blue Jays and Raptors (and Grizzlies) would never even have been considered for a team because the NBA lives on it's TV contract as well.

Toronto is the 3rd biggest city in N America not counting Mexico City. It`s huge market that the NFL would love to be a part of. As for ratings, the networks pay the NFL big money so they recoup it in advertizing and last time I checked the U.S. networks are seen in Canada. That's all advertizers care about and the Canadian stations that carry the U.S. feed will pay big bucks to the U.S. station and therefore the NFL just like they do for the Superbowl and playoff games and a city with a population of 7 or 8 million in the surrounding area is much more desirable than the city of Buffalo which has a tenth of the population and twice the unemployment rate.

And how don't they count toward the ratings? if we play the Dallas Cowboys, it's being shown on CBS. If the team is good, the ratings are high, simple as that.

[joseph235]

RIP one of, if not the greatest NFL owner.

Hopefully the NFL comes to Toronto. Leiweke, do ya thang.

I doubt the NFL ever comes to Toronto. They are all about ratings and we don't count towards that because we're in Canada. Not to mention the fact that we don't have an NFL ready stadium.

That's Bob McCowan ranting and it's total verbal diarhhea, he has no idea what he is talking about and he has already been embarassed by knowledgeble people on his show who told him he doesn't know what he's talking about. If that was true then the Blue Jays and Raptors (and Grizzlies) would never even have been considered for a team because the NBA lives on it's TV contract as well.

Toronto is the 3rd biggest city in N America not counting Mexico City. It`s huge market that the NFL would love to be a part of. As for ratings, the networks pay the NFL big money so they recoup it in advertizing and last time I checked the U.S. networks are seen in Canada. That's all advertizers care about and the Canadian stations that carry the U.S. feed will pay big bucks to the U.S. station and therefore the NFL just like they do for the Superbowl and playoff games and a city with a population of 7 or 8 million in the surrounding area is much more desirable than the city of Buffalo which has a tenth of the population and twice the unemployment rate.

And how don't they count toward the ratings? if we play the Dallas Cowboys, it's being shown on CBS. If the team is good, the ratings are high, simple as that.

Yes we don't count, there's a reason why the Blue Jays and Raptors are never on a national tv game in the US. Every Toronto NFL game would have to be on either CBS or Fox, and they would essentially lose half the audience. I'm not an expert on TV ratings so tell me if I'm wrong.

[kidr1211]

This will be the last season the Bills will be playing in Buffalo. And the season after the Bills will be the Toronto Bills (they better change the name).

TL has a severe hard on to bring the NFL full time to Toronto. And very few conglomorates have more money than MLSE. They have been planning this for awhile and Tannebaum will be set up as the majority owner with MLSE backing. The heirs are selling to the highest bidder and MLSE will not be out bid by anyone. The NFL would rather have them in Toronto and this is the best way to do it. The NFL states this is out of thier hands and the heirs can do what they want so they can't force them to stay in Buffalo. Toronto, the NFL and the heirs all come out winners. The only loser is the city of Buffalo.

It's no coincidence that the Bills-Toronto deal was cancelled last month. I'm sure MLSE was aware that Wilson was near death and cutting all ties with the Bills and not being part of thier "market' was the best thing to do so they can outright buy the team. Don't kid yourself the Bills weren't the ones to back out of the deal. It was free money for them.

They can simply reconfigure the Rogers Centre for a few years to add a few more seats, get an arena built within 5 years and the team is good to go. I'm sure right now the final blueprints are being created at this very moment for a new stadium.

Doubt it. I read something earlier from a buffalo reporter stating that the family may not sell the team for a couple of years. To add on that, they have a lease at OP running for the next decade that would take $400M to break. Also MLSE has nothing to do with the bills in toronto, that's all rogers.

[VC-INJURY]

Interesting read:

http://www.thestar.com/sports/football/ ... kelly.html

There is a succession map in place and it will move very slowly out of deference to the patriarch. It would be unlikely that any mention of sale would be made in the next year.

The club will be placed in trust, and eventually, quietly introduced onto the market.

The really important players in this deal aren’t the Wilson clan, but their 31 partners in NFL ownership, every one of whom must approve a deal to move the club.

Where does Toronto fit in this?

There is a plan here too, headed by musician Jon Bon Jovi. He leads a group that has been waiting for this moment — as Wilson dies, his clock begins ticking.

What is complicated for others is already simple for them. They have the money — fronted either by MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum or Rogers scion Edward Rogers. They have the connections. Bon Jovi’s golf buddies include Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Patriots owner Robert Kraft, the two most influential owners.

They are working on the stadium plan, which would be handled by Tim Leiweke and MLSE.

Their biggest issue at the moment is unique. It’s the Toronto Argonauts.

Forces inside this country reaching up the highest levels have made it clear that there will be no NFL franchise for Toronto if it jeopardizes the CFL. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell shares that feeling. He will not allow himself to be seen trying to kill a sister league.

This is why the Argos are moving to BMO Field once their Rogers Centre lease runs out. This is why MLSE will soon own them.

In order to win one football team, Toronto must save another. Now the rush is on to get that deal sorted before moving on to a much bigger one.

This is all a hugely complicated process that could, in the end, be decided by one rich wingnut who decides that what he really needs to complete his life is a really bad, and possibly cursed, football team.

But the Toronto bid has to be considered one of the favourites. It is holistically sound and, from the NFL’s perspective, maintains the team’s current marketing boundaries. It upsets no apple carts elsewhere.
In coming to Canada, the league would announce itself as a global, rather than provincial, concern.

Toronto could be the launch point for the new NFL.

In order for that possibility to appear, we had to wait for the old order to fade into history.

[northernpuppy]

1. RIP Ralph

2. I welcome our new NFL overlords

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPcB3vWGO9k[/youtube]

[LakerLegend]

Why would the NFL be so obsessed with London if ratings were an issue?