From the Pressbox

Grey Cup was awesome. The Tower lit up Green and White. A great weekend and party was had by all.

Too bad there's been no post Grey Cup comments... When's the CFL season start again?

Oh right. Canada Day weekend. :)

The more football the better, love the NFL and CFL.
If the NFL comes to Toronto, bye bye Blue Jays but then who cares about baseball in Canada anyways. The Expos left and the Blue Jays will follow, they play in an anti-looking baseball stadium that is better suited for football.

It's interesting how no one has talked about how the bills and the city of buffalo are working to build a new stadium by 2012.

Wow, A great deal of vitriol over whether Torontonians love the CFL or not, huh?
Not sure that it matters to the rest of the country that the population of Toronto is a Large and diverse one, with Fans of all kinds of sports that have to split their entertainment dollar, Between 4 Major league Teams, 6 minor league teams in the area, Lots of Cricket, Soccer, Rugby fans in the city watching games from around the world on satillite, it seems the CFL isn't top-tier?
Too Bad.
The truth is there is more coverage of NFL in toronto than there is for the CFL. The Canadian networks fight for coverage of the Sunday games because the revenues are so high, not so with the CFL in Toronto.
Any City that want's a CFL team Can get one if they fronmt the money. That's it.
Don't delude yourself into thinking loving the CFL comes with your Citizenship. It Doesn't.

If torontonians flock to the NFL bandwagon and neglect thier native argo's (more than they do already) they'll further drive in the wedge percieved between them and the rest of canada that they already complain about. Hopefully this won't be the case but they'll reap what they sew. Wheather they sew themselves into a blanket called little america or not; we'll just have to see. As long as my bombers have the chance to spank the riders, I could care less.

Heh Mark from Torrona, Halifax & Ottawa were
just suggestions . I have not yet made a firm
committment for ownership . If the right people
did come forward , it is possible and not just
a wish. Clicking heels and wishing real hard
best reserved for Leafs fans .

Look, first thing. Buffalo is going to do this over a 5 year period. Therefore, NO NFL franchise is going to be in Toronto for at least that long. Secondly, Argos fans are starting to come out more. 40,000 fans to a game is excellent. I also read somewhere that the Rogers Centre couldn't open enough sections for some reason and had to turn away a lot of fans. The Toronto market is becoming healthy again.
Thirdly, a CFL without Toronto spells big trouble for television contracts signed by TSN because the GTA is an important factor.
The NFL has no interest in damaging the CFL. They would work to help the league. And if the NFL came to T. in the form of a franchise, the CFL would probably bump up its season to start late May and play the Grey Cup on the October Thanksgiving weekend to reduce the overlap. CFL is here to stay my friends and rumour has it that Ottawa could reenter the league soon. Maybe to be announced during the Grey Cup.

Dear Toronto Argonauts Brain Trust:

Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but wasn't one of the first things done by the Dallas NHL franchise immediately following their move Down South was heavy investment in hockey at the local, minor levels? Dial forward a few years, and what do you have? A successful franchise in a traditionally non-hockey market.

What does this have to do with the CFL?

The regions with the best fan support have a strong winning tradition at the minor & college levels -- cf. the Huskies, Dinos, Golden Bears, Mustangs, Laval etc.

Meanwhile, there are no junior football teams in Toronto, and the University of Toronto is what? 0-for-45? How about York University? The only team the Lions can defeat on the gridiron is the aforementioned U of T Blues.

If the CFL -- or the NFL, if and/or when they come to Toronto full-time -- wants to thrive over the long haul in the Golden Horseshoe, then someone will have to cowboy up and grow a real football culture, not just a semi-nomadic pro sports fanbase, in this city. And that means at least one CIAU team that isn't a national joke.

A Toronto team in the OFC loop wouldn't hurt matters, either.

Sincerely,

A Canadian Football Fan

It might be a blessing in disguise if the Argos fold. The talent is spread so thin in this league that Saskatchewan was the only team in the CFL that fielded a complete roster all season. Every other team lost key players that cost them games. If the Argos go, I won't miss them.

Lindsay from Calgary "Put a team in Halifax and maybe back to Ottawa."

What do you mean "put a team..." Are you going to pony up the required cash? If so Cohon would love to hear from you. They are pulling down most of Frank Clair right now because it's structurally unsound.

Don't get me wrong, I think expansion is the key to the CFL's survival but it's not a matter of clicking your heels and wishing real hard.

I agree with Mark's comments that there may be an opportunity for the CFL to benefit in a revenue sharing arrangement - should the CFL come to Toronto. Let's face it - the CFL is a effectively feeder league to the NFL. While I enjoy the NFL, I wouldn't trade the CFL's action, fans, or even their quirky refs for anything. I also agree with Elliotte's comment that the Argo ownership has been treated poorly by their fellow owners. Being a season ticket holder from the pre-Cynamon/ Sokolowski days, these guys have really done a tremendous amount to revitalize the CFL in Toronto.
I dont think one or two NFL games in Toronto presents a real threat to the Argos or CFL. I do worry about potential loss of corporate revenues for the Argos if a full time NFL franchise came to Toronto. That is why the revenue sharing could potentially benefit the whole league.
And for all the Toronto naysayers: while I think the Argos are one of the best games in town, they're not the only game in town - think about it...

40,000 fans at the Argos-Bombers game and over 500,000 viewers on the weekend. Twice as many viewers as any NFL game played on Sunday. More finanicial stability in the CFL then we have seen in years. The Bills took 10 minutes to move the ball 65 yards against the Jets for a fieldgoal! And ya think 4-down football is the be-all and end-all? Right...Keep dreaming!!! There was a lot of talk of Montreal getting an NFL franchise in the late 70's when the Alouettes were drawing 60,000 to their games at the Big O...and talk of the end of Canada as well. Surprise, surprise...When will the facts be heard?

By all accounts, the Argos can not even turn a profit now and are destined to collapse due to poor fan support, even without a NFL team in Toronto. As a result, the NFL in Toronto will only speed up the inevitable: the end of the Argos, not the end of the CFL.

Pretty disappointing statement about Toronto if you are right about the NFL being able to get $30,000 for 30,000 seat licenses when the Argos can't even sell 30,000 season tickets at a fraction of the price.

It would take an incredibly big ego and even bigger pockets to get an NFL team before some of the cities in the US. Because anyone who spends close to $1 billion to get a team in will be losing money for a long time.

Realistically, maybe if the press in Toronto pumped up the CFL as much as they have the NFL for the past 10 years then maybe the CFL would be seen in a different light and the Argos would be making money.

Why is it that so many CFL fans from outside Toronto feel the need to suggest that Torontonians are "CFL Haters"? Is it an inferiority complex?

I don't really see a big connection between NFL and the Argos. CFL fans are CFL fans. The vast majority of hardcore NFL fans don't seem to care about the CFL anyways - and while some corporate dollars will be rerouted, the long time CFL fans are likely to stay loyal, and league survival is certainly possible, and probable. Simmer down, folks.

These are typical responses from CFL fans in denial about the inevitability of the NFL arriving in Toronto. I’m originally from the Maritimes and can tell you that the CFL is non-existent there, everybody watches the NFL. So this whole notion that the entire nation prefers Canadian football, and just big bad U.S. wannabe Toronto wants the NFL is ludicrous. Toronto has the best hockey, baseball, and basketball the world has to offer, it is long overdue for football.

Wouldn't US cities without teams such as Los Angeles or Portland be given first dibbs on a new team? Would the NFL jeopardize the whole CFL by giving a team to Toronto. More likely, they want to incerase Buffalo's fan base and exposure only. The real reason there is jeopardy for Toronto Argos is that their fans are crappy in supporting their team in the first place, which is a national disgrace considering the population base available there, while backwaters like Regina can fill the stadium regularly. Shame.

Eliotte, from my point of view 1 game (played after the CFL season is done)is not much of a threat to the CFL. As for the stadium, I can just hear the howls from the rest of southern Ontario when TO comes to the province for money, "We just built you a state of the art world class facility and you want another one?"

Locomotive, I would love to have a CFL team here, but be realistic.

Although the CFL is largely gate driven, you can't deny that television and corporate sponsorship deals are very important components, and an area of future growth. Without a healthy base in southern Ontario, you can kiss much of that TV and corporate money goodbye. Corporate Canada will not throw money at a league that it perceives to be dying, which the perception will be if the NFL overwhelms the CFL in the golden horseshoe.

Don't get me wrong, I would much rather watch a CFL game than an NFL game, and I put my money where my mouth is with a season ticket at Taylor Field. But I know that I'm in the minority. I think the NFL is overhyped, but a majority of the populace has drank the tainted koolaid. You can't fight the tide, so you may as well catch it and try to ride it. Embrace the fact that its probably coming, and learn to coexist.

Long live the CFL, and gooooooo 'Riders!!!

Not going to happen . CFL is here to stay .
Put a team in Halifax and maybe back to Ottawa.
Keep the CFL integrity, rules and salary caps.
CFL has it's own roots and fans. It's not the NFL , that is why it is called CFL. If an NFL
franchise went to Toronto, most of the rest of
the country would not care.

Buddy -- take a chill pill followed by a reality pill. The NFL is not coming to Toronto. It didn't happen when they drafted Joe Theismann. That was supposed to be Toronto's entry into the NFL. the Bills are coming to town to play an exhibition game. Whoopy-s**t. The NHL played a preseason game in Winnipeg, but we know they are not coming back to this town while Betman is still alive. Apparently he was insulted by our city's reaction to his raping us. I thought Toronto was big time. Not ready for prime time, baby. Here's an idea... dump CFL-hating Toronto from the league and put a team in Saskatoon where real football fans live.

This article is incomprehensible. Can someone tell me what the author is writing about? It makes no sense to me.

The CFL could also ask the NFL to allow them to participate in the ownership of the NFL franchise in Toronto, in however large a stake they can find the money for, so that NFL revenues benefit the CFL directly and as an organisation rather than through the Toronto Argo ownership.

This would give Cohon revenue independent of what various teams around the league feel they bring to the table. While the stake might be small in the beginning, there may be scope to buy in more shares later from the inside, and there hasn't been a better time in 30 years for Canadians to buy into an industry denominated in US dollars.