Request to all American NFL Fans from a Canadian NFL fan

[Dieter]

Hi everyone;

I am a NFL fan from Canada (British Columbia) writing to my American football friends to ask a favor.

You may or may not be aware the Buffalo Bills will begin in the 2008/09 season to play an annual regular season game in Toronto. As you may or may not also be aware that the permanent relocation of the Bills or another club to Toronto is a very real possibility through the NFL plans to go global.

There are many of us in Canada who are fans of both the NFL and the CFL who are very concerned that should the NFL move to Toronto it would pose serious problems, potentially even cause the collapse of the Canadian Football League due to the amount of corporate dollars it would suck out of the rest of the CFL teams across the country. This is the opinion of many owners of CFL teams as well as fans. (The greater Toronto area is a big portion of the Canadian population)

Personally, I never was too concerned about the NFL coming north as I didn't think the league would make a move if it might jeopardize the CFL. The NFL is certainly big enough that it doesn't need a team in Toronto. The NFL is already huge among Canadian football fans as we watch it on TV and many of us close enough to NFL cities make road trips to games. (I grew up north of Minnesota and thus am a diehard Vikings fan. I now live closer to Seattle so make a trip there every year.) The CFL has long served as not only a league for Canadians to play due to Canadian content rules, but also as a feeder league for the NFL. Many American collage players who don't make the grade directly out of university spend some time here before moving back to the NFL. If not for the CFL many of these players never would have made it back to the NFL. Doug Flutie, Warren Moon, Jeff Garcia and countless others will attest to what the CFL meant to them.

If the NFL was to come to Canada, and if it was to cause the collapse of the 100 year old Canadian Football League and it's eight clubs, the fans of those teams would only have the NFL on TV and the occassional road trip to look forward to. I am speaking for all the CFL/NFL fans in Canada who want both our game and yours to enjoy.

I ask that you contact the owners of your NFL club and the commissioner of the NFL and ask that he respect the CFL fan and continue to grow your great game in the U.S. Placing a team in Toronto benefits one city, while hurting the rest of us.

Thanks for your support

[retired opfinistic]

[HughC]

All joking aside, there's plenty of room for both leagues to thrive.

[m i n o]

i agree with hughc on this matter. i really don't see one team in canada destroying a whole organization. take into consideration that you say you are a fan of the cfl yet make a trip every yr be it minnesota or now seattle to watch the nfl live and by doing that in no meens stops you from being any less of a fan of the cfl. canada is huge and i don't see evry canadain becoming a instant bills fan if they choose to move there. and i don't see most canadians saying well we have a nfl team in canada so lets stop watching the cfl.
also as you stated alot of players that dont make it in the nfl so if they don't make it in the us nfl they won't make it in the one canadian nfl team thus them playing for the cfl. a country can handle moer than one football organization as evidence in the u.s having both nfl and arena football..while arena is not as popular people still go and root for their local teams just as i imagine you would still support your local cfl team.

[Dolfan32323]

I'd love to have a team in Toronto so long as the CFL stays strong... they really should broadcast the CFL in the US as it is played during the NFL offseason.

[ch19079]

I can see why people invested in the CFL are worried, but I do not believe that 1 NFL team playing 1 game a year in Canada will bring down the entire CFL.

The commish recently said that he does not see the Bills moving to Canada any time soon.

Also, I agree that they should broadcast the CFL to the US. It would be better than the Arena League.

[SpaceMountain16]

From my understanding the CFL has too rich of a history and too loyal of a following to just tank the second an NFL team arrives there even if they were playing 8 home games in the fall which the Bills aren't. I think Canada should be happy that they would just be seeing pro-longed football with both the CFL and NFL seasons, granted the Bills are more like a college team

[FinFrenzy]

I can understand the CFL's concern. Looking down the road. When 1 NFL team starts in Canada more will eventually follow creating the collapse of the CFL.

I would think the only way Canada can stop this, is to have a merger of the CFL and NFL. Have an extra bye week or two, extending the season, and put 4 CFL teams in the AFC and 4 in the NFC. That way they can actually play in the Superbowl against one another.

I for one don't think any NFL team as of now should be able to leave the U.S. start another expansion team if the above idea doesn't work.