Stadium could bring NFL club to Toronto
Goodell, influential team owners like idea, so no better time than now to consider it
Build it and they will come. Or at least might come.
“It” being a stadium. “They” being the NFL. And the destination being Toronto.
An Nfl-worthy stadium in Toronto, that is.
That’s the message commissioner Roger Goodell and one powerful owner sent to Toronto on Wednesday.
Near the end of his annual pre-super Bowl news conference, Goodell took questions from reporters based in England and Mexico about potential franchises in those countries.
Well, hey, what about Toronto? With its greater-metropolitanarea population of six million, Toronto is the largest market in the U.S. or Canada without an NFL franchise. And in stark contrast to London or Mexico City it has no logistical impediments inherent in operating an NFL franchise, other than players flashing a passport upon arrival from U.s.-based flights.
Indeed, Toronto is just a oneto two-hour flight from half of the NFL’S markets.
I asked Goodell why Toronto is off the NFL’S radar, at least publicly, when the subject of the league placing a franchise in a foreign market is raised.
“Well, it seems you already came to that conclusion when you said it’s off my radar, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” Goodell said. “I’m from western New York. I spent a lot of time in Canada as a young kid, and I have nothing but admiration for Toronto. I think it’s a great city that continues to evolve, continues to grow. It certainly could be a great city for an NFL team.
“The one thing I’ve said openly over the years — you may not be aware of it — but a stadium that is up to NFL standards is going to be a certain requirement.”
I’ve written for nearly a decade that Rogers Centre doesn’t meet minimum NFL requirements as a home stadium for a franchise.
Which leads to the conundrum L.A. experienced for two decades, before the Rams and Chargers relocated on the multibilliondollar promise of a new covered, downtown stadium — set to open this summer. The conundrum is the NFL won’t come unless there’s a new stadium plan, but no one’s going to build a stadium unless they know the NFL will send a team.
Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank spoke to Postmedia about the subject. Blank, the founder of Home Depot and also owner of Atlanta United of MLS, is one of the NFL’S most influential owners. “With a stadium, I’d certainly be very supportive of a team there,” Blank said of Toronto.
Would there be any other obstacles? “I don’t think so,” Blank said. “We play soccer up there. And the NBA is up there. I don’t think that’s an issue.”
Blank didn’t even rule out expansion as a means of placing a franchise in Toronto, when other owners have kept reiterating that the current 32 teams works perfectly, thus any new markets would be added via relocation.
That’s not what Blank said Wednesday. “I think it’s a question of just trying to understand expansion and the implications — having it balanced,” he said.
Asked to confirm that expansion would be a possibility, Blank said yes: “It could be, but I don’t think it has to be. I do think the city could definitely support a team.”
Prominent owners have told me over the years that Toronto remains on their radar, if only on the back burner. Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, Clark Hunt of the Kansas City Chiefs and John Mara of the New York Giants are among those who have spoken in glowing terms of the Toronto market.
“I think there are discussions all the time about where we’re playing, and what opportunities there are for international growth,” Blank said. “And certainly Canada is part of that discussion.”
Sources have told Postmedia for years that the likeliest way
Toronto would get an NFL team would be via relocation. Between the price tag for an expansion franchise, the devalued Canadian dollar and the likely Us$1.5-billion to $2.5-billion cost of a new stadium, you probably wouldn’t need all the fingers on one hand to name the richest Canadians inclined to free up that outlay of liquidity, and with hundreds of millions of dollars left over, just to own a new NFL team in Toronto.
That said, if a current NFL owner were to relocate to Toronto, by NFL ownership rules they could sell a minority stake to a Canadian billionaire who could help clear new stadium hurdles, etc.
Pipe dream? Maybe. The appetite among most Canadian politicians for spending public money on sports stadiums makes California politicians look like hot dog-eating contestants by comparison.
Perhaps, however, support could be mustered among the average Ontarian if the new stadium were built along the architectural lines of the new stadium for the Tottenham Hotspur soccer club in England, designed for soccer as well as American football.
And what’s coming to North America in 2026? The World Cup of men’s soccer. Soccer Canada leaders would die for a worthy national home in Toronto by then.
It takes as little as three to four years to design and build a stadium. Plenty of time to have it built by 2026.
Given that Toronto’s population is as multicultural as any in the Western world. Given that aerial shots of BMO Field aren’t going to wow anyone come World Cup time. And given that Toronto sometime this decade might get serious again about hosting a Summer Olympics in the 2030s, now might be the perfect time for political and business leaders to start having serious discussions about a marquee, multipurpose sports stadium.
What’s more, the premier of Ontario (Doug Ford) is a football coach. And the mayor of Toronto (John Tory) is a former pro-football league commissioner (CFL).
If not now, then when would be a better time to have these discussions?