Timeline: Years of effort have failed to land Toronto an NFL team

For three decades Toronto has carried on a steady, if at times unrequited, flirtation with the NFL. Here are a few highlights in a long and rocky romance. 1988: Paul Godfrey steps down as publisher of the Toronto Sun to head a group dedicated to bringing an NFL team to town. A year later a Star report reveals that SkyDome board members had been making plans for NFL football since 1986, calculating the as-yet-unconstructed stadium could hold more than 59,000 specta- tors for NFL games. 1993-1997: Toronto cannot secure an NFL relocation (the St Louis Cardinals moved to Arizona in 1988) or an expansion team (Carolina and Jacksonville joined the league in 1995), but the SkyDome hosts four preseason games in the mid-1990s. The series concludes in 1997. 2001: The Toronto Phantoms of the Arena Football League arrive at the Air Canada Centre, with Godfrey’s son Rob serving as president. ThenArgos owner Sherwood Schwarz sees the Phantoms as an NFL precursor. “I think it’s ironic that Canadians are looking to bring in American football and replace Canadian football,” he says. The Phantoms fold after two seasons. 2008: Godfrey and Ted Rogers agree to pay the Bills $78-million to host nine home games over five seasons at the Rogers Centre. The series, seen as Toronto’s NFL, never quite captures local fans’ attention or cash. Attendance declines every year between 2009 and 2012. The two parties sign a five-year but, when attendance drops again in 2013, the Bills opt out. 2013: New Jersey-based rock star Jon Bon Jovi is inducted into the Air Canada Centre Hall of Fame — he is the only member — around the same time he expresses a desire to buy the Buffalo Bills. Speculation bubbles that Bon Jovi hopes to move the team to Toronto. Buffalo’s Pegula family settles the issue when they buy the club and promise to keep it in Buffalo.