[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto’s dream of landing NFL fading fast"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's Sean Fitz-gerald took a look at how the dreams of some for a NFL team for Toronto, or southern Ontario, have been fading.

Eight years ago, when the Buffalo Bills announced their extended plans for Canada, there seemed to be a real sense Toronto’s long-standing search for an NFL franchise was about to come to an end. Now, as NFL owners prepare to decide which of three teams (San Diego, St. Louis, Oakland) they will allow to relocate to Los Angeles, Toronto has never seemed quite so far away.

Here is a glimpse at how the landscape looked then compared to now:

Then

Potential Ownership

On Feb. 6, 2008, Ted Rogers, one of the richest people in Canada, was sitting on a stage in Toronto, talking about a ground-breaking venture many believed was the first step down the road to relocating the Buffalo Bills. His eponymous communications company had agreed to spend $78 million to lease eight games over the next five years.

Rogers was estimated to be worth $7.6-billion, making him the second-richest Canadian.

“I think it’s a dream come true for the city, for the province” he told the room. “I think it’s a dream come true for southern Ontario. It’s a great opportunity.”

Bills in Toronto Series

Boosters had no doubt the series would succeed in Toronto. Phil Lind, vice-chairman of Rogers Communications Inc., suggested the next step would be for the Bills play a split schedule — with half their home games in Buffalo, the other half at Rogers Centre.

Organizers prepared a lottery system for the expected waves of ticket demands.

“In Southern Ontario, this is NFL territory,” Lind said in May 2008. “The CFL’s great, wonderful, terrific, but this territory is NFL territory, at least if you’re 50 and under. If you’re older, fine, you can go for the Argos or Hamilton or whatever.”