One of favourites: the Fords playing football
We’ve been following Doug Ford’s crusade to bring a professional football team to Toronto (sorry, Argos, you didn’t make the cut) because, well, we can’t turn our eyes away. The story has just the right mix of chutzpah and lunacy to grab and hold our attention. The latest news comes from an interview Ford did with The Score’s Brad Gagnon, in which the councillor both insists the National Football League “can’t keep ignoring a market this size” (um, we’re pretty sure it can and pretty much does) and hints that the brass at Rogers has a rather intriguing idea for how to accommodate the extra seating the Rogers Centre would need to, gulp, host the Super Bowl.
That’s right, the Super Bowl. According to Ford, Rogers is considering digging out the floor and dropping it down a couple levels to add another 15,000 seats around the base. We don’t know if that’s actually possible or just another part of Ford’s elaborate football fantasy. But if it is feasible, bringing an NFL team to Toronto sounds a lot more promising all of a sudden (we weren’t exactly supportive of Ford’s outrageous scheme to build a waterfront stadium connected to the downtown core via monorail).
It’s probably safe to assume the renovations Ford described would be cheaper than building a brand new stadium. Plus, the Rogers Centre is already extraordinarily well-served by road, subway and GO Transit—and it’s about to get even more connected with the creation of the air-rail link from Pearson to Union in anticipation of the Pan Am Games in 2015.
Our objections to building a new NFL stadium in Toronto have always been on economic grounds—namely, that such stadiums suck for cities. We assumed (regardless of the promises the Fords made) it would be impossible to build a new facility without it costing taxpayers an arm and a leg. But putting an NFL franchise in the Rogers Centre actually seems like a good idea—except, of course, for people currently employed by the Toronto Argonauts. For them, we suspect a new football team is about as welcome as the plague.
• Toronto Councillor on NFL: “They can’t keep ignoring a market this size” [The Score]
Best of luck on this quixotic quest – but referencing the Saints only shows Mr. Ford’s ignorance on the economic issues in the New Orleans market. The Saints are financially tied to southern Louisiana through at least 2025. Jacksonville? Vastly more likely.
May 5, 2011 at 12:56 pm | by Cait in New OrleansThis is, perhaps, the worst article I have ever read in my life. Please don’t quit your day job! Seriously NFL in toronto…hahahahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah (rolling on the floor) hahahahahahhahahahah.
Toronto is CFL territory. We will never allow the NFL in Canada, except for exhibition. Deal with it.
May 5, 2011 at 1:48 pm | by JerzyI want an nfl team
May 5, 2011 at 4:31 pm | by RyanI want an NFL team in Toronto.
Leafs/Marlies = NFL/CFL.
I have no problem with the CFL. But Toronto, as a top 10 market, by population, media consumption, and corporate media and executive offices, should be an NFL city.
NFL should have been here a long time ago.
May 5, 2011 at 9:00 pm | by StoneAlso, Jerzy, your exceptionally well founded and supported rationale, and excessive use of h’s and a’s articulated your point convincingly.
Well played, sir.
The seventeenth “ha” almost convinced me you had a point, and for me to change my views.
May 5, 2011 at 9:07 pm | by StoneAn NFL team wouldn’t work here. And besides if a city is deserving of an NFL franchise, it’s LA and the NFL seems to be ignoring them even more than Toronto.
May 5, 2011 at 10:29 pm | by hopKeep up the great work Mr. Ford. I am sure Roger Goodell is impressed.
Typical politician, does not understand telling lies will bite you in the arse.
May 6, 2011 at 9:56 am | by Betty Westsorry let me continue.. hahahahahahahahahhahaha.
Toronto is such a “world class” city, which is one of the reasons why they have to keep telling everybody that they are.
First off, I like the NFL too, but we have a league that is over 100 years old, a game that is routed in our foundation, and i really doubt that the NFL would be a willing partner in crushing the only other stable football league in the world.
May 6, 2011 at 11:02 am | by JerzyYES, WE WILL HAVE nfl football played by american teams in canada. But we will never ever see a Toronto NFL team. American don’t want it. and most Canadians do not either.
Never ever going to happen, its a pipe dream
May 6, 2011 at 1:41 pm | by geargoWell, the Ford bros. are at it again. We have the CFL Doug; it is linked to our city. I hope the NFL doesn’t happen in Toronto. Down, boy.
May 6, 2011 at 4:10 pm | by Christina Archer