The Bills are staying in Buffalo

I expect if Los Angeles ever got an NFL team with good ownership (unlike the Rams and Raiders), if would be quite popular and do quite well. The other well-managed pro teams in that market do well, and the horribly-managed Clippers even became popular once they finally started winning.

 

It doesn't matter what they are "worth". It maters what one billionaire wants to pay for a hobby. My guess is someone would pay at least 1.4 for the Raiders given the opportunity to move them.

 

I don't disagree. But look at all the possible candidates. Their owners suck.

What I do know now is that there is zero groundswell. There are probably a few gangbangers in LA prisons pining for the return of the Raiders, but they aren't very vocal on the outside.

 

L.A. is going to have a nice 70,000-seat stadium that will appeal to the 1 percent and corporations. There's just too much money not to.

But fans are never going to see the inside of that stadium and will hate the team being there.

 

You can watch the fast=paced CFL in your own city, but you travel to watch the slow guys?

 

Toronto hasn't been a CFL city in 30+ years.

 

Who won the 2012 Grey Cup?

 

How long's it been since Toronto was an NHL city?

 

The same team that hasn't drawn flies since. Toronto is an event city and the 100th Grey Cup was just that. Football fans in the city - with the exception of the diehards who drag themselves to the dome (a terrible venue for football) for Argo home games - went back to ignoring the team and the CFL the next day.

 

Huggy, why is that? I know the Dome sucks for football, but that can't be the only reason.

 

Just a sterile place, no atmosphere and the lousy crowds are part of that. Seems like the roof is closed most of the time as if football - unlike baseball - is a game that can't be played in the elements.

The explosion of the NFL in the 80s helped do in the Argos as well. The Bills aggressively marketed in southern Ontario (there is also a large Lions following in southwestern Ontario) and were soon selling thousands of tickets a week to Ontarians who flocked to see the stars they watched on TV every week. The tailgating and raucous atmosphere didn't hurt either.

I grew up on the CFL and my old man was an Argos season ticketholder for years. I trailed along with him to sold-out games at the CNE, carried in his extra mickey, kept my head down during bottle fights between Argo fans and philistines from Hamilton and Ottawa, sat outside the Quarterback Club while he got his pregame drink on, froze my ass off at late-season games and loved every minute of it. Moving to the dome killed that.

If the Argos can ever find a smaller, outdoor facility - like the Alouettes have found at McGill University - their fortunes might turn around here.

 

When the roof is closed, the Dome sucks for baseball too.