Over the next five years, the NFL's Buffalo Bills will be playing eight games at Rogers Centre in Toronto. Given that Buffalo increasingly stands out as a small, impoverished market amid the NFL's juggernauts, many observers see this foray as a prelude to a full-fledged relocation of the franchise to Canada's largest and wealthiest city.
If this happens, the fallout could be severe. Optimists declare confidently that an NFL franchise could coexist in the same market with the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL. Others aren't so sure. Toronto is nowhere near as big as New York, the only North American urban area that doubles up on all the major team sports.
How far should Canada go to protect the CFL? All the way, says Senator Larry Campbell. Under the terms of his Bill S-238, "no person owning or operating a football team within a foreign league shall require or permit that team to play football in Canada."
If this football nationalist gets his way, playing regular sea-son NFL games in Toronto would be, quite literally, illegal.
We're not prepared to go that far: Given that our economy is strongly dependent on trade with our southern neighbour, Canada shouldn't be picking protectionist fights -- especially given the current mood in America's Congress. Moreover, such a law might seem downright hypocritical in the shadow of a campaign to migrate one or more ailing U. S.-site NHL franchises into the Canadian market.
A far better approach, we believe, is to begin with a rallying cry for Canadian fans and corporations to support our own brand of football. Buoyed by a surge in attendance and corporate sponsorships, the CFL should be well-positioned to face any threat from its larger, richer, four-down, small-field southern cousin.
CFL football is a more entertaining product than the NFL variety -- and many Canadians are rightly proud of it. In the West, the league is as much a part of the region's culture as the fall harvest. In Quebec, the Alouettes create a needed bridge to Anglo sports culture. The Grey Cup, and the parades and parties surrounding it, stand as one of the great rituals on our annual calendar. Then there is the civic involvement of CFL players in their local communities. The list of intangibles goes on and on.
It would also help the league if broadcasters were able to use the sport to satisfy their Canadian content broadcast quotas. Although we have our problems with CanCon rules, as long as they are in place, let's at least use them to protect something of real value to proud Canucks.
As well, governments should look at identifying at least some of the public funding currently available to help build cultural institutions in our cities and direct it toward much-needed stadium upgrades. Programs that helped pay for projects such as the Royal Ontario Museum, the Ontario Art Gallery and the Canadian Opera Company's new opera house are justified on the basis that they help promote Canadian culture. But what is more culturally Canadian than, say, painting your face and going to a B.C. Lions game?
In an ideal world, no football team would need public money to rebuild and maintain a first-class stadium. But given all the public billions that have been poured into NFL teams, our own CFL teams would be put at a massive disadvantage in any direct competition were they not to enjoy at least some support.
Of course, much of this speculation may be moot. The Bills' owner, Ralph Wilson, is 89 years old, and has indicated the team will be put up for sale after his death. There is no guarantee that a Toronto contingent would be the highest bidder in an open auction.
But whether or not the threat to the Canadian game is genuine, this is a good time for citizens, corporations and governments to think about how they can protect this extraordinary cultural institution. If we take the CFL for granted, Canada might end up without a league of its own.
