Canada's Professional Franchise Chances

[fonz]

You got a pic of the Mounties logo?

[BrianVlietDesign]

HAHAHA, That Mounties logo is horrible man. It's the classic Patriots logo gone bad. Anyways, I'm not much of a basketball fan. But, I always liked the Vancouver Grizzlies. A few years ago when I had a lapse from the NBA for a few years, I found out the Grizzlies went to Memphis. And that was a humongous shock to me, I couldn't believe that they actually gave Memphis, TN a franchise. In my opinion, basketball is a sport that is only gonna work in certain cities. And Memphis IMO is not one of them.

[youcan'tseeme]

If it counts MLS is adding Toronto FC as we all no and rumors are if they do good, Montreal and Vancouvr could be next! I hope that, but doubt it that Winnipeg, Hamilton, Halifax, Quebec City and Saskatoon/Regina get teams

[Luigi74]

The main reason the NFL will never expand into Canada is due to the nature of it's tv contracts NBC, FOX and CBS are not going to want to pay or go up to Canada to broadcast a game for a team they get no ratings numbers from, how many times are the Raptors on ABC or the Blue Jays on FOX.

[CC97]

how many times are the Raptors on ABC or the Blue Jays on FOX.

the Jays are on ESPN maybe 3-4 times a year

[DG_ThenNowForever]

how many times are the Raptors on ABC or the Blue Jays on FOX.

That's not very fair. How many times were the Dallas Mavericks or Cleveland Cavaliers on network TV before they got good and LeBron, respectively? Never. If the Raptors win 60 games and then the NBA title this year, they'll be on ABC for the 2007-08 seasons. That's just how it works.

Baseball is different, of course, because Fox is terrible at everything it does.

[jkrdevil]

The main reason the NFL will never expand into Canada is due to the nature of it's tv contracts NBC, FOX and CBS are not going to want to pay or go up to Canada to broadcast a game for a team they get no ratings numbers from, how many times are the Raptors on ABC or the Blue Jays on FOX.

But a team in Toronto allows them to expand the NFL tv package and get a higher dollar figure from a canadian network for NFL rights which makes the league more money. And with the the NFL has setup the league and placed itself in US culture it's doubtful it would greatly effect US TV ratings. Sure the Toronto team will probably never be as the national double header game, the Sunday night game or maybe the Monday Night Game but it won't drag down NFL ratings enough to scare the NFL from going there.

[Original6]

The main reason the NFL will never expand into Canada is due to the nature of it's tv contracts NBC, FOX and CBS are not going to want to pay or go up to Canada to broadcast a game for a team they get no ratings numbers from, how many times are the Raptors on ABC or the Blue Jays on FOX.

Tonight's blue jays game is going to be on ESPN.

The NFL wouldn't want the canadian market? I disagree... They have tapped all of the meaningful markets in the US. Adding portland or something will give em a huge difference in ratings? I think not.

By the way, the New York Knicks aren't even on National TV this year. That is the biggest media market.

The only thing I see blocking the NFL is the CFL.

[FrankCostanza]

how many times are the Raptors on ABC or the Blue Jays on FOX.

The Raptors were on NBC plenty of times about 5 years ago.

[Cyclopsis Joe]

Actually, unless I broke my memory, the NFL has stated, explicitly, that they wouldn't move in on CFL territory.

Your memory may well be off. While the NFL has never said that they'd place a team in Canada, I don't believe that the league has ever explicitly ruled such a move out, either.

That wouldn't be the first time I was wrong (nor the last).

[Lumbergh]

Baseball in Montreal isn't a "must do" at this point in time. The ticket sales and media sales that came out of Montreal slowly fell during the time they left. That may be a blame on the club's poor records over the years though. I think if a group really dedicated themselves to a. Building a player/fan friendly ballpark that was new enough to spark interest b. bringing better players to play c. setting up a wider fanbase through the club, then it could have a slight shot. But after the fiasco in Montreal with horrible attendance, I don't see a visible claim that Bud Selig would want to go back. And I do think winning is what the fans want, but patience wasn't really there. Sure, there are/were many die-hard Expo fans, but the truth is the team wasn't generating enough revenue to meet the MLB's standards. It's a shame too, Montreal is a beautiful city, if they maybe would have gotten an outdoor stadium near downtown like many clubs today, they could still be here, and if the strike of '94 had not happened they would have been a sure contender for the title(best record in league), then we might still have a team in Montreal.