SPORTS> North America
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SPORTS> North America
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Great White North gives cold shoulder
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-10 09:44 TORONTO: It was a rough weekend for Buffalo Bills fans.
Former great player O.J. Simpson was sent to jail after being convicted on kidnapping and robbery charges and on Sunday the Bills crossed the border for Toronto to play the first NFL regular season game in Canada. But if the Bills' tepid 16-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins was the first step in the franchise's relocation it was an unsteady one as the NFL failed to receive the warm embrace it expected from the Great White North. Hyped and promoted for nearly a year and played in the climate-controlled comfort of the Rogers Center, the landmark game failed to generate the type of unbridled enthusiasm expected by city eager to have an NFL team to call its own. Maybe it was high ticket prices in tough economic times which turned off the casual fan or freezing Canadian weather better suited to ice hockey, but the hybrid Canadian-American NFL experience left players and fans cold. While the contest was listed as a Bills home game, few fans from western New York made the two-hour trip to support their team, which will play eight games (five regular season and three exhibition) in Toronto over five years. Struggling for survival in one of NFL's smallest markets, the Bills will pocket $78 million from the deal, almost double what they would take in from the same number of games at their home ground in Orchard Park, New York. Bills owner Ralph Wilson insists it is just the type of financial lifeline the team needs if it hopes to remain in Buffalo. Ground work A Buffalo Bills' fan appears in light spirits as his team face the Miami Dolphins for the first regular season NFL game in Canada at the Rogers Center in Toronto on Sunday. Reuters But fans continue to fret that their beloved Bills are simply laying the ground work to do what so many other hard-hit businesses have done - leave town. "I played for the Bills for 11 years, I live there, I know how the fans feel, I know what it's like when the Bills lose on Sunday," said former Bills quarterback Jim Kelly. "I'm going to do whatever I can for the future to make sure the Buffalo Bills stay in western New York. "Nothing against the people in Toronto, I definitely think they could support a franchise, but just don't make it the Buffalo Bills." But as Buffalo watches its population decline and unemployment rise, just 100 miles away lies Toronto, North America's fifth-largest sports market and Canada's financial hub. While cosmopolitan Toronto has long coveted an NFL franchise to stand alongside its NHL, NBA and MLB teams, the city's once unbridled infatuation with American gridiron has cooled. The crowd of 52,134 for Sunday's game was declared a sell-out by promoters but there were swathes of empty seats and tickets could be bought on game day. Certainly the ticket frenzy envisaged when the Bills Series was announced never materialized, a bitter disappointment compared to the quick sell-out for a game at London's Wembley stadium this season. Record crowd Promoters had to work hard to get even half the record crowd of 103,467 that watched the Arizona Cardinals play the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City. The NFL has also come knocking at its northern neighbour's door at a time when the Canadian Football League (CFL) is enjoying a renaissance. The Bills and Dolphins did little to convince Canadian fans that their own brand of football is no less entertaining than the bland imported product on display on Sunday. Canada's home-grown game, played on a bigger field with 12 players instead of 11, is experiencing growing popularity and shows no signs of requiring the government's help it needed decades ago to repel the southern invaders. But perhaps the biggest roadblock to an NFL team in Toronto remains a financial one. Any NFL franchise comes with a near $1 billion price tag and with the Canadian dollar again on the decline and a stadium too small to support a team, Bills fans can for the moment content themselves with leasing out one game a year to their well-heeled northern neighbors. Agencies |
