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Could We See a Canadian NFL Team?

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The Rogers Centre in Toronto has hosted numerous Buffalo Bills’ NFL games. (File photo)

When it comes to sports, Canada boasts one of the most diverse sets of athletics that represent a variety of leagues and competitions, which has left many US sporting bodies to ponder the idea of whether further integrate Canadian franchises into predominantly US sports leagues.

Canada is no stranger to expansion from US leagues as numerous cities and developing sports markets have welcomed various teams representing any of the most popular competitions.

Most of these expansions have resulted in great success and further fanfare for any of the teams chosen to represent the northern sector of the continent, which has since opened up future possibilities for more Canadian teams to emerge as likely candidates for expansion franchises.

One sports league that has continued to garner widespread intrigue from Canadian sports fans, as well as being the only competition that is yet to welcome a Canadian team to their standings, is the NFL, with fans now being able to wager on all of the playoff matchups by checking out all the latest NFL odds on DraftKings.

While Canada does bolster its popular iteration of American football, with that being the CFL, there is no denying that the addition of an NFL franchise in Canada would be a significant acquisition for the Canadian sporting industry and has since been amongst the main topics of conversation should the NFL expand in the coming years.

  • Why would Canada be a preferred destination for an NFL expansion team?

The NFL has hardly expanded in the years following the Houston Texans’ arrival back in 2002. Yet, several newer teams were added to the league during the late 1980s and early ’90s and have provided their respective cities with a mainstay organization to attract fan interest, generate revenue, and introduce marquee sports figures that have kept the NFL as the nation’s most coveted league.

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BC Place in Vancouver is home to the CFL’s Lions. (File photo)

While many teams have changed cities in the years following, there remains an odd omission from the destinations present in the NFL today: It remains the only one of the four major North American sports leagues that are yet to include a franchise from Canada.

NFL football has previously been played on Canadian soil, most recently when the Buffalo Bills introduced the Bills Toronto Series, where the NFL’s nearest geographical team to the Canadian border would play numerous games at Toronto’s Rogers Centre as an attempt to increase the international interest in NFL games in the ever-developing Canadian market.

Since then, American football interest has peaked at an absurd level of interest in Canada as around 20 million Canadians now tune in to watch the Superbowl. This has led many league officials and representatives to state their interest in bringing NFL football to the great nation of Canada.

Some cities already have plenty of fan investment and state-of-the-art facilities that could house or be the building blocks for a potential NFL expansion team, as well as the noticeable increased rate of active Canadian players that are now playing in the NFL every weekend.

  • What Canadian cities could host an NFL team?

Given that an even number of teams occupy the NFL, there could very well be the possibility of more than one establishment of an expansion franchise across the border, which now begs the question as to which Canadian cities could be a premier destination for future expansion.

The most obvious answer for which Canadian city will likely be awarded an NFL team is Toronto, as it is the marquee hotspot for all sports in Canada.

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Toronto has the infrastructure needed to be home to an NFL team. (File photo)

Toronto has quickly gained a magnificent reputation for its involvement in sports thanks in large part to its large population and previous years of success, which includes the Toronto Raptors in the NBA and the Toronto Blue Jays in the MLB, both of which have some of the best fans in sports and have enjoyed previous championship seasons.

Suppose there is one Canadian city that could be guaranteed to be awarded an NFL franchise. In that case, Toronto is a sure-fire lock due to its prior success with sports expansion. The city also has the Rogers Centre, which has a retractable roof and is suited for American football during harsher climates.

Two other cities that will remain in the running are Montreal and Vancouver, as they also remain significant sports markets in Canada and could help to introduce a potential rivalry between any other Canadian club to increase further the competitiveness and overall entertainment factor that NFL football so often provides with rivalry games.

Vancouver previously welcomed the NBA’s Grizzlies in the mid-’90s. At the same time, Montreal was the previous home of the Expos (now Washington Nationals in the MLB) from 1969 until 2004, with both cities now craving more major sports teams thanks to their unwavering fan support and improvement in infrastructure that can make for a marketable destination for any upstart NFL team.