buffalobillsfootball Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Is it time for Schumer, Clinton, Spitzer, Giambra to address this with Ralph? It's amazing all these emails; and no one divulges the long & trusted source. Really lacks any credibility. PoliticsNY.Net "PoliticsNY.Net: This is something I just received from a long & trusted source: Joe, seems to have legs... --a friend in Toronto says that there is some major financial activity related to a sports team venture, and they certainly aren't bringing in another baseball,hockey, or basketball team!! --there is also some talk of a shell company quietly buying downtown property here for a Dome. It is headed by a prominent minority businessman/community leader." ###" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 This is fun... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeBillsDrive Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Is it time for Schumer, Clinton, Spitzer, Giambra to address this with Ralph? It's amazing all these emails; and no one divulges the long & trusted source. Really lacks any credibility. PoliticsNY.Net "PoliticsNY.Net: This is something I just received from a long & trusted source: Joe, seems to have legs... --a friend in Toronto says that there is some major financial activity related to a sports team venture, and they certainly aren't bringing in another baseball,hockey, or basketball team!! --there is also some talk of a shell company quietly buying downtown property here for a Dome. It is headed by a prominent minority businessman/community leader." ###" The Bills will not be moving to Toronto. The NFL has been clear that the priority of the NFL is to put a team in Los Angeles. That doesn't rule out the possibility of Toronto one day getting a team. My interpretation is that Toronto will never have an NFL team before Los Angeles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In space no one can hear Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 When did this come out? Thanks for the link! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeBillsDrive Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 When did this come out?Thanks for the link! Your welcome Sports No plans for Toronto franchise, NFL says: Godfrey still has hope: Football league continues to focus on L.A. expansion Aaron Wherry, with files from Emily Mathieu and Sean Fitz-Gerald National Post 557 words 7 September 2006 National Post National B9 English If there is an NFL dream to be championed in Toronto, it would seem destined to remain just that -- a dream. A day after Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, publicly floated the idea of partnering with Ted Rogers, CEO of Rogers Communications Inc., to bring an NFL team to Toronto, there was plenty of reason to doubt such a possibility. Tanenbaum mentioned the NFL during a news conference Tuesday to announce a marketing partnership between MLSE (owners of hockey's Maple Leafs) and Rogers (owners of baseball's Blue Jays). The idea is one that has been debated for years, but with little discernible progress. "We have no current plans for expansion," Peter Abitante, an NFL spokesman, said yesterday. Abitante also said that, to his knowledge, the 32-team league has had no discussions with anyone about expanding to Toronto or relocating a team there. The league's priority remains re-establishing a franchise in Los Angeles. Speaking to reporters at the Super Bowl in Detroit, former commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who was replaced by Roger Goodell last month, said he did not expect a second franchise to join the league with Los Angeles. A Toronto team would then likely have to be relocated from a current NFL market, and franchises such as Buffalo and New Orleans have been cited as possibilities. But even if an owner was willing to sell and the NFL willing to allow such a move, other obstacles remain. The Rogers Centre has a football capacity of 53,506 -- a figure that would make it among the smallest in the NFL. As well, when Houston became the NFL's 32nd city in 2002, the team paid a US$700-million franchise fee, meaning prospective owners would now likely have to pay nearly US$1-billion for the right to compete. Though Tanenbaum sits on the MLSE board, an NFL bid would receive no direct support from the company which, because of NFL ownership restrictions, can not purchase a team. Furthermore, Toronto mayor David Miller said yesterday the city would have no involvement in funding a new NFL-ready stadium or renovations to the Rogers Centre. "My understanding is the NFL doesn't seem overly interested in expanding into Canada," he told reporters. "My concern is the viability of the CFL. It's our Canadian league and the Toronto Argonauts have to be a flagship franchise in that league for the league to succeed." The CFL declined comment. Speaking to a Toronto radio station, Paul Godfrey, president of the Toronto Blue Jays and a member of the board with CanWest Global Communications, reiterated the NFL has never said it intends to expand to Toronto. But Godfrey has long championed Toronto as a future NFL city and still sees hope. "It seems to be that some people at least are discussing the possibility that the NFL would like to improve some of the cities that they're in now by taking out some of the weaker ones and putting in stronger ones," he told AM680. "That would auger well for Toronto in that case." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCinBuffalo Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Your welcome "It seems to be that some people at least are discussing the possibility that the NFL would like to improve some of the cities that they're in now by taking out some of the weaker ones and putting in stronger ones," he told AM680. "That would auger well for Toronto in that case." OMG: "some people" could be anybody - the parking lot attendant at the Air Canada Centre, this guy's wife, the dude at Tim Horton's where this guy gets his donuts, etc. This reminds me of what 8th grade girls do to each other->"some people say the Cassy is a slut". The fact is that it's been denied by the NFL over and over again. Now, with due respect to the "Coach Saban" fiasco, I do not see the NFL making flat denial after flat denial and then actually moving the Bills to Toronto. Why? Because the NFL is not one, ego-manical, pansy-ass guy who can't stand not having everyone kiss his ass every second. Moreover, the NFL can't run away from it's commitments to a cushy job in college. The NFL has to do it's business in the public eye and would suffer a huge credibility hit(which will have a direct effect on its ability to negotiate with everyone), not to mention the wrath of the politicians mentioned above who have already staked themselves to this issue. If the team gets moved while Schumer is in office, he loses HUGE and Not because of this issue itself. Rather, the perception will be that old Chucky-boy doesn't have the power he claimed to have - as a member of the Judiciary committee(for this it's the anit-trust angle). This would quickly morph into "Chuck says he can do a lot more than he can actually do" = Chuck is a little punk. As far as this Godfrey guy goes, this argument is classic in the sense that he is guilty of a fundamental mistake in logic: If what he is saying is true - that the NFL wants to replace small cities with big ones - how does that directly "auger well" for Toronto? It can't because a city called Las Vegas exists, so does Orlando, so does Birmingham, so does Sacramento(and others you can think of), and let's not forget the elephant in the room - LA(btw, this is the last time I use that cliche ever). Each of these cities has at least the same if not better reasons to locate a franchise. Toronto is a big city, the NFL wants big cities, therefore Toronto is the next place a franchise will be located? BS wishful thinking is all this amounts to - and clever manipulation of the media. He is using them to let the NFL know that he is serious about owning a franchise - that's all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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