It was reported yesterday that the Buffalo Bills want to play a pre-season game in Toronto next year and at least one regular season game there by 2009. There are some in the CFL that feel threatened by the idea, and rightfully so. When an Argonauts game is compared to a Bills game, the Canadian game looks more like American high school football teams playing than professional athletes.
Argos linebacker Mike O'Shea says Canadians are fans of the CFL game and not the NFL game. While that may be true in places like Regina, Winnipeg and Edmonton, where the CFL does extremely well, it is not the case here in T.O., where, as the Bills pointed out, many locals cross the border to watch Buffalo on Sundays rather than go to a half-empty Rogers Centre to watch the Argos.
Once this deal is approved, and there's no reason to think it won't, the Argos need to take a proactive approach with this. Work on a cross-promotion with the Bills to encourage those fans who focus on the NFL to embrace the Canadian game as well by implementing a deal on Argo tickets if fans buy Bills seats.
In the long run, if the Bills move to Toronto permanently, this type of relationship between the two franchises would go a long way to ensuring the Argos success against the NFL product. If a new stadium is needed for the Bills, move the Argos in with them, and market accordingly. If the price is the same, I guarantee the majority of Torontoians will watch the Bills instead of the Argos.
The Canadian game may be unique, but it is not in the same talent class as the NFL, and if this announcement is the first step in NFL expansion to Canada, the CFL, and especially the Argonauts, need to see it as an opportunity, not as a crisis.
First opportunity: how about a Bills v Argos pre-season game in August 2008 at the Rogers Centre, where the Bills are the "home" team? It would be a great chance to show Toronto a working relationship between these two teams. We always talk about how 2 hockey teams would work here, but what about 2 football teams from different leagues with different rules playing in the same stadium?
Besides, if the Jets and Giants can share a stadium and a city, why can't the Bills and Argonauts?
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