Easy there, Ray, I mean the fans that actually live in and near Buffalo that have been packing their games for generations. Not some drunk strumpet in a bar.
Congrats, it'd be a shame if the Bills moved to Toronto. Orchard Park is still a destination for me to get to. When I was a kid I used to love when the Jets played up there, especially when it started to get cold.
As much as I love the Canada jokes, Bills fans are the Crazy Uncle Larry of the division. I don't think I'd want to trade Crazy Uncle Larry for some fuckhead biscuit-eating canucks.
we hate our rivals but I'd also hate to see the Pats move from the NE area(they almost moved to SL), Miami move or Buffalo move.
That's all well and good but your "Yonkers" location is a good 400 miles and an 8-hour drive from Buffalo so I don't know where you're coming from with the 'NYS' angle there Guv'nor Cuomo ; ) Jets 1:00 p.m. home game: From Yonkers: Saw Mill to the Henry Hudson to the GW and you're there in well under an hour. From Buffalo: Get on the road by 4:00 a.m. and PRAY for no traffic. "New York" advantage: Jets. That said, good for Bisonville: better the Buffalo Bills than the Bon Guido Bills.
They damn near did back in 1994. Kraft was an immediate hero for not doing it when he bought the team. Glad to hear the Bills are staying put.
I think it's nice that the Bills are staying in Buffalo, even though the move doesn't make much economic sense and even though it'd be interesting to see the league expand internationally. From an emotional/traditional standpoint, I'm happy for the upstate NY region that they're keeping their team, and they are a very loyal fan base. I doubt that Canada really wanted an NFL team anyway. And as a practical matter, Toronto is still just 90 mins away from Buffalo, so they can still root for the Bills where they are now.
I went to college upstate, and have some relatives up there, so while I don't like a division rival, I am happy they are not moving. I generally tend not to like team moves. If I were a Bills fan, I would celebrate, too. Good for them.
As someone from just outside of Toronto I can tell you that the area is pretty mixed, it's not all Bills fans. Personally at my work I sit near two Colts fans, a Steelers fan, one other Jets fan, I know a Dolphins fan nearby as well, no Bills fans that I know of but maybe they are just keeping that shit secret. Friends include a Browns fan, Pats fan, Raider fan, Eagles fan, I think one guy is a Falcons fan from the Mike Vick days but he may have migrated when he left and three Packers fans. I know of a group of about 20 people who are football fans of various teams that consider the Bills their "second team" and go to a Bills game once a year but don't really follow them outside of that, some of them are the wives and girlfriends of the guys and just go because it's a big party and couldn't name two players on the team. It's just the closest team to them so they like to go for the football experience and the tailgate parties and they go shopping and make a whole weekend out of it. I'd say I know maybe 4 people who are Bills fans first and they are all family: a father, two sons and an uncle. Keep in mind it's Canada and a lot of people couldn't give a rats ass about the NFL. I'm trying to convert people though! Edit: forgot that my dad isn't really a huge fan but his favourite team is the 49ers
Yeah- that's the thing... If you talk about the Jets in Canada, people are gonna think you mean the Winnipeg Jets of the NHL. If you asked any of those "Packers fans" if they'd rather see the Leafs win the Stanley Cup, or the Packers hoist up the VLT, they'd spit their Tim Horton's coffee out and burst out laughing for a full five minutes. When they realized you were serious, they'd wipe the tears of laughter from their eyes, politely apologize and say "The Leafs, eh?" As much as Canadians like America they have no desire to become too Americanized. Hockey is one of those cultural things that helps differentiate them from Americans, and football is just about the most American thing possible. That's why I don't really see the NFL ever catching on in Canada. It'd make more sense to move the Raiders back to LA, and re-establish a Euro league as an official minor league for the NFL. The guys who don't make practice squads and other promising undrafted free agents can go play there, and you set up teams in London, Dublin, Cardiff, and Edinburgh to boost euro interest in football. Then possibly do a London NFL team 5 - 10 years later. Scotland, Wales, and Ireland also have big enough populations to support NFL teams, but London is huge enough that you could support a team there more easily.
I enjoyed reading your post but I gotta disagree. Those canucks would go crazy for an NFL team if they had one. The reason they are so disjointed in rooting for teams now is because they don't have one of their own. You put a team in Toronto and they would be beloved in that city. Obviously they wouldn't reach the levels of the Leafs, but they'd definitely have stronger fan support than many NFL teams do now. The poster you are responding to with all the friends would in an instant drop their weak allegiances to NFL teams across the board and hop on the home team's bandwagon.. ....suffice to say there would be a run on officially licensed NFL toques
I agree with a lot if what you said but I don't think it is a case where more than one sport can't be supported. Obviously in Toronto the Leafs are the main event but we also have NBA, MLB, CFL and MLS teams as well. Not sure how the MLS franchise is doing and the rest definitely aren't at the top of any revenue lists but they seem relatively stable. A lot of Canadians also go to Sabres and Bills games and help prop up those markets as a result (the entire city if you ask me). Would an NFL team work in Toronto? I can't say for sure but it would have a pretty decent shot. Personally I don't care, I am a Jets fan and will be for life and NJ isn't so far I can never see a home game and I can (and have) see them play in Buffalo at least once a year.
