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NFL could hold international games in Toronto and/or Vancouver, but not just yet

NFL could hold international games in Toronto and/or Vancouver, but not just yet

The expanded commitment to international games the NFL announced this week has sparked plenty of discussion about where they'll look to play. NFL clubs voted Wednesday to extend the ability to play international regular-season games through 2025 (the previous resolution, passed in 2011, was set to expire after 2016) and to expand the idea of the International Series beyond just England. There are plenty of candidates for further international games, and Canada's one of them. As John Kryk of The Toronto Sun writes, the idea of bringing NFL games back to Toronto and/or bringing them to Vancouver is being seriously considered in league circles, even if it's not at the top of the NFL's list:

Mark Waller, the NFL’s executive vice-president of international, told the Sun on Tuesday morning that Toronto and maybe Vancouver would be Canadian host-city candidates.

...“The great news now is we have the ability to go and look at all geographies. So that’s exciting,” Waller said. “I think we’ve been very clear that our priority after getting the U.K. up and running was very much around Mexico, and potentially Germany. So that’s where our focus is.

“Mexico, we’re hugely excited about. Always have been, since 2005. So we’re doing a lot of work at the moment down there, and looking at that market. So that’s probably top of our list.”

...Waller confirmed what Clark Hunt -- owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, and chair of the league’s international committee -- told the Sun after Monday’s committee meetings: that Canada is among the countries the NFL is considering staging games in.

Given Waller’s comments, though, Canada probably wouldn’t get a chance to host a regular-season game until late this decade at the earliest. More likely in the 2020s.

What cities in Canada?

“Obviously, Toronto -- a major opportunity there,” Waller said. “Vancouver, potentially. So yeah, definitely. But again, as I’ve said, our focus at the moment is very much Mexico and Germany.”

So, there are no imminent plans for further NFL games in Canada, but it's interesting to see that the league still wants to come north despite the disaster of the Bills in Toronto series. Part of that is the numbers; Toronto's the eighth-largest metropolitan area in North America by population (Mexico City is #1, and the other six are five U.S. cities with at least one NFL team and Los Angeles, which seems set to get one or two NFL teams soon). That's a big market, and while the NFL's already tapping it to some degree with the strong numbers who regularly drive down to watch the Bills and the countless other NFL fans who follow more-distant teams, they'd undoubtedly like to exploit it even further. Vancouver isn't as advantageous from a sheer-size standpoint (it's 35th in metropolitan area population and third in Canada, behind Toronto and Montreal), but it already does have strong NFL ties, especially to the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks have looked to expand their presence in Canada for some time, too, so they might be enthusiastic about a potential game there. However, as the Bills' Toronto series shows, games in Canada will have to be done carefully if they're going to be a positive instead of a negative for the NFL.

Putting a NFL game in Canada carries a ton of specific complications, and those will have to be addressed. Of course, every country carries its challenges as a NFL host, but the unique circumstances in Canada are the other opportunities fans there have to consume the NFL and the existence of and passion around the CFL. NFL games in England, Germany, Mexico, Brazil or other places represent the easiest option by far for fans there to watch the NFL live, but that's not the case in Canada; countless Canadian fans regularly travel to Buffalo and Seattle for games, and some go to Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota and other cities. One of the chief failings of the Bills in Toronto series was that it offered what was largely an inferior experience to a game in Buffalo (especially considering tailgating restrictions), and tried to charge much more for the privilege. If the NFL's going to put games in Toronto or Vancouver, it's going to have to offer a compelling reason why Canadian fans should choose to support those games instead of just driving to Buffalo or Seattle.

Beyond that, there's also the CFL, and it throws in some further challenges. In particular, the way the Bills in Toronto series was handled felt like a direct threat and affront to the CFL's Argonauts, especially considering that the series was widely seen as a precursor to the team moving to Toronto full-time. That didn't happen (but the idea of a full-time Toronto team isn't off the table completely), but the approach still created problems and substantial backlash, including CD burnings (literally) and various legislative efforts to block the NFL (which didn't get too far). It's possible to do these games without drawing that kind of fire, especially if they're done with at least some consideration for (and perhaps even collaboration with) the CFL, and especially if they're clearly a limited series rather than an attempt to move a team to Canada full-time.

Of course, none of this may ever come to pass. While Canada does have appealing factors for the NFL, the league already is drawing plenty of money from Canadians. When you throw in those particular challenges in putting games in Canada, it may make sense for the NFL to continue its current approach of reaching out to Canadians with various team-specific and league-wide marketing efforts rather than putting games there. There also may be more upside and less risk in other international destinations, so it's possible that we won't see another NFL game in Canada. At the very least, it seems unlikely we'll see one any time soon. Still, if the NFL does opt to come back to Canada for some games, it's possible they could do it in a careful and considered way that attracts fans and doesn't offend CFL loyalists, and that might not be a terrible thing. This is all very hypothetical at the moment, but we do know that Canada is again under consideration by the NFL. Where that goes from here is up in the air, but it's something worth keeping an eye on.