Exactly. While Rogers Centre has a smaller capacity than every current NFL stadium, it’s not a huge gap. As this list on Wikipedia shows, the smallest NFL stadium is Soldier Field (61,500), and most stadiums have a capacity in the 60s; only seven stadiums hold more than 75,000 people, and the biggest is MetLife Stadium (home of the Giants and Jets), at 82,500.
There are some college stadiums that are substantially bigger, like Michigan Stadium (University of Michigan, 107,601 capacity).
My mistake. For some reason I thought the capacity was 40-45,000 for football.
I’m not sure about the league overall, but the Ottawa games seem to be a pretty diverse crowd, age-wise. I’m in the slightly 50+ category, but I only really got into football when the RedBlacks started playing, and have been to most of their home games.
At least for Ottawa, most memories of the “old days” that I’ve heard have been very negative. The last couple of owners of Ottawa teams were quite bad, and widely reviled by the fan base. In comparison, the RedBlacks fan base has been quite positive and supporting, even in the seasons where they sucked. They only won 2 games their first season, but sold out almost every home game.
Losing the season sucks, losing the whole league would be worse. There’s been some discussion about possible refunds for season ticket holders, and I’ve advocated that those of us who can afford it should let them keep the money this year, in hopes it will keep them alive. I’ve gotten some likes on Facebook for that opinion, so at least a few others agree. It’s a gamble, but it’s a gamble I can afford, and am willing to take.
While Rogers Centre is not suitable long term, it’d work short term while you were building another stadium.
The NFL has long had a nonaggression understanding with the CFL. If the CFL dies it’s only a matter of time before the Toronto market is just too attractive not to expand or move into.
Once upon a time I would imagine the difference of the Canadian market might have been disconcerting but the Blue Jays and Raptors make piles of money so that’s not a concern anymore.
Joe Theismann also. I remember him playing for the Toronto Argonauts in the early 1970s, before he went to the Washington Redskins.
Let’s keep in mind that all those players were before the NFL was at 32 teams. Also, scouting is different now. It’s easy to get film of just about any QB regardless of what college they went to. Even the Kurt Warner arena league to Super Bowl story is over 20 years old.
Not saying some CFL QB won’t make it in the NFL in the future, god knows scouts mess up the draft all the time. Or, a knucklehead may finally grow up after spending a year in Edmonton.
And, in addition, in the cases of Flutie and Moon, they went to the CFL because they were having trouble getting roles in the NFL. In Flutie’s case, it was at least in part due to his height, while Moon came out of the University of Washington in an era in which it was still widely believed that black quarterbacks weren’t likely to succeed in the NFL. Theismann, despite finishing second in Heisman Trophy voting as a senior, wasn’t drafted until the fourth round, and went to Canada after he didn’t reach a contract agreement with the Dolphins.
In all three cases, they were initially seen as marginal prospects by NFL teams, but proved themselves in the CFL, and then went on to some level of success in the NFL. (I say “some level” only because Flutie was really only a starter for four seasons after returning to the NFL, but he did have that magical season with the Bills in '98.)
But, yes, I think it’s much less likely now, just due to more exhaustive scouting. There are still a few players who jump to the NFL after being successful in the CFL (Cameron Wake comes to mind), but it’s still a very small number.
We will never really know whether Flutie was going to get a shot at the NFL right out of college because he signed with the New Jersey Generals of the USFL before the NFL draft happened. He was drafted ater in the drat anyway but as the Generals had thrown a giant truck of money at him, the NFL had no chance at getting him.
Flutie didn’t play well for the Generals, and then he crossed the NFL picket line, and then he didn’t play well for the Patriots, either. He went to the CFL because he just wasn’t playing well.
Conversely, his return to the NFL and four seasons as a regular are pretty impressive when you consider the fact he was 36 years old when he went back.
At one point Flutie’s backup Calgary was Jeff Garcia, who was also a guy that did the CFL first and then had success in the NFL.
How soon before we allow 50,000 people into a stadium again? If outdoors vs indoors matters, what if the NHL doesn’t come back next year?
I don’t want to subsidize a sport that has no chance of surviving, even with the subsidy. For things like pro sports teams, concert halls, theaters, and other businesses that require crowds, I’d wait until we know the parameters of this disease.
If Covid is with us indefinitely, I think we will see a shift to sports that can be played with social distancing, like auto racing, tennis, golf, e-sports, etc. And they would all have to rebalance revenues to account for much smaller live audiences. Maybe the era of the $100 million player is over.
Otherwise, you could make a Canadian division for the NFL with four teams. Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Saskatchewan. Call it the prairie division.
If COVID-19 is with us indefinitely and you cannot become immune, there will be no sports at all because everyone’s going to die.
But people almost certainly do gain immunity, so it’s not, or it’ll slow burn like most things. People will accept the risk and go to sporting events.
Changes happen on the margin. If Covid turns out to be like the flu, where herd immunity and/or vaccines offer societal protection from pandemics but you can still catch it if a different strain emerges, then many people who were on the bubble about pro sports events will drop out. Especially older people.
Not everyone will, but some percentage would. And that might be enough.
The cruise industry is another example. Hard-core cruisers will still cruise, but a lot of people who are marginal cruise customers will choose other options. If there’s enough of those, the cruise industry is in big trouble, even if half or three quarters of their customers come back.