The National Football League (NFL) has long been rumoured to be considering placing one of its franchises in Canada's largest city, Toronto, Ontario.
Toronto is the fifth most populous city in North America,and the fourth-largest market in English-speaking North America, making it an intriguing city in which to operate an NFL franchise. While the Canadian Football League (CFL) has professional Canadian football teams in Toronto and nearby Hamilton, there are no professional American football teams in Canada, NFL or otherwise. Despite being in Canada, Toronto is physically further south than existing NFL franchises in Minnesota, Seattle and Green Bay, and has teams in each of the other major professional sports leagues: the Argonauts, the (Maple Leafs in hockey, the Blue Jays in baseball, the Raptors in basketball, the Rock and the Nationals in lacrosse and Toronto FC in soccer). Furthermore, San Diego Chargers executive Dean Spanos, speaking in regards to international NFL play, stated in January 2008 that "the long term goal is globalizing our sport" and that "it is possible that within five or 10 years, the league will have franchises outside the United States."
There has been speculation that current NFL franchises, most commonly the Jacksonville Jaguars and the nearby Buffalo Bills, may possibly be relocated to Toronto.The Jaguars are often mentioned due to the fact that they struggle to sell out EverBank Field even with its ticket prices near the lowest of the leagueand its capacity reduced by covered-up seats; team officials anticipate that they will not sell out any of their home games in the 2009 season.The Bills, on the other hand, are mentioned not because of attendance problems but because of the team's proximity to Toronto; the advanced age of Bills owner Ralph Wilson, who has no apparent successor; and the persistent economic and population problems that plague the Buffalo region. Additionally, the Bills have not been to the playoffs since 1999, the longest such streak in the league. Western New York's economic problems force the Bills to keep their average ticket prices among the lowest in the NFL,though several teams offer lower prices than the Bills do, offset by higher prices in other parts of the stadium.As of the 2010 season, the Jaguars and Bills rank 31st and 30th in ticket prices, respectively; the Bills jumped ahead of Jacksonville after raising prices for the 2010 season. Only the Cleveland Browns, who are unlikely to move because of an earlier Cleveland Browns relocation controversy, have lower ticket prices.
Toronto would most notably be competing with Los Angeles, the second most-populous city in Anglo America, for an NFL franchise. Relocation of an existing team is the most likely scenario; at 32 teams, the likelihood of an expansion is minimal.