Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce
Given what's happening with the Argos, is it most likely we'll see them move to Halifax when the time comes?
It seems Toronto and the CFL need to take a break and figure things out. Worked for the Als/Concordes. Who knows? Lightning could strike twice...
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absence makes the heart grow fonder?
...maybe for Toronto to appreciate what they got, they need to loose what they have first, and if it's important enough to get back in the GTA then maybe one of the suburbs like Mississauga, Vaughan, or Markham could field the team instead. Having a small following in such a large urban area in the country just makes the CFL as a whole look amateur.
As far as CFL in Maritimes, much as I'd like the idea of a new 10th team in Halifax, I have some reservations about the long term viability of a team there...
Football doesn't have the same established sports culture in Nova Scotia as it does in other parts of Canada, like The Prairies, in particular Saskatchewan's hundred+ year history with the Riders. People often use Saskatchewan as an example of why/how a team in Atlantic Canada would be successful though.
There is some College football being played in the Maritimes, like at St Mary's University, but it still doesn't match what non CFL cities in The Prairies can pull for support. Saskatoon routinely sells out the 6,200 seats at the U of S stadium (3rd largest college football stadium in Canada outside of CFL stadiums) but no one is saying Saskatoon should get a CFL team because of the fans support of football there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffiths_Stadium
Halifax once even held a CFL exhibition game at St Mary's stadium I believe. Fort MacMurray has also had exhibition
and also regular season CFL games played there too but I don't think that it makes that city viable for the CFL either.
As far as population base to rely on for supporting a team in Halifax, there are less than 850,000 Nova Scotians within 3 hour drive of Halifax (Nova Scotia outside of Cape Breton) and even if they named the team after the Martitimes as a whole, I doubt they would get any more support outside of Nova Scotia as Saskatchewan does. In comparison, Regina+Saskatoon is 600,000 people plus another 2/3 of rest of province equals ~1 million, that's within a 3 hour drive of Regina (about distance can drive round trip to make a day trip to see a game).
As far as corporate support in Atlantic Canada for a CFL team there, GDP in Saskatchewan is more than the entire Maritime Provinces combined and as far as disposable income of the populous, income per capita in Regina is about 15% higher than in Halifax.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ties_in_Canada
Even though it probably doesn't make great business sense to field a CFL team in Atlantic Canada, I wish them all best of luck on the venture.