A cultural icon at stake

Cap Fabric Phil Lind enjoys the National Football League, occasionally in amanner most other fans cannot. Mr. Lind, vice-chairman of RogersCommunications Inc., has learned from experience that, when thestars of the schedule align, it is possible to watch games in twocities on the same Sunday afternoon. On those days, the 64-year-old executive drives from his Torontohome to Orchard Park, N.Y., to watch the first half of a BuffaloBills game. Around halftime, he slips back into his car for thethree-hour drive west to Cleveland, where he can watch the secondhalf of a late-afternoon game featuring his beloved Browns, fromthe season tickets he holds on the 35-yard line, 10 rows off thefield. "I like the NFL, I like it better," he said. "And so do most peoplein Toronto - like the NFL better." The company for which he works appears to agree. Rogers will pay$78-million to lease eight games from the Bills over the next fiveyears, an unprecedented arrangement that will begin with apre-season exhibition in Toronto this summer. There is speculationthe move could lead to the Bills becoming the first NFL franchiseto make a full-time home in Canada. To many, that possibility looms like a guillotine over the CanadianFootball League. Even in the midst of what might be characterized as a golden age,with strong ownership and once-struggling teams now generatingprofits, CFL insiders are wary of sharing their largest market withthe richest sports entity on the planet. They see the NFL as avacuum, sucking up corporate money, television viewers and fans. Battle lines are being drawn, with powerful businessmen andpoliticians on both sides of the border taking positions. A turfwar is brewing, and some would argue the future of the Canadiangame is at stake. "What is the risk? One NFL team will come to Canada, which wouldeffectively take out the market in Toronto, which would, I believe,be the demise of the CFL," Senator Larry Campbell said. "And forwhat? Money. That's all. Like we need one more big American team uphere." The Bills will play one regular-season game annually at RogersCentre through 2012, with an exhibition game every other year. Andthere is the possibility of adding more, with the potential of theteam one day playing a fully split schedule, with fourregular-season home games in Buffalo, and four in Toronto. Relocation would be the next logical step, which, in the eyes ofB.C. Lions president Bob Ackles, would bring the CFL a step closerto a nightmare scenario. First, major corporate partners wouldbegin migrating to the NFL, then the television contract would dryup and, most damaging, the Toronto Argonauts would disappear,eventually bringing the whole league down with them. "This is the strongest I've ever seen our league, in the 50-oddyears I've been associated with it or followed it," Mr. Acklessaid. "But in my opinion, if there was an NFL franchise in Toronto,it wouldn't be long until there wouldn't be a Canadian FootballLeague." This is not the first time speculation has swirled about the NFLcoming to Canada. The late Gerry Snyder, a former Montrealcouncillor, was chasing a team decades ago. Toronto power brokerPaul Godfrey, now the president of the Toronto Blue Jays, begananother pursuit in the mid-1980s. But there might never have been this much intrigue without such arich cast of characters ranging from an eager Canadian billionaireto an ageing American owner and a decaying American city strugglingto hold onto its beloved NFL franchise. Ted Rogers, head of his eponymous communications giant, has joinedforces with Larry Tanenbaum, also the chairman of Maple Leaf Sports& Entertainment, with the expressed intent of landing an NFLteam. Mr. Lind has been driving the issue. "The reason Toronto hasn't gotten a team is because Toronto hasn'tcome even close to getting a team until this latest move," Mr. Lindsaid. "It's great to say hello to the [NFL's] owners and everythinglike that, but there wasn't a deal on the table. "There wasn't a deal. There hasn't been a deal. And there isn't adeal now - but some people have argued there's a possibility of adeal now." Ralph Wilson, a decorated Second World War veteran and successfulbusinessman from Detroit, founded the Bills in 1959 for the modestprice of US$25,000. Last year was his 48th year at the helm and, ashe approaches his 90th birthday this fall, he has given noindication that he plans to sell the team before he dies.Critically, for football fans in Western New York, neither does heplan to leave it to his wife. Charles E. Telford, an attorney in Buffalo familiar with estateplanning, said the federal estate tax kicks in for assets worthmore than US$2-million. "I've never read, seen or heard anything that he's ever had anyinclination to want to sell it during his lifetime," said Mr.Telford. "It's kind of his baby, it's kind of a toy for him. Heenjoys playing with it, and he's going to leave this world havingplayed with his toy and let somebody else clean up the mess." According to Forbes, the Bills are worth US$821-million. "Theestate tax on that, assuming that it's not going to go to thespouse, is basically going to be 50%," Mr. Telford said. "And thatwould just be the federal part of it. Then you'd have to add [statetaxes] on top of that." He would also be hit by a capital gains tax, and his heirs couldeventually be saddled with the estate tax on whatever funds Mr.Wilson did not spend before his death. Unless Mr. Wilson takes the extraordinary step of leavinginstructions to the contrary, the executor of his estate will beobliged to fetch the highest possible price for the Bills. There isdoubt whether the winning bidder would be from Buffalo, withinterest pending from not only Toronto, but also Los Angeles, whichhas been without a team for 14 years. "I think a lot of people here are nervous," said Mike Schopp, anafternoon radio host on WGR 550 in Buffalo. Almost a third of Buffalo residents live below the poverty line.According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income in2006 was US$27,850, compared with US$48,451 across the rest of thecountry. Mayor Byron Brown made news in The New York Times lastfall after announcing plans to spend US$100-million to demolish5,000 vacant homes within the city limits. Those 5,000 reportedlyrepresented only half of the abandoned houses in the city, and hadbecome firetraps and drug dens, straining already limited localresources. Jobs have disappeared and residents have followed.Entire city blocks just minutes from the downtown core are vacant,checkered with broken windows and boarded doors. The Bills already have the lowest average ticket prices in theleague, sitting among the small-market teams being squeezed bybig-market brethren who find new ways to drive revenue, thusraising the salary cap. The Dallas Cowboys, for example, arebuilding a US$1.1-billion stadium, and it has been reported themoney generated from the sale of naming rights alone will raise thecap by US$375,000 per team. This year's limit will be US$116-million. The salary floor - apre-determined minimum teams must spend on players - will beUS$98.8-million. That will not be a problem for wealthy teams such as the Cowboys,who generated US$242-million in revenue two years ago,third-highest in the NFL, according to Forbes. The WashingtonRedskins (US$312-million) led the league, followed by the NewEngland Patriots (US$255-million). The Bills were 26th, with US$189-million. Moving games to Toronto has been explained as a bid to expand theteam's reach, which includes dipping into the deep corporatepockets of Southern Ontario. NFL owners voted unanimously toapprove the plan, guaranteeing the Bills an average of$9.75-million in revenue per game - more than double what theywould make at home.