NFL Regular Season game Broncos vs. Pats in Edm? - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

soulchoice · 09-24-2007, 03:32 PM

Wow, this would be amazing to check out if true. I have been to several NFL games the last couple of years and to have it close to us, would be wonderful.

I would definitely be making the trek to Edmonton for the game. Too bad we have a crap stadium like McMahon, otherwise we could bid or host such a game.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Colu...19086-sun.html

The only CFL cities i can see who would have bid for the game are BC, Toronto or Edm.

OILFAN #81 · 09-24-2007, 03:38 PM

I'd be there for sure! I think Commonwealth (along with BC and Toronto) could host such a game. I hope Edmonton gets it so I can go. I'd wish it was the Colts-Patriots so I could cheer on my team instead of the Broncos-Patriots but i'd definately cheer on the Broncos for one day only! Haha stupid Patriots!

Trojan97 · 09-24-2007, 03:42 PM

A regular season game between the Pats and Broncos? Consider it the only time I'll ever be excited to head to Edmonton...

Sylvanfan · 09-24-2007, 03:42 PM

Actually I changed the thread title because it looks like it will be a regular season game to take place on Canadian Thanksgiving. To get the Pats and the Bronco's for a regular season game would be a huge deal. At that time of year the weather in Edmonton could be a bit cool for their liking, but the statdium is the biggest in Canada and the money is in Alberta to support the high prices they'd look to charge. If I still lived in Edmonton, I'd probably be willing to pay close to $200 to see a reg season NFL game here for sure. And I think I'm one of the 500 poorest people in the Edmonton area to boot as I don't have a 7 figure net worth. So if I'm willing to pay that...theres probably people who'd be willing to pay $500 plus.

ken0042 · 09-24-2007, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edmonton Sun Writer

Montreal, Regina, Winnipeg and Calgary's stadiums, even with temporary seating, are still smaller than Commonwealth and not nearly as nice. Besides, Calgary's McMahon Stadium is a dump.

Well, sounds like he has never been to a CFL game outside of Alberta. Winnipeg Stadium is no better; and I can't imagine Regina's is anything special either. The big thing is age; Edmonton's is ~ 20 years old so they are saying that they should get the game because other stadiums are dumps. Well, BC Place as well as the Skydome are both newer; and IMHO nicer than Commonwealth. The proximity to American NFL cities is a good point; but really if Edmonton wins this; they win be default. And by default I mean by built something bigger and more expensive than what they need 99% of the time.

After spending the last 3 years hearding proverbial cats to get my buddies and I to an NFL game; I'd welcome a "get in the car and drive 3 hours" type of event; so I hope they get it. And like Syl I'd be happy to shell out a premium for a ticket.

worth · 09-24-2007, 04:21 PM

McMahon isn't a dump. It's a great stadium with a lot of Character and great sight lines. I think one of the deciding factors is seating requirements. I don't think the NFL is going to go anywhere where they can only seat 35,000 people. Thus Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal are the only cities in Canada with the capacity for 60,000 people, which this would easily attract just because of the novelty of it.

Also, a regular season game? If I were a season ticket holder i'd be a little peeved that some other city is getting to watch my team, and not me.

I love the Stamps and if they decided to have a game in Tim Buk Tu, yeah it might be cool, but that means i'll only get to see 8 games live and have to watch this one on TV.

And on Thanksgiving weekend...talk about upstaging the competition. There will be plenty of CFL games that day and yeah, I know there are probably a ton of people here who don't care about the CFL and that's great, but it is Canadian thanksgiving and all...i'd prefer to watch the CFL. This thanksgiving Monday is Calgary/Sask which should be a great game. Games like those will be drowned out by this. Not saying they shouldn't do it, but I mean if this were to become a regular occurance, the CFL would be kicked to the side by the media worse than it is now. Canadian Football is the only professional sporting league in this country that we can say is truley Canadian, battled for by Canadian teams with great athletes from all over North America. Would be a sad day when this league, which allows players who play for the love of the game to have a career, gets overrun by the NFL IMO. I think both leagues can survive together, I like watching both, but having a game on canadian thanksgiving kind of screams arrogance to me.

I suppose it could be worked out with the schedule and such, hopefull the NFL and CFL would work on this together so fans don't have to choose between the two. maybe make some cross promotion happen like the CFL can get some air time in the States. have a "Football Day in North America" or something celebrating both games.

Bobblehead · 09-24-2007, 04:44 PM

If the NFL can play in Chicago, Green Bay and Buffalo in January then early October in Edmonton would be a cake walk.

fredr123 · 09-24-2007, 04:53 PM

Capacities (from wikipedia):

Lambeau Field 72,928
Soldier Field 61,500 (will be the smallest in the NFL as of 2008)
FedEx Field 91,704 (largest in NFL)
Michigan Stadium 107,501 (US college football; probably the biggest stadium in the US unless you count race tracks)

McMahon: For special events such as Grey Cup games, temporary bleachers may be built in the facility's end zones; these seats accounted for a record-high 45,010 spectators[4] at a match between the Calgary Stampeders and the Montréal Alouettes on 29 October 2000.

Commonwealth: The largest crowd in stadium history was the Grey Cup game on November 24 2002 with 62,531 in attendance. [2]

Sylvanfan · 09-24-2007, 05:07 PM

Worth..the thing is that the NFL is wanting to have one international game every year to try and grow their revenues outside of the U.S.A. For the most part their revenues are maximized in the United States and international markets represent better growth potenital. In this case you have a guy in Pat Bowlan who has strong ties to Canada willing to give up his home game and get the game played in Canada. Will Bronco fans be peeved to lose a home game? Likely, but I doubt any of them will walk away from their season tickets because of this and the 30 year wait list folks are only wishing that 20,000 STH's have a rash reaction and cancel tickets. I'd also hazzard to guess that if Edmonton got the game and if the Eskimo's were to do a promotion like first 30,000 STH's get first shot at the NFL game that those 30,000 Seasons tickets would be gone tommorrow. Hell I'd buy Eskimo's seasons tickets to get a shot at the NFL game and I hate the Eskies.

Ken makes a good point that most CFL stadiums do what they need to do 99.9% of the time. No need to waste a bunch of tax payers money to have a chance at getting an event that is only going to happen once ever 5 years type of thing. But facts are facts...Commonwealth is 100 times better suited for a game like that than McMahon is.

Bench Warmer · 09-24-2007, 05:28 PM

Wow - I'm surprised they're going to hold a regular season game in Canada! To be honest, I'd ripped if I were a Broncos or Pats fan and my team lost a home game to go play it elsewhere...

As for Commonwealth, asthetically, it's a nice football stadium. It also is the biggest stadium in the CFL (including the domes I think) and has natural grass - two big pluses there. It's a terrible place to watch a football game though - the track makes you feel like you're a mile away from the field and there is absolutely nothing for atmosphere. Give me a field/stadium that isn't as asthetically nice but has atmosphere and character any day. None of those in the CFL would work for an NFL game mind you - Commonwealth is the best of the CFL stadiums for that type of event.

Dan02 · 09-24-2007, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by worth

McMahon isn't a dump.

McMahon is a dump compared to Commonwealth, just like Rexall is a dump compared to the dome. I'll take the nicer hockey rink over a football stadium any day

soulchoice · 09-24-2007, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan02

McMahon is a dump compared to Commonwealth, just like Rexall is a dump compared to the dome. I'll take the nicer hockey rink over a football stadium any day

The difference between Commenwealth and McMahon as a stadium is far greater then the difference between the Dome and Rexall. Our hockey rink is better than Rexall, but not by leaps and bounds. Commenwealth however is far greater than McMahon

Both the Dome and Rexall are outdated.

Commenwealth is fine the way it is and McMahon is a dump(concourse, etc) and along the lines with Wpg and Sask, Ham stadiums.

HOOT · 09-24-2007, 06:00 PM

This sounds like a scalpers DREAM! Imagine how much those tickets will go for once its sold out.

Clever_Iggy · 09-24-2007, 06:12 PM

This would be incredible. I think Toronto would be the favorite over Edmonton though:

(1) the Dome can control the climate. I think this would be important as this would be a huge investment for the NFL and they would want to ensure that weather was not the story (like the Superbowl in Detroit),

(2) Toronto has long been pushing for an NFL franchise and has shown obvious interest in the NFL,

(3) the population in southern Ontario is so much larger than western Canada,

(4) Toronto would be more accommodating for the spectical surrounding the game, and

(5) Toronto was on the short list for a 2007 game along with Mexico City, London, Frankfurt, and Cologne.

I think the NFL would look more to Europe, Mexico and Asia more before coming to Canada. I dont think an NFL game in Canada would increase interest as much as an NFL game in Asia, Europe, or Mexico.

Sylvanfan · 09-24-2007, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clever_Iggy

I think the NFL would look more to Europe, Mexico and Asia more before coming to Canada. I dont think an NFL game in Canada would increase interest as much as an NFL game in Asia, Europe, or Mexico.

I think they've already committed to holding the 2008 international game in Canada. To play in Canada offers two benefits that Europe and Asia don't.

1.)Logistics, it's no more difficult to get to most Canadian Cities than it is to a U.S. city and the country is very similar to the U.S. which will likely go over well with the players association. You won't have the risk of taking two teams way out of North American time zones in the middle of the season and have them complain afterwards that the one game ruined their season sort of thing.

2.) Timezone similarity which will make the game easy to broadcast in prime time. They can make this the Monday Night game and it won't be that difficult to get ESPN in place to cover it and broadcast it at a normal time.

I think they'll want to have the first two years go over well with the PA and the broadcast partners before they attempt to go over to Europe or Asia for a regular season game. It's one thing to go to Tokyo in the first week of August and use your starters for 5 plays than come back over and have 4-5 weeks to recover. Try doing it in week 6 play your starters and than try to come home and have to get back into after like 10-11 days in a game that means something. I think this is why they picked Mexico first and want to try Canada second. After that I suspect they might try two Eastern based teams in a place like London and go from there.

rubecube · 09-24-2007, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

After that I suspect they might try two Eastern based teams in a place like London and go from there.

Syl, they're having a game in London this year.

Bobblehead · 09-24-2007, 06:47 PM

Well, the Pats and Seahawks were supposed to play a pre-season game in China this year, but that was canceled because the NFL didn't want to cut corners on the event, so in April it was canceled (until at least '09, since the Olympics is next year).
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ina/index.html

Giants and Dolphins play in London this Oct. 28.

And from a Peter King MMQB article in May, the Chiefs are supposed to host the international game in '08. Carl Peterson thought they were going to Germany.

Quote:

"I think we're going to Deutschland,'' club president Carl Peterson told me last week. "All teams are eventually going to play a game outside the United States under the league's current plan. Our stadium's going to be under renovation for a couple of years, and if there's a good time for us to play a game overseas, it's probably next year.'' Plus, says Peterson, "My head coach is one-half German, and my defensive coordinator was born in Germany.''

Has Canada been confirmed in the last 4 months?

Sylvanfan · 09-24-2007, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rubecube

Syl, they're having a game in London this year.

Me wrong...The NFL should pick a better team than the Chiefs to feature in an international game!

vicphoenix13 · 09-24-2007, 11:06 PM

It will be a sad day for the CFL if Toronto gets an NFL franchise. The Argos and the CFL would be marginalized by the media and fan support would be minimal. The only way it could work is if season ticket holders of the new NFL team were forced to buy up Argos tickets.

KTown · 09-25-2007, 12:05 AM

I would be there with my dolphins jersey on and cheering for the broncos cause I hate the PATSIES!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the way my fins gave up a home game this year to host it in London, every team will lose a home game eventually as they want to make this a regular thing

NY Giants are playing Miami in London in week 8. It will be a 1pm est start here and a 6pm start time in London. The good news is the teams will both have a buy week after that game, so the NFL tries to accomodate for the travels.