As someone who tends to get into sports by having a team to root for (and who has largely not gotten into the NFL), this initiative (which effectively assigns fans a team) seems rather clever to me.
I will say though that I think they're going too large with their areas. It would make more sense, for say, Edmonton and Calgary to be awarded to different teams to create rivalry games. And then, say, if Calgary had "sister cities" in other countries by virtue of having the same assigned team, that would make for some neat potential encounters when traveling.
With the Eskimos and Stampeders fan bases getting old and eroding it makes sense that Alberta would have an uptick in NFL interest. Edmonton would be the best place to hold the game IMO as McMahon is too embarrassing to showcase the NFL and Vancouver isn't a great football city.
Commonwealth is not a dump. It looks great on TV, the seats are excellent, and the views are outstanding from everywhere. It’s showing its age, but it’s a nice stadium. It’d be better if not for the track and if there was more parking but it’s certainly not a dump and the city does a great job with park ‘n ride.
You guys are out of your minds if you think the NFL is going to put games in Commonwealth ahead of Vancouver. Vancouver has a better stadium, bigger population, and close proximity to Seattle. That said, I'm not sure how keen either of the Seahawks or Vikings would be to play a home game in Canada.
Just in time for the Seahawks to begin a 10 year period of absolute ass suck. We will go back to that early mid 90's of T.V. showing us a crappy Seahawks and Panthers game over the Packers vs Bucs game of the week.
It will be like how the Bill's in Toronto didn't work because they had sucked hard for 15 years and no one wanted to watch them play other boring teams who were mediocre draws.
__________________ "Some guys like old balls"
Patriots QB Tom Brady
Actually do wonder why Broncos only picked Mexico, and not also Canada? I'd assume they have a decent enough following in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
I think Denver has a pretty high Hispanic population, and a lot of it is on the wealthier side of the middle class. Plus Mexico City has as many people as Canada does. All of Alberta and Saskatchewan is a pretty insignificant market... it's like Siberia without the gulag to build everything.
__________________ "Some guys like old balls"
Patriots QB Tom Brady
Commonwealth is not a dump. It looks great on TV, the seats are excellent, and the views are outstanding from everywhere. It’s showing its age, but it’s a nice stadium. It’d be better if not for the track and if there was more parking but it’s certainly not a dump and the city does a great job with park ‘n ride.
It's a half step up from McMahon, only because of the amount of seats.
But there is no parking, the end area space is just as useless as McMahon's area beyond the endzones, and the track space is still there's even though there's no track. Concessions and concourses better then McMahon, but any NFL football stadium in the US is 5x the stadium for fan comforts etc that Commenweath is.BC Place is the only one that can come close here.
That said, it's not like Vancouver is Seahawks crazy.Matt Hasselbach I recall tweeted while visiting Vancouver once that he was going to give the first person he saw in DT Vancouver wearing Seahawks stuff a pile of swag, and it took him hours to find one.
Seattle did play in Toronto vs the Bills 9 years back. Seattle blowout in Wilson's rookie year. The infamous Gangem Style halftime show.
Seattle has fans, like me, growing up through the 80s and 90s, because we got Spokane KHQ NBC showing the AFC regional games, which of course are Seattle's home area.