RedEyE
03-10-2008, 10:46 AM
Are Bills the thin edge of the wedge?
Mar 10, 2008 04:30 AM
<!-- AUTHOR 1 -->Jim Byers
<!-- CREDIT 1-->City Hall Bureau
<!-- ARTICLE CONTENT-->
Canadian Football League fans look at the plan to bring eight Buffalo Bills games to Toronto over the next five years and get nervous. The folks in charge of boosting Toronto's stagnant tourism numbers look at the plan and see a glittering sports entity that dwarfs anything and everything in North America.
"This is a real blessing for us," said Tourism Toronto president and CEO David Whitaker. "It's a tremendous opportunity and we're looking to take full advantage."
Backers of the plan, who include Larry Tanenbaum of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and media mogul Ted Rogers, say the event could lure thousands of border-shy Americans into Canada from both Buffalo and from the cities where the Bills' opponents play.
There also would be visitors from other parts of Ontario or Canada, many of them happy to drop some cash on hotel rooms or in city bars and restaurants.
"In Canada we used to think, `Oh, well, we're the land of the 65-cent dollar and we have to appeal to budget travellers,'" said Rogers vice-chair Phil Lind. "But we'll have something here now that intrigues them and captivates them, and so it puts us in their league. I think it's a good thing for economic development, a good thing for tourism and a good thing for overall impact."
Lind said bringing in tourists is nice but that the TV exposure south of the border is probably worth more. Bills games routinely attract millions of viewers in the U.S., and the team's Monday-night game against the Dallas Cowboys last year drew more than 13 million viewers in prime time.
Visitors to Toronto increased 1.1 per cent last year over 2006, but Tourism Toronto officials say there was a 4 per cent drop last year in U.S. overnight visitors. Some 2.2 million Americans bedded down in the city last year.
"The primary issue is that Americans will pay attention and focus on something happening in another country," Lind told the Star. "They'll say, `Not only does Toronto have that (the Bills game), they've got a lot of other things as well.' It'll mean something on the day of the game, but the lingering effect is probably more important."
Mayor David Miller is a little more circumspect.
"There's no question that getting Toronto shown positively on U.S. television, although that might depend on having a winning team, is helpful. But I think our number one priority has to be the health of the CFL. From Toronto's perspective within Canada, if we were seen to be killing the CFL or harming it significantly, it would really hurt us."
More.... http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/326756
Mar 10, 2008 04:30 AM
<!-- AUTHOR 1 -->Jim Byers
<!-- CREDIT 1-->City Hall Bureau
<!-- ARTICLE CONTENT-->
Canadian Football League fans look at the plan to bring eight Buffalo Bills games to Toronto over the next five years and get nervous. The folks in charge of boosting Toronto's stagnant tourism numbers look at the plan and see a glittering sports entity that dwarfs anything and everything in North America.
"This is a real blessing for us," said Tourism Toronto president and CEO David Whitaker. "It's a tremendous opportunity and we're looking to take full advantage."
Backers of the plan, who include Larry Tanenbaum of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and media mogul Ted Rogers, say the event could lure thousands of border-shy Americans into Canada from both Buffalo and from the cities where the Bills' opponents play.
There also would be visitors from other parts of Ontario or Canada, many of them happy to drop some cash on hotel rooms or in city bars and restaurants.
"In Canada we used to think, `Oh, well, we're the land of the 65-cent dollar and we have to appeal to budget travellers,'" said Rogers vice-chair Phil Lind. "But we'll have something here now that intrigues them and captivates them, and so it puts us in their league. I think it's a good thing for economic development, a good thing for tourism and a good thing for overall impact."
Lind said bringing in tourists is nice but that the TV exposure south of the border is probably worth more. Bills games routinely attract millions of viewers in the U.S., and the team's Monday-night game against the Dallas Cowboys last year drew more than 13 million viewers in prime time.
Visitors to Toronto increased 1.1 per cent last year over 2006, but Tourism Toronto officials say there was a 4 per cent drop last year in U.S. overnight visitors. Some 2.2 million Americans bedded down in the city last year.
"The primary issue is that Americans will pay attention and focus on something happening in another country," Lind told the Star. "They'll say, `Not only does Toronto have that (the Bills game), they've got a lot of other things as well.' It'll mean something on the day of the game, but the lingering effect is probably more important."
Mayor David Miller is a little more circumspect.
"There's no question that getting Toronto shown positively on U.S. television, although that might depend on having a winning team, is helpful. But I think our number one priority has to be the health of the CFL. From Toronto's perspective within Canada, if we were seen to be killing the CFL or harming it significantly, it would really hurt us."
More.... http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/326756