The Buffalo Bills have a significant number of Canadian season ticket holders. The Bills have announced that money will be refunded accordingly as long as the border is closed.
The Bills aren't allowing any fans at its first two home games at Bills Stadium in accordance with New York state guidelines.
Buffalo opened up its home season yesterday with the New York Jets. The next home game is September 27 against the Los Angeles Rams. Yesterday marked the first time Buffalo had major league baseball and football in the area at the same time.
We noted that those in Buffalo couldn't get the Toronto Blue Jays on television. The Buffalo Sabres had a limited deal with Bell Media to get their games in the immediate southern Ontario area from 2013-2016.
Toronto fans of the Buffalo Bills can easily watch the team. The sim sub usually ends up on CFTO-TV Channel 9, the CTV station in Toronto. Fans with an antenna can get the games via WIVB-TV 4, CBS in Buffalo, and WUTV, Fox 29 in Buffalo.
The Detroit Lions get a lot of Canadian fans to cross the border in season ticket holders and fans for individual games. The Windsor bus systems runs buses straight to Ford Field on game days. The Seattle Seahawks get a lot of Canadian fans even if the drive is longer than Windsor to Detroit.
Some NFL teams are allowed to have home fans if their state's rules are more lenient. The Miami Dolphins are scheduled to let in 13,000 people for its first home game.
NFL fans in Canada could travel to the U.S. to watch the games. The problems are that they have to fly to their destination and have to quarantine for 14 days when they get back.
Canadians can easily get their games on television with no border crossings.
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The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has changed the sports world. The CFL cancelled its season in great part because they couldn't let in significant crowds. Quebec has a 250 maximum; the MLS Montréal Impact allowed that number in for recent games against Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
Long-time readers will remember that the Buffalo Bills used to play games in Toronto at Rogers Centre. That certainly couldn't have happened in 2020.
The Buffalo Bills got snowed out in 2014 and moved a game to Detroit. The thought of moving the game to Toronto was thwarted since not all the players had passports.
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Despite the attendance issues in the Bills Toronto series, the NFL is very popular in Canada. Without the CFL, the NFL will grow in stature, especially in Toronto and Vancouver.
U.S. NFL fans might think they get a decent amount of games on a Sunday. Canadians get way more games thanks to CTV stations across the country (with time shifting on cable or satellite) and TSN. Now that TSN doesn't have CFL games, Canadians may get even more NFL games.
@KennyAlbert has been in a safe bubble in #Edmonton for the @NHL playoffs. The @NFL made up a rule where anyone who has been outside the U.S. has to #quarantine for 14 days to call a game on site. #Canada is safer than any NFL city right now. https://t.co/ljs9aEMSTr
— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) September 12, 2020
Kenny Albert has been in one of the safest places in North America in the NHL bubble in Edmonton for NBCSN. Albert was scheduled to leave the bubble to cover the NFL for Fox. The NFL has had this peculiar rule, even more odd since the NFL plays in London and Mexico City and used to play in Toronto. Albert flew from Edmonton through Toronto to Detroit when he found out en route that he wouldn't be able to call the NFL game.
Fox replaced Albert for the game in Detroit with Dick Stockton, who reportedly came in from Arizona. Edmonton, even outside the bubble, is safer than Arizona.
We profiled Kenny Albert's life in the bubble. The NHL gets full credit for how the bubbles in Edmonton and Toronto have gone. The NFL could learn something from the NHL.
The NFL rule doesn't specifically say Canada, yet the national announcers are either in Canada (Albert) or the United States (everyone else). Sam Rosen, who is calling NHL playoff games on the radio, isn't on Fox's list of NFL announcers.
logo credit: Buffalo Bills/NFL
Twitter capture: @canadian_xing
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