Canadian Colts? NFL team considering move to Toronto
By Dave
Forister, THG Sports
Indianapolis Colts owner
Jim Irsay was recently quoted as saying the Colts would consider a move to
Toronto in 2007 if the team can’t come to an agreement with the city of
Indianapolis on the building of a new stadium by that time.
The Colts, whose revenues
are among the worst in the league, feel they need a larger, more modern stadium
with luxury skyboxes to be able to compete financially with other teams in the
NFL. If the city won’t build them a new stadium, then it is very likely they
will move. “The RCA Dome is a very nice facility—by 1984 standards. It is
depressing when we go on the road and see all these great new facilities and
then have to come back here and play,” said Irsay in a Sunday afternoon
interview.
Irsay told The Hoosier
Gazette he would like to keep the team in Indianapolis because of the tremendous
fan support the team receives, sometimes even selling out a game when a very
good opponent comes to town, but in the end the decision will come down to
finances. “It is all about the Benjamins,” said Irsay.
Toronto has a metropolitan
area of over 5.5 million, five times that of Indianapolis, and is willing to
build a new stadium if the NFL wanted to move a franchise into Canada’s largest
city.
“We would welcome the NFL
to Toronto with open arms,” said the city’s new mayor David Miller, “Except if
the Cardinals wanted to move here of course. They suck.”
If the Colts can’t come to
terms with Indianapolis and do decide to move, they would play in the Toronto
Sky Dome until a new football-only stadium was built. The Sky Dome seats 53,506
for football and is currently the home of Major League Baseball’s Blue Jays and
the Canadian Football League’s Argonauts.
