Jon Bon Jovi is living on the prayer of purchasing the Buffalo Bills and moving them to Toronto. A whole bunch of speculation related to the rock star's ambition to purchase the Bills surfaced yesterday and this morning, all of which links him to Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment big-wigs Larry Tanenbaum and Tim Leiweke. While MLSE is forbidden from buying the Bills according to NFL rules, they could build a stadium to house the team, something Leiweke confirmed to The Toronto Star. "MLSE can play a role," he told the paper. "We're not the lead here. Our job is to augment whatever group may come together."
Rogers Communications is also part of the conversation (they already host the Bills for a local game each season), but they too can't own an NFL team outright, as league rules stipulate that each team must have an individual rather than a corporation as its lead owner. Speculation is that Bon Jovi's relationships with Leiweke and Tanenbaum might give him the inside track on the team, but it seems no one expects that the Bills will be sold during 95 year old owner Ralph Wilson's lifetime. So despite the excitement that might accompany this news for local (NFL) football fans, the future of the team is still very much up in the air.
What do you think? Can Toronto support NFL football should a new stadium be built?
Photo by Mike Seekdes in the blogTO Flickr pool.
by Derek Flack via blogTO
No comments:
Post a Comment